- What role does empathy play in your life and how has it helped you?
- Having had a handful of jobs in retail and customer service oriented positions empathy has been at the center of my success in those positions. Having constantly worked with end consumers, typically in a seller/buyer type scenario, empathy is a key tool to create rapport and trust within that brief encounter. On the customer service side of the work when you often are dealing with an unhappy or frustrated customer it is essential to use empathy to better understand where they are coming from and why they are acting in this way. Having that understanding makes conflict resolution significantly easier while also providing a solution that they will find agreeable. It is a skill that has been essential to my success in previous professional roles.
- How does empathy help you build better software?
- Empathy helps you build better software by increasing the ability of a team to collaborate and work together effectively. If members of a team are aware of others emotions, feeling and thought processes then they will better be able to work with eachother efficiently with minimal conflict. Also, the idea of being empathetic towards the user that you are in turn building the software for. Just like what Mathieu Turpault was saying in his article about product design. In order to build or design the best product or software you have to fully understand the user and how the product will not only effect their lives but also fit into their daily activities. Being able to put yourself into their position and not just relying on what you think is best or right you are able to see the problem/project from more angles providing greater insight into the best solution and use. This absolutely applies to software in the same way, where the vast majority of software is created to perform a task, solve a problem, increase efficiencies, and it has a specific purpose and objective. I feel like this would be more on the UX/UI aspect of software, but being able to see how the software will be used from the the angle of the vast diversity of people using it will only help the software to be more efficient and applicable to a wider audience or even more geared to the specific end user and their needs.
- Why is empathy important for working on a team?
- The effectiveness of a team relies on the ability of the members to work collaboratively and efficiently. Nothing slows or stops that process quicker then when members of a team do not get along or have a disagreement which puts a hold on communication. Empathy is important in this context because being able to understand what is going through the mind of your teammate will help you to avoid conflict by increasing the ability to communicate. Communication is the key ingredient to an effective team, and empathy is a tool that creates meaningful and efficient communication through a higher understanding of how the rest of your teammates prefer to communicate. For example, Johnny is social and needs to have that personal connection in order to be an effective team member, so it is okay to ask him how is evening was and to initiate small talk as that can build a relationship which is an important aspect of the team to Johnny. Then there is Bill who is more quite and prefers not to be interrupted while working, so asking him how his evening was while he is obviously in the middle of something is probably not a good idea as it will only frustrate him and put him into a conversation he does not want to be in. Empathy is at the core of making these decisions and being aware of how people react to what you do is an important part of working on a team.
- Describe a situation in which your ability to empathize with a colleague or teammate was helpful.
- This past Spring working at SCARPA, my boss the Sales Operations Manager left and they hired a replacement. The replacement came in and was doing a good job, but took a more quiet and hands-off approach to learning his position. As someone who had been working there for awhile this was a bit frustrating at times, as I often new more about his daily tasks/roles than he did. Being empathic towards his position and what he must be feeling coming in to a new job and overseeing a new team was essential in my ability to help him make that transition as smooth as possible. Once I was able to understand more what was going through his mind and understood his personality better we began to work better together, and I was able to provide greater assistance throughout his process which created a better rapport between us. If I had stayed in my head and never taken the time to understand what and why he was taking this approach then we would not have formed that relationship which resulted in a more cohesive and efficient team.
- When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced with these scenarios?
- Professional situations where the person on the other end seems to be acting irrational, rude, or angry are the most difficult for me to be empathetic towards. This was especially the case working in customer service and dealing with rude and angry customers. When someone is being directly rude to you then it is much harder to get out of your own head and try to understand why they are acting this way. Though, being able to do that typically helps the situation greatly rather than just continually escalating it. This being because they are acting this way for a reason, and typically there is some logic to that reason no matter how obscured or lost it has become in that frustration. If you are able to figure out that core reason and then address that directly a resolution can often be quickly found. This does get trickier when dealing with coworker instead of a customer as it is someone you probably see and interact with every day. I think being able to keep calm and maintain a level head in these situations greatly improves the ability to be empathetic. Just like most things it is a two way street, and it can be seen from the other side. That being empathetic when you are the one frustrated, angry or mad is probably even harder because you feel so right that you don't care what the person receiving the butt end of your frustration is feeling. I think the best way to help these situations from both sides is to first understand why you are feeling and acting in the way you are and then ask yourself is what I'm doing really the most efficient way to reach my desired solution. Once you have that figured out then attempt to understand where the other person is coming from an through that find a solution together rather than working against eachother.