Empathy is a fundemental quality by which I try to live. In everything from personal relationships and being a supportive friend to my professional roles working with children or working abroad with teams of foreign coworkers, empathy is a daily necessity. I believe it's important to try and see the world from the perspectives of others and set aside the assumption that one's beliefs or personal way of doing things is the right way. Living abroad, I have found that approaching others with openingness and empathy often leads to rich first-hand expereinces, like invitations to intamiate family holiday celebratations and an expected friendship. Empathy has also helped me be a better co-teacher when working with a team of teachers. Knowing when to step back and open to dynamic changes is vital when teaching and would be difficult in practice if not approached with empathy.
It seems like empathy is an important element of the design process because total understanding of the project objectives is key. Listening to a client is not always enough. It helps to try and imagine onesself in the role of the user, in an effort to envision possible needs beyond what the client themselves is aware of. Doing so can also help a designer better forsee potentional problems as well. Approaching software development from an empathetic point of view can help create a better user expereince. It can help a company make products with improved intention. It can help a team work more effectively and synergystically. As a desginer it can help one make a product that is actually needed rather than the product that the designer wanted it to be.
Working on a team versus indivdually has a lot of benefits. A team offers a wider variety of ideas, preferences, abilities, and problem-solving potential. But, in order to actualize a team's full potential, the team must communicate well, and respect, appreciate, and give time to the ideas of others. Empathy is essential. Having empathy can help others feel comfortable coming forward to ask questions, which can ultimately help speed up processes or help avoid mistakes being made due to communication breakdowns. An empathetic team dynamic can also help team memebers come forward with innovative ideas. It can also give a team a more balanced perspective. If certain memebers of a team are domineering and don't work at stepping back to let others be heard, it's likely that an end result will mostly be a reflection of their voices and vision and might lack the richness a diverse team could bring.
I was the lead teacher on a team of four teaching kindergarten in China. To be clear, that's four teachers in one classroom. As the lead teacher I was responsbile for the lessons but as the only non-Chinese teacher, my perspective was unique and certainly wasn't respresentative of the team. One of the things I brought to the team was my unique cultural perspective but by empathizing with my fellow-teachers we were all able to bring our valuable skills to the table. The lead Chinese teacher had ideas I never would've thought of and instead of silencing them, she took turns leading lessons as I supported. This brought a much richer experience to our children. The four of us were also able to dynamically respond to situations. Although we had roles in the classroom, these could be fluid in response to sitations as long as the team dynamic could support that. It wasn't that we were necessarily stepping outside of our roles to take over for each other, but rather taking on slightly more at a particular moment to allievate the burden of a struggling co-worker.
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 suppose I find it most difficult to be empathetic in a professional setting when I strong believe in my way of doing something and am unable to see the logic in someone else's perspective. In this situation communicating with patience and kindness is important and slowing down to actually listen to the other person's reasoning behind their method or idea. I have tried to work on this by actually being willing to explore other people's ideas at times when I am unable to come up with a valid reason not to. I've tried making an effort to see how something plays out rather than squashing it. Working towards communicating clearly, calmly, and being able to support my point-of-view is another method of handling this.