Empathy in the Work Force Between Employers, Supervisors, Employees and Customers Can Improve the Growth of a Company

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step; similar to IS, implementing too quickly without the right knowledge will not be effective and will not carry on through the life of the company. Creating Open-Empathy Organizations is a good start, it allows people in the business to have a “first-hand sense of what people need, how their company solves those needs, and how what they do as individuals can add or subtract value” (Patnsik and Mortenses 54). This is great for employees because it allows them to see and understand the people they are working for and how to make improvements to the tasks they work on in the office. Open-Empathy Organizations allows them to understand what the value of their hard effort accomplishes with customers. Similarly, at IBM they execute this through the “sales force and online portals to connect employees with customers on a daily basis” (Patnsik and Mortenses 55). IBM has understood the intangible asset of empathy, what it does for the customers and how it adds value to the top line. All companies can benefit from using open empathy as it will give employees and customers a sense of belongingness and purpose. Making people feel important and understood increases their motivation, productivity, and willingness to work hard which results in the growth and success of an organization.

Active Leadership

To successfully implement empathy, senior leadership needs to play an active role in modeling the correct behavior. This involves managers stepping in and being involved as well as showing compassion to their workers. An example of a leader who understands and demonstrates empathetic qualities is David Neeleman, former CEO of JetBlue Airlines. Neeleman would fly multiple times a week and would only take coach class. Neeleman did this so that he can demonstrate empathetic actions by helping the flight attendant with any simple task when the plane was in cruising altitude or after landing. This shows that no matter what level in the company one is, caring about one another is important. It enforces feelings of equality and makes workers feel important. Feedback and interaction between upper management and lower level employees is crucial for employees as it not only helps them learn but it sets an example of what they should aspire to achieve while at the same time leaves a positive example for them to follow. Neeleman’s empathetic actions not only spread through the company in multiple levels, it is still there even after his departure.

Customer Relationships

Another way of achieving good implementation of empathy is to make it something the corporation practices every day rather than a one-time event or discussion. In other words, avoid the big kick off because “while they can create a lot of excitement, these one-off events rarely have lasting impact” (Patnsik and Mortenses 55). Therefore to make this transition happen fluidly there needs to be easy access, and a quick and constant presence of empathy in the workplace. Intel has a strong team which does extensive interviews on people in their home to further their research for new development. To translate the information, their team gathers and shares it with co-workers they create personas with the people they interview and post them in the building. Intel doesn’t just post them anywhere in the building they post it in the one spot people have some time to sit down and think; the washrooms stalls. This is a great way to form relationships with customers and gives employees an opportunity to understand their wants and needs. This will allow the organization to provide quality service to their customers and provide them with what they need while keeping their best interests in mind.

COMMUNICATION

Positive communication

Communication is important to achieving great success in a corporation, Ivana Smith a great leader and communicator helped Adrian Aragon who was a CEO who devoted himself to the staff and business. Aragon notices that he was lacking the skills of effective leadership when he looked over his performance review. He realized that his staff was not interpreting his messages the way they were intended. With the help of Aragon, Smith determined the reason he wasn’t communicating well with the staff was because they perceived him as someone with a negative mindset. They can’t interact with him effectively because he lacks a positive attitude in the work force. Ivana Smith says “[…] being positive when stressed is a real challenge, however doing so will help lower your stress, increase your energy and make you feel a lot better. It will also help set the tone for your entire company” (Pignatelli 16) which is referred to as open-loop nature in Goleman, Mckee and Boyatzis article. Communicating positively among employees and customers reinforces feelings of motivation and keeps them feeling satisfied which ultimately leads to productivity and a better work ethic. If communication from management is portrayed as being negative, this only discourages employees and customers and lead to a poorer work ethic. In other words, positive communication is proven to be a successful method in empathizing with employees and customers.

Disengaged and Engaged Listening

The importance of listening is significant because conversing with someone who is disengaged does not accomplish anything. Being able to effectively listen to the staff will improve the relationship with them and it “ensures that the sender’s communication has been received as intended, and it tells the sender that their communication has value.” (Pignatelli 16). This also allows Aragon and his company to fix problems and create a better bond within the company which ensures growth. This then brings about engaged listening which means a person listens without judgment, opinion or preconceived notion. Dr. Gerald Davison’s reflection on the application of a non-directive strategy says that a “leader should be able to encourage the employee to vent, calm down, and see the solution” (Marques, Dhiman and King 16-17). Being able to listen gives the individual an opportunity to actually express themselves without them being arbitrated. Aragon could also practice good techniques listed by Dr. Davison such as showing respect and willingness to help, check if there is confusion in the conversation with the other person, and be genuine and open. Creating an organization that has standards which appreciate staff using engaged listening will increase their contribution and their energy at work.

Empathetic Listening

Empathetic listening means trying to feel what the other person is going through as well as the message they