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Expressing business empathy is critical to success. It is the human connection that builds trust. It is the connection before any solution. You may be blocking your business empathy — the empathy you could use with employees, teammates, and customers. Check this list of business empathy blocks and how to unblock them!

Business Empathy: Overcome These Blocks to Succeed!

Image by Dennis Hill via Flickr Creative Commons License.

Are These Blocks Stopping Your Business Empathy?

Do you find it hard to feel and show empathy for others, especially at work? Even people who say they are empathetic find it hard to do it in a business setting. The question is why is business empathy so hard?

Business empathy is a challenge when …

1. Results are the only things that matter. Everyone is hyper-focused on outcomes and they sacrifice interpersonal connections to get there.

2. Leaders see empathy as a weakness and/or a detour from success. It is neither. Empathy is the connection to inspire everyone to success.

3. The workplace culture is all about procedures and following the rules. Leaders cling the “just follow the rules” crutch and avoid interpersonal connection.

4. The communication culture is all about making your point and winning the argument. You won’t find any business empathy here. Listening is very poor and connection, even poorer.

5. Leaders and teammates fear that empathy will trap them in overly personal discussions. This is a fear not a fact. It also keeps everyone from the trusting relationships that create high performance and success.

6. Highly analytic personality types & technical professionals think logic is the only way to succeed. They mistake empathy for out-of-control emotion. It isn’t. Remember to always empathize before you analyze.

To overcome blocks to your business empathy and success …

• Practice listening and showing empathy in positive moments. Empathy is not only for difficult times. Celebrating with others is a form of empathy and it will show you the positive results of business empathy.

• Develop your listening skills. All empathy starts as an inbound activity. Better listening, more empathy, successful connections and results.

• Remember that empathy doesn’t mean you agree. It simply connects people in ways that build trust, open communication, and discover options and solutions.

• Identify your fears that are blocking your business empathy. Do you fear it breeds entanglement? Are you uncomfortable getting to know others beyond their resumé? Once you are more self-aware, you can eliminate these fears.

• Get comfortable with statements that show connection without immediate action especially if you are a driver personality. “I feel for you … Wow that’s horrible… or, how wonderful” are just a few examples of positive empathetic statements.

Business empathy prevents daily squabbles from destroying team morale. It builds critical trust for leadership and teamwork. It connects with customers for long term business. Empathy creates a positive “you matter” workplace of commitment and performance. It sustains dignity, respect and trust.

From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™

Related Post:
People Skills Success: 9 Hidden Places to Discover Your Empathy

©2018 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com for permission and guidelines. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Tags: business, Career, emotional intelligence, empathy, interpersonal skills, leaders, Leadership, leading morale, management, managers, morale, people skills, Soft Skills, success