Without empathy and focus, you’ll never be able to communicate effectively and relate well to others. People who lack empathy are sure to face interpersonal difficulties that lead to inferior performance, negative outcomes, and poor relationships with coworkers and customers.
As a competency skill, empathy is poorly understood by those who need it the most. Some hard-driving managers eschew the need to develop it because they assume it’s for “touchy-feely” types. Other tone-deaf leaders blindly walk around, relying solely on logic and wondering why others fail to see things their way.
Research by the Center for Creative Leadership reveals that executive “derailment” is primarily caused by deficits in emotional competence:
- Difficulty in handling change
- Inability to work well in teams
- Poor interpersonal relations
The inability to understand matters from others’ points of view means some people lack the flexibility required for change. These individuals simply cannot work well with, or relate to, others, which makes them workplace liabilities.
Successful leaders score high marks in five areas of social competencies in the workplace, for which empathy is the foundation. Understanding others leads to goal completion—not to mention opportunities for promotion. When combined with focus, perseverance and concentration, empathy breeds achievement.
This article suggests 10 steps to practice and improve our ability to experience empathy.
This is a brief synopsis of a 1000-word article suitable for coach newsletters. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.
The complete 1,000 word article includes these five the following concepts:
- Defining Empathy
- 5 Social Competencies
- The Trickle-Down Theory
- Fundamental Interactions
- Nonverbal Cues
- 10 Steps to Improving Empathy
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