Gear-Up Gist

TarasTarlov-mod-0-GearUp.md

Gear-Up Answers

What role does empathy play in your life and how has it helped you?

After reading the articles and watching the videos for this exercise I can see how empathy can be learned, however I do feel that it’s something that has to be taught from an early age. I grew up in Russia where culture is different from the American culture both have their positives and negatives. I do think that empathy plays a larger role in Russian culture than it does in American culture. A lot of people confuse empathy with sympathy and I myself do that as well. I do feel that empathy requires much more than just understanding of other peoples’ troubles or state. You have to really know and feel what it’s like to be in their shoes. A good example of somebody wealthy being empathetic with somebody who is poor. A person who has been born into wealth can not truly understand what it’s like to be poor. I try to use empathy in my relationships with others. I try to be attentive and always consider how my actions will affect the people around me.

How does empathy help you build better software?

When designing software that will be used by others you have to make sure you can see it from the users perspective. And not every user is the same. I think a good example of this is making sure if you are designing a piece of software that it might be used by somebody with a disability or a special need, somebody different from me.
Software developers also don’t typically work all by themselves and rely on team effort. Being able to listen to others’ concerns and seeing their perspective and truly understand their views makes for a better and more cohesive team.

Why is empathy important for working on a team?

We spend a lot of time at work surrounded by coworkers. Often we spend more time with our coworkers than our spouses or significant others. It’s important to build close and strong relationships with people that we work with. For a team to be successful members of the team need to listen to each other, be open about whats on their mind and be understanding of other team members.

Describe a situation in which your ability to empathize with a colleague or teammate was helpful.

In my last sales job I worked together with a good friend of mine ( he was a friend before we became coworkers). They say that it’s never a good idea to be in business with your close friends, and there is certainly truth to that. However, because I chose to be a good listener and was open to my teammates views ( even ones I totally disagreed with) we worked really well together. There were a number of times where I disagreed with his approach but through talking and analyzing our disagreements we were able to always work out a mutually agreeable plan

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 have never managed other people but I have had a fair share of “bad managers”. Being on the managed side I found myself disagreeing with my managers attitude or particular style of management. I think one setting where being empathetic in a workplace is most difficult, is when other people, be it coworkers or managers, are hostile towards others. Commonly my initial reaction is to be guarded and respond with rudeness towards rudeness. Obviously this does not resolve anything. I think in situations like that you have to stay calm and try and have a civilized conversation and try to understand what exactly is causing the team member or manager to act out they way he or she is. I always try and focus on what their ultimate goal is. With management in sales it’s typically performance and their paycheck depending on my performance.