Empathy In Business - Pulse.microsoft
Empathy in BusinessTurning empathy into bottom line value/ Happier employees/ Increased customer satisfaction/ More profit/ Stronger brand
“Empathy is one of our greatest toolsof business that is most underused”-Daniel LubetzkyIndexForeword/3Contributors/4Empathy – Definition/6Happier employees/9Satisfied customers/8Increased revenue/ 13Stronger brand/ 17Case examples/ 18References & links/ 23Empathy inin BusinessBusiness // 22Empathy
Foreword.”Success comes from empathy”-Satya NadellaIn today’s demanding business environment leaders need to cultivatethe ability to be empathetic. The tendency to be egocentric is anevolutionary survival mechanism. But times have changed. We live inan economy where people value experiences and give their time andmoney to companies and leaders they can respect and that give themadditional value. That value is not born through traditional leadership –it is born through leaders who are mentors more than bosses, coachesmore than managers.The 2018 State of the Workplace Empathy Report by Businessolverfound that “87% of CEOs agree the company’s financial performance istied to empathy”. According to CareerBuilder 2019 report, candidates’soft skills are increasingly important when applying for jobs. 92%of employers say soft skills, including empathy, will be important indetermining if they will hire candidates. Companies are reacting to thebenefits of using empathy consistently in leadership, as it will help themgain advantage, for example increased customer satisfaction, happieremployees, higher revenue and stronger brand.Welcome to learn how and why to harness the power of empathy into abusiness advantage. This manual will show you research, case studies, aswell as thoughts of leaders who value empathy high in their leadershipstrategy, with excellent results.Empathy inin BusinessBusiness // 33Empathy
Contributors”Modern business needs emotionalintelligence and empathy”-Jussi TolvanenJussi TolvanenEmpathy, in many ways, is essential for gaining success. I haveseen many examples of the power of empathy in different areasof technology. It’s important to understand that empathy canbe learned. For us, who might not have the strongest naturalempathy skills, learning happens through life experiences andpain - and it s worth the journey. I want to share my knowledgeon how to use empathy in business and what are the benefitsof it. – Managing Director, Microsoft Oy. Master of Science inEconomics and Business Administration.Katarina EngblomWhen you think about technology you think about innovations,and there are no innovations without empathy. This is one of thereasons I want to speak and advocate about empathy in busi-ness. When a team pursues a dream, the manager is responsiblefor ensuring that they work with empathy, understanding, andcourage. – Director, One Commercial Partner & Small, Mediumand Corporate Customers, Microsoft Oy. Master of Science inEngineering.Empathy inin BusinessBusiness // 44Empathy
Tony NamuloIn my work my goal is to increase customer satisfaction.There is no customer experience without empathy. As a brandexpert, I know that the basic science behind visual branding isunderstanding. Only when you understand how your customersperceive your brand, will you be able to improve and servethem better. –Director, Customer Experience, Tavale. Educationalbackground in Software Development.Niina MajaniemiI realized the power of empathy in business when I researchedemotional intelligence in recruitment for my master’s thesis.During my career I have witnessed empathetic leaders whoachieve incredible results – both in terms of revenue and withhelping others, which has inspired me. I also saw leaders whowork driven by their own ego and that has made me an advocateof driving change. I have studied empathy in business for yearsand am happy to share this knowledge in this manual. – Free-lance writer, Franchise community manager, M Room. Master ofBusiness Administration, International business management.Empathy inin BusinessBusiness // 55Empathy
Empathy – DefinitionEmpathy can be learnedEmpathy means the capacity of comprehending what another person isexperiencing from within the other person’s frame of reference. It meansthat one can place oneself in another’s position. The competency ofconnecting with others and relating to others—which is empathy in itspurest form—is the force that can help your business succeed.Psychologists Daniel Goleman and Paul Ekman divide empathy intothree categories:1 Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand how a personfeels and what they are thinking. Cognitive empathy helps us tocommunicate better.2 Emotional empathy (also known as affective empathy) is the abilityto identify with the feelings of another person. This helps youbuild deep relationships with others.3 Compassionate empathy (also known as empathic concern) movesus to act and makes us do good for others.Empathy in Business / 6
According to brain researcher Katri Saarikivi, empathy is not opposite ofintelligence; empathy can be adapted for example for predicting whatthe competitor thinks, or for understanding consequences when there isa need to lay off a large number of employees; skills that an intelligentleader surely uses.Daniel Goleman has made extraordinary claims that emotional intel-ligence will account for success at home and work. Empathy could bethe cornerstone of emotional intelligence. Other critical soft skills tomention a few are interpersonal awareness, self-esteem, resiliency, stressmanagement, and motivation.It’s important to remember that research has shown that empathy is notsimply inborn, but can be taught and learned, it can be developed overtime just like a muscle, through exercising this important human skillevery day.”No great innovations without empathy.No empathy without actions.”-Katarina Engblom, Microsoft Oy.”Empathy makes youa better innovator”-Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft.Empathy inin BusinessBusiness // 77Empathy
