What role does empathy play in your life and how has it helped you?
- I have valued empathy since I was young, and I believe that it's a large part of why I went into teaching. Often times I naturally am able to put myself into children and families shoes, and that lead me to create very meaningful connections with students/families that were going through big transitions with their child being in special education. Overall, empathy is an important part of who I am and it has helped me be successful in a variety of work environments from teaching to being a barista.
How does empathy help you build better software?
- Empathy will help me build better software because it is an integral piece of the entire creation process. Modern programming is a collaborative process with many people involved, therefore it's incredibly important for me to be empathetic towards each teammate in order to best understand and utilize their ideas and suggestions. Empathy will also allow me to foster meaningful relationships with coworkers and clients alike. Software is ultimately all about how the end products interacts with the user, therefore I must have strong empathy skills in order to best understand the user experience.
Why is empathy important for working on a team?
- Empathy is important for working on a team because it allows you to see from your teammates perspective. By having empathy for my team, I will be able to create meaningful relationships and build the best products. Perhaps most importantly, empathy will allow me to best give and take constructive feedback. Being a part of a team means being open to everyones input, and genuinely believing that everyone on the team has the best interest of the product at heart. Empathy allows this belief.
Describe a situation in which your ability to empathize with a colleague or teammate was helpful.
- My ability to empathize with a teammate has been evident in my experiences as a special education teacher. An experience that immediately comes to mind was at an elementary school where a parent wanted to hold back their student, but a teammate was advocating that that is not something public schools do anymore. My teammate was simply stating the facts - rambling on about research that proved that holding this student back would not help him anyway. The parents, on the other hand, were in tears because this research didn't change the fear that they had for their child being so behind academically and socially. The decision to not hold the student back was made quickly within the meeting, but there was still so much disconnect between the staff and the parents. I asked my teammates and the parents to stay a little longer while I could explain the emotional side of this decision. I explained to the parents that while this was an extremely scary step for them, that everyone at this school was on the student's team and we would be taking extra precautions to ensure that he felt supported in the 4th grade. After this reassurance the parents left with a lighter heart and believing that we truly were there for the family, not that we solely made the decision because research wouldn't support it anyway. I put myself in the parents shoes in order to connect with them on a deeper level and understand where their fear was coming from.
When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced with these scenarios?
- The most difficult times to be empathetic in professional settings is inevitably when one disagrees with someones decisions, especially when those decisions effect you. I will continuously improve my skills in this arena by working on my active listening. It can be easy to come into a meeting with the presumption that you will disagree with what your teammate wants, so in order to reverse this I will learn to always come into decision meetings with an open mind and utilize active listening.