Does empathy truly impact workplace performance? While managers are often pressed for time, addressing employees’ genuine mistakes without empathy can create a sense of psychological unsafety, greatly impacting their performance.
Decades of evidence highlight empathy as a workplace superpower. It reduces employee burnout, encourages innovation and creative risk-taking among those who feel empathized with. Also it’s going to make people trust each other more, know each other better, and work more effectively together.
An initial challenge is overcoming the stereotype that empathy is too soft or impractical for the workplace setting.
In performance management, empathy doesn’t equate to being “soft.” Rather, the most empathetic action is often providing constructive feedback that helps individuals grow and improve.
There’s also the issue of compassion fatigue. Without taking care of ourselves first, it becomes challenging to effectively support others. Practicing self-compassion and filling our own cup is essential before extending care to others.
It would be really powerful and useful if we could observe the effect of a person on the people around them when they join a team or organisation and reward that as a piece of performance management.
Click the article below to read more: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/its-cool-to-be-kind-the-value-of-empathy-at-work