Empathy is the competitive edge leaders are missing, statesthe Businessolver 2019 study. According to The Empathy Businessempathy is positively correlated with growth, productivity, and earnings.The Index also makes a case for empathy boosting the bottom line asthe top 10 most empathetic companies generated 50% more earningsthan those ranking least.“Empathetic workplace has a positiveimpact on business performance.”Daniel Goleman shares three reasons why empathy is important:increasing use of teams, rapid pace of globalization and growing needto retain talent. In its article “Rewards multiply with workplace empathy”,Washington Post states that “organizations that teach their managers toshow empathy will discover exponential results”. State of the WorkplaceEmpathy 2018 study by Businessolver found that 80% of employees,HR professionals and CEOs agreed that an empathetic workplace hasa positive impact on business performance, motivating workers andincreased productivity.Empathy in Business / 8
Happier EmployeesAccording to Forbes, Empathetic leaders may be more effective atfostering inclusive workplaces. World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobsreport states that emotional intelligence is one of the top 10 job skills in2020. Empathy is an effective tool for successful personal developmentdiscussions. In today’s diverse workforce empathy also helps buildcohesion; inclusion comes when people successfully want and have skillsto communicate with people who are different.“Empathy is a significant skill for work life.”Psychologist Jaakko Sahimaa states that soft skills are very important inbusiness. “To achieve goals, we need soft skills. Employees are humanbeings and a leader needs to be prepared to lead and encounter peoplein an empathetic manner. Empathy is a significant skill for work life.””While the influence of technologyis growing, our need for humanconnection is unchanging.”-Niina Majaniemi”The future of human work isgrounded in empathy as a job skill”-Tony NamuloEmpathy inin BusinessBusiness // 99Empathy
42.5% of the global workforce is expected to be working remotely by2022. In an increasingly global and remote workforce, we need to knowhow to keep our teams connected and working towards the same goal.Today’s leaders are coaches above all. “It s the duty of a leader to helpothers succeed”, says Jussi Tolvanen. Empathy is the tool that helps inthis effort.How to build an empathetic company culture?Tip:As a leader, approach leadership with “how does my work benefitothers”. Check out your ego and check in your ability to be acoach and a mentor. Employees apply empathy only if the leadersdo too.Give your employees more freedom in everyday decision making.Listen. Be present. Ensure that employees get training on emo-tional intelligence (EQ). If we aren’t emotionally intelligent, we areslaves of our impulses, as EQ allows us to control our emotions.Encourage people to talk about their development needs. Createan environment where development and admitting weaknessesare accepted and even welcomed.In challenging situations, like reducing people, treat them withunderstanding and respect so that you can proudly face themafterwards, even if they had moved on. Support them with references or recommendations for another position.When giving negative feedback deliver the message with empathy. That helps break down the barrier and eliminate defensiveresponse. Instead of “You have not finished your projects and youneed to work harder” try “I noticed that you struggle with schedules. Can we talk about why and how I can best support you?”.Empathy in Business / 10
Increased customer satisfaction-Empathy equals customer experienceWe are in a new era where customers are no longer passive. The digitalexplosion allows the customers want more, demand more, and knowmore. Communication is a true dialogue. Empathy helps us to see theworld of the customer. It is about having the emotional intelligence tochoose the right emotional response to make the customer satisfied.Forrester’s research shows that “the return on investment (ROI) on evensmall increases in customer experience (CX) Index score continues to besignificant. For a big-box retailer, a 1-point improvement can lead to anextra 244 million in incremental revenue, and a decrease in CX Indexscore can slash revenue and profit just as dramatically.”How to calculate the ROI of empathy? There are several ways, depending on the business model. Companies can for example test whichcustomer service team has higher customer satisfaction rates and lesschurn; those who receive empathy training and talk to customers orthose who handle everything by e-mail, quickly and efficiently, butlacking the personal edge. Empathy training pays off fast. TelefonicaGermany saw a 6% increase in customer satisfaction within six weeks ofimplementing an empathy training program.According to Forrester research customer experience winners gain 4.6times more revenue growth than those who idle with CX. After implementing their “Always Getting Better” program, targeted to increaseEmpathy in Business / 11
