Empathy is as essential for harmonious and productive relationships in the workplace as it is in life. It is a critical skill for building and managing healthy relationships. By identifying and leveraging the diverse interests and emotions of our colleagues and business partners, we create priceless opportunities in the world of business.
Diversity drives the bottom line. Engaging and leveraging different traditions and perspectives in business transforms camaraderie into productivity. Diversity is rapidly gaining ground as a huge asset in the business world, not just to open up markets, but to better understand them. This dramatic shift to a highly diverse work force is part of an organization's efforts to understand, accept, and capitalize on differences. As cultural backgrounds and experiences of employees and customers enrich organizations, making them more innovative and globally competitive, organizations must keep in mind the benefits of diversity as an asset of empathy. By this, I mean it benefits organizations to meet diversity challenges with awareness, understanding, and compassion.
Everybody has a unique story. Its not however, realistic to try and understand every little detail of that story. What we are after and what we can realistically expect is to grasp what others have felt or are feeling. It is not essential to fully understand a person's background to utilize the power of empathy. Making the effort to learn more about your co-worker's and business partner's background or culture doesn't just educate you and enhance the ability to communicate more effectively. It allows you to appreciate who YOU are and what YOU bring to the table.
Being empathetic towards cultural diversity in the workplace minimizes the potential to be judgmental. As you interact with people who seem different from you, look for opportunities to identify positive or negative emotions and experiences that you share. I encourage you to remember times when you've found yourself in similar positions. This ability to "put yourself in one's shoes" relates to our human capacity to be one with each other. You may not learn Spanish by working with a Hispanic co-worker but inadvertently you will pick up a few words and some gestures and mannerisms that may enrich their life as well as your own. This keeps the world view in perspective, promotes sharing and equality, and adds dimensions to what could be an ordinary place of work.
e: rkansagra@goibelieve.com
fb: Raju Kansagra
Raju is a business owner in New Jersey. He graduated from Boston College with a bachelors in finance and philosophy. After trading on Wall Street for many years, Raj shifted focus to pursue his entrepreneurial interests. He is a co-founder of iB-LIEVE and the director of product development.
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