Empathy at work is not a luxury – it’s a necessity for the health of an organization and its people. It’s also a key leadership skill. A whitepaper by the Center for Creative Leadership revealed that managers who show more empathy towards their direct reports are viewed as better performers in their role by their own boss. 

“Organizations that build empathy as a competency tend to have more effective teamwork, better levels of employee engagement, and the ability to handle conflict in more constructive ways,” according to Jennifer Lawrence, MBA, Managing Director at Process Design Consultants. 

The benefits of empathy in the workplace are not just internal. “Empathetic organizations tend to have better relationships with customers and clients since the ability to see things from the perspective of others is helpful in everything, from customer service to marketing.”

Amazing, but if empathy is a competency, then what does it actually look like in practice? What are some actions that demonstrate it versus actions that show a lack of it? Lawrence, who specializes in creating trauma-informed and emotionally safe workspaces, shared her insights on the topic below. 

Empathy as a skill 

First, let’s define empathy. “Empathy describes the ability to understand how someone else is feeling or to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. It’s an attempt to better understand someone and try to see things from their perspective,” says Lawrence. 

“Successful organizations are diverse and employ folks with differing ages, cultural backgrounds, gender and sexual orientation, socio-economic status, etc. In order to lead diverse teams, it’s important that one be able to consider other perspectives, and empathy is an important skill to learn.” 

That’s right: It’s a skill and not a circumstance or a fixed trait. Seeing it that way can allow you to foster it in the workplace and even place importance on empathetic behaviors during things like performance reviews. 

Signs of high empathy in the workplace

If you’re wondering whether you and your team are doing well on the empathy front, look at engagement levels. According to Lawrence, a leader with empathy tends to have highly engaged reports and decreased rates of absenteeism and turnover in their team. They have good people skills: They are able to support employees in navigating conflict and also likely to connect well with customers and clients. 

As for signs of empathy in a group, empathetic teams tend to experience less drama. “When there is an empathetic team, you tend to have fewer interpersonal problems. There will still be disagreements – in fact, people will likely feel more comfortable expressing differing views – but people will listen to each other and be respectful,” says Lawrence. 

Think of it like this vibe of openness, trust, and curiosity. On the other hand, judgment and the inability to try to see things from another person’s perspective demonstrate low empathy. 

Finally, if creativity and innovation are flowing abundantly in your team, you may have empathy to thank for that. “You tend to see better decisions being made with more creative alternatives. Empathy tends to lead to innovation since everyone feels emotionally safe in expressing their views,” adds Lawrence. 

Examples of empathy at work 

Here are a few other examples of empathy at work in action to help you grasp where you’re at and what to improve on. 

Let’s say that your report comes to you and says that they feel a policy is discriminatory. If you listen and assume that if you shared their perspective, you’d see it the same way, that’s empathy in action – you don’t even have to fully understand the experience of that person to be able to empathize with it. 

“Empathetic leaders seek to understand rather than act defensively. If a woman approaches her male boss and says that the system for promotion seems sexist, an empathetic boss will thank the employee for her honesty (many employees would simply quit) and try to understand things from her perspective with a mindset of making change,” says Lawrence. 

Another concrete example is how you deal with workload concerns. What if someone says they have too much work to do? Experienced managers may forget that what may be an easy task for themselves could be challenging for someone more junior. Or they may not realize that their report is overburdened by other responsibilities. Empathy in action in that scenario looks like approaching the situation with curiosity and listening actively. 

“Maybe the employee needs more training. Maybe they are feeling burned out and are not as productive. Listening can identify many problems in the system and will allow you to improve processes and workflow. Taking the time to listen can increase productivity in the long run,” according to Lawrence. 

Empathy at work can also look like calling out bullying behavior or micro-aggressions. Ideally, you’d have fewer of those in an empathetic work environment, but not everyone shares the same perspective on what’s problematic. Speaking up offers an opportunity to create awareness of unconscious biases and build a safer space instead of letting tension fester. 

Here’s a surprising one: Empathy in action in the workplace is also about what you don’t do. “Many people think that empathy is about doing or saying something but it’s more about not reacting right away and taking the time to listen. Empathy is as much about unlearning as it is about learning as people realize that not everyone sees things the same way they do,” says Lawrence 

Now that you have a better idea of what being empathetic at work entails in practice, go do what you do with any other skill: Set goals, practice new skills, and learn and grow.