customer satisfaction, Ryanair saw a net profit increase from 867 millionto 1.24 billion. CEO Michael O’Leary said: “If I’d only known being nice tocustomers was going to work so well, I’d have started many years ago.”How to use empathy to create better customer experience?“For example, remove or change the check-in formalities for travel wornhotel guests so they can relax and start enjoying their holiday immedi-ately after their long journey. Or to make your website and multimediabrand assets more accessible to customers who may have a permanentdisability or temporary impairment, simplify written text for more accu-rate machine translation, add alternative text for graphics and use closedcaptions for video”, says Tony Namulo.Tip:Ensure you understand customer needs. Don’t assume.Provide outstanding customer experiences: anticipate acustomer’s needs and exceed their expectations byorchestrating moments of delight.Start by analyzing the current processes and then evaluate whichone of them could be transferred into meeting the customerneeds better.Recognize customers’ emotions and respond accordingly,personalizing your response.Give your employees a set of phrases to act as guidelines for acknowledge customers emotions. For example, “I understand howfrustrating that would be” or “I can see why you feel that way”.A study by Penn State University reveals that people using web chatare happier with the customer experience if agents use emoticons andrespond fast. If you focus on empathy, Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) willmost likely be the first metric to improve. When customers feel heardand understood, they are much more likely to provide a good satisfaction rating on feedback surveys.Empathy in Business / 12
Increased Revenue- Beyond the bottom line. Different paths tosuccess.Increased customer satisfaction and referrals.We see a shift across the board for companies to become customer centric. The Eptica Study ‘Power of Linguistics: Consumers vs Agents – canthe gap be closed?’ found that companies that fail to show empathy arelikely to lose customers, with 82% of consumers saying they always oroften switched supplier if customer service staff failed to correct issues.”While the influence of technologyis growing, our need for humanconnection is unchanging.”-Niina MajaniemiEmpathyininBusinessBusiness // 1313Empathy
Tip:In customer meetings, don t focus on what you want. Instead,ensure you know what the customer wants to achieve, what theyare missing, and what would fulfill their goals. This helps you geta win-win solution.Never say “the customer is being difficult”. Customers aren tdifficult but have a driver you might not understand. With empathy you can find out what it is.Accelerated productivity and innovationA study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found thatempathetic interventions dramatically increase productivity. Empathy isa wellspring for innovation. To acquire more revenue, good ideas can’tstay hidden inside company walls. According to Katarina Engblom, youneed a joint goal, a culture where ideas are accepted as well as diversityand inclusion to create something new. All these require empathy.Tip:Create a culture where it is safe and expected to bring out new ideas,and people know that leaders listen to them without judgment.Higher performance in diverse workplacesTo achieve an equitable and inclusive workplace it s imperative forleaders to be well-trained in inclusive strategies led by empathy. Performance suffers if people from different backgrounds cannot understandeach other. “Diversity is very important in business today, but it s notenough just to hire people from different backgrounds, knowledge andcultures; you need to include them with their ideas and insights into theteam and build on the joint strengths”, reminds Katarina Engblom.Empathy in Business / 14
Tip:When you have a team where opinions differ vastly, don’t rejectsomebody’s idea even if you feel it is the furthest from what youare thinking. Instead, dig deeper and ask: “where do you basethat opinion on” or “what makes you convinced that is the bestthing?”. Be open - don t assume, bypass or belittle anyone.Evaluate ways of working. If the management sits away fromemployees, the culture of open innovation suffers. Move themanagement team where people are, ensure anyone can comeand speak to them when they have ideas or productive feedback.This will speed up the rate for new innovations and demonstraterespect towards employees.Better engagement and collaboration.Empathy helps us assimilate with thoughts and feelings of others,and therefore empathy is a key skill in building trusted relationships.Research shows that the average U.S. employee is not only disengagedat work, but half of U.S. employees are searching for a new job. Thiscan impact businesses’ bottom lines by more than 600 billion in lostproductivity per year.Empathy in Business / 15
