At the time of this writing, I currently work for a company that serves as an umbrella for several other optical retail locations around the United States. Being in a position that directly impacts peoples quality of life requires a significant amount of empathy in ensuring the people that desire to see their in order to live their best. A persons sense of sight impacts every infinitesimal moment of their conscious day, so it requires a level of understanding and patience in knowing that if a person is struggling to see, their tensions can be understandably high. This is common in most retail positions, however it requires a deeper level of empathy as it pertains to a persons health. This helps tremendously when it comes to success in the business as a person is far less likely to maintain a level of hostility if they have a person that understands their frustration.
As noted several times in numerous of the provided articles, having empathy in programming allows you to consider the human behind the process rather than just the end goal of the process itself. In doing so, it allows you to build an ease of access that minimizes the level of frustration a user might have in achieving what they're visiting the website to do. Additionally, software building with empathy in mind will allow you to accurately interpret someone else's code as well as allow your own code to be easily read by developers that come after you.
Empathy should always be kept in mind while working on a team to keep your expectations realistic in regards to the tasks assigned for those you're working with. Being empathetic to a team members pace or quality can keep the spirits of the team high as people aren't expected to be robots that never rest or produce results perfectly identical to the goal. Additionally, as mentioned in the previous answer, being mindful of those that may need to accurately interpret your work with minimal questioning is helpful to the overall productivity of the team and project.
During what is referred to as Airmen Leadership School (or ALS) in the military, while it isn't meant to, it can unintentionally qualify as a "Every Man For Himself" sort of situation in which people are doing everything in their power to package themselves to be the best of the best. In my specific course, there was a classmate who was struggling with understanding the lesson and it was obvious to anyone that paid attention. While asking if he was alright and needed help, he attempted to claim he was fine and understood the material, likely blinded by the pride of not wanting to ask for help. Rather than take his word for it, I opted to stay with him and help explain the lesson until he was a natural at it, our study session lasting long into the night before ending at 2AM. He thanked me for not listening to his initial answer and would go on to graduate alongside me in the end.
When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced with these scenarios?
It is most difficult to apply empathy when it is clear that an individual (supervisor, colleague, or customer) is being unreasonably aggressive and hostile. In these situations, no matter how you approach it, it is clear that this person will not be reasoned with and is looking for a fight. During these types of confrontation, I find that it is usually most helpful to take a step back and not let my own temper rise to match the level of the aggressor, typically taking a breather and a change of scenery in the form of a brief walk away from the situation. While the aggressor may not make any progress in calming down during this brief period, I am able to keep a calm, cool head and maintain a level of professionalism that may have been difficult to keep should tempers have flared any higher.