Empathy plays a big role in my life. From something like my boss understanding that life gets hard and sometimes I need a mental health day. To something as small as me not cutting off the car who’s driving like a jerk because maybe there’s some emergency going on in that person’s life. Being shown empathy has definitely helped me because sometimes you just need someone to give a break and relate to you. It can definitely make the difference between having a good day or having a bad day.
Empathy is an important part of building software designed for users. Listening to them, understanding their needs, and interacting with them allows you to know what the end user actually needs.. Knowing how the product will be used can cause certain functions to be expanded or removed entirely. It can also help developers spot issues during development and testing instead of after the product has been released. This way people like Lucy from the Bresler Group article can get a product that actually works for them the first time.
You need to know how to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and also when to ask someone to do the same if you feel like they’re not understanding you. I liked the examples of how empathy is used in feedback and active listening from The Muse article. If the team doesn’t have empathy then feedback won’t be well received and can come off as too harsh. Additionally, to have empathy you need to practice active listening so you can actually process what is being said and make the other person feel heard and valued.
At my current company, we have offices in the US, Australia, and Amsterdam, so communication can be difficult. We had someone start in Amsterdam, who was hired for a different team. He needed to be trained to do his job by my team (yeah, it still doesn’t make sense). I would wake up to at least 10 slack messages from him freaking out. At first I was annoyed because we weren’t involved in the hiring process and this person wasn’t even on my team. Why should I spend the first 2-3 hours of my morning helping him? After a couple of weeks of frustration, I took a step back and remembered what it was like to be brand new at my job and how many hours I spent trying to solve basic SQL problems. This poor person was working until 8 PM every night so that I could help him during my work hours. It wasn’t his fault we weren’t part of the interview process, so why should he be punished? This situation was definitely a humbling experience for me. I’ve done my best to put myself in the other person’s shoes during difficult situations since then.
When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced with these scenarios?
I find it most difficult if the other person I’m talking with is being combative right off the bat whenever there’s an issue. I’ve learned to improve my empathy by just being direct about my problems. I’ll usually say something along the lines of “We’re clearly having a communication issue. What am I not understanding that’s frustrating you?” However, I don’t always do this, so one skill I can improve upon is my patience. Sometimes when I’m also having a bad day, I’ll go straight into being just as argumentative. I’m hoping all the group projects at Turing will help me work on my patience, slowing down, and having a productive conversation even when I’m having a bad or stressful day.