Design“Empathy is the core of service design”, according to Beada Hiiri, LeadService Designer at Wärtsilä. Design driven companies outshine otherson the S&P 500 by over 200. Kelly B. Heard and Ravi Mehta tested theeffects of empathy on design. The article published in the Journal ofConsumer Research in June 2018 shows that when designers imagineuser’s feelings, they created more creative, original, yet practical ideas,compared to when designing for a particular audience.Empathy will grow your marketing pipeline. Technology is changing ina rapid pace and we have more options than ever before – but at thesame time, it becomes harder to build trust with customers and partners.Empathy can drive sales starting from personal experience and customerservice. Revenue is not created by only looking at the numbers – thatis the old way. The modern and more effective way is to build empathyinto the customer experience you’re providing through all your actionsand channels towards different stakeholders.Tip:Jussi Tolvanen, how to make empathy a part ofeveryday business?”At work: Our colleagues have joys and sorrow.These feelings affect other people. Encounteryour colleagues openly, in an empathetic manner,even when you don t see eye to eye or strugglein some other way.””With customers, partners and vendors: How tolisten to your stakeholders more openly, withoutyour own agenda? By genuinely understandingothers’ views enables us to produce better endresults for all.Empathy in Business / 16
Stronger Brand-Empathy as a driver for brand strategy“Depending on the type of information you want technology to convey,how you want individuals to react to it, or how you predict they’re goingto react to it, you’re going to need to understand their current state. In away, their emotional state is going to give you some clue as to how they’relikely to respond.”Chris Edgar, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Banissy LabToday’s customers want to make a connection, and they choose a brandaccordingly. Empathy is the key for creating a positive brand experience.In daily operations it’s hard to see how a brand is perceived by thecustomers. Empathy forces you to look at your brand through the lensof human needs and values.Tip:Ensure that your brand narrative resonates on a personal levelwith customers. The key is to create meaningful one-on-oneconnections, welcome new innovations and improve your roadmap based on customer feedback.Create content to address precise problems and provide flexiblesolutions. Delta airlines flight crews ordered pizza for travelersstranded on the runway during a delay. Morgan Durrant toldCNN that Delta lets teams take the lead in doing meaningfulactions for customers during challenging situations. This resultedinto a large amount of positive customer shoutouts in socialmedia, a clear indication of the positive impact for the brand.Empathy in Business / 17
Case example:Empathy makes a stronger brand. - LinkedInSuccessful content marketing is about creating a connection betweenyour customers and your brand. This means creating valued and mean-ingful, personalized content that serves needs and solves issues, as wellas empowers customers. This type of content is successful only whendriven by empathy. Empathetic content marketing is a powerful strategyfor all types of businesses.LinkedIn: EbookLinkedIn Marketing Solutions aims to provide additional value to theircustomers; to enable marketers to reach their target audience as well ashelp them create more attractive content to achieve their goals. LinkedIncreated a service that helps its customers to feel empowered. The con-tent of the service is related to the benefits of LinkedIn but the team hasmade a significant push into content that educates all levels of marketeron a variety of topics, not just their own agenda (see more from this blog).The e-book, The Secret Sauce: Learn how LinkedIn uses LinkedIn formarketing, pro
Empathy is the competitive edge leaders are missing, states the Businessolver 2019 study. According to The Empathy Business empathy is positively correlated with growth, productivity, and earnings. The Index also makes a case for empathy boosting the bottom line as the top 10 most empathetic companies generated 50% more earnings
Shame and humiliation 16 Shame and self esteem 17 Shame and narcissism 18 II) The Difference Between Shame and Guilt 20 Attribution theory 22 III) Empathy 23 Empathy and sympathy 25 Empathy, personal distress and shame 25 IV) Shame Guilt and Empathy 27 Theories concerning shame and empathy 34 The measurement of shame guilt and empathy 36 V) Sex .
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pression of empathy. To date, there is limited knowl- edge of the empathy expressed by nurses in Taiwan acute care settings. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand patient-perceived empathy from nurse among different units of Taiwan acute care settings. 2. RESEARCH METHOD . The instrument used to measure patient-perceived empa-
Empathy Integration Idea To create safe and brave spaces of belonging, we need to commit to doing our work before we do the work and to working within our scope and skill. Key concepts: Developing an understanding of the meaning of empathy. Empathy is connecting with people so we know we’re not alone when we’re in struggle.
cultural empathy.This paper analyzes the value, necessity and current situation of cultivating students’ cultural empathy ability in college English teaching, and puts forward some strategies to improve students’ cultural empathy ability. 1. Introduction . Intercultural communication
Empathy as cultural process: insights from the cultural neuroscience of empathy Bobby K. Cheon1, Vani A. Mathur1, Joan Y. Chiao1,2 Abstract. In recent years, explorations of the neural correlates of empathy have been a rapidly growi
empathy? There are several approaches that people can take in an effort to help them with the development and building of empathy: 1) Learning about the benefits of showing empathy. 2) Identifying and reading the emotions in others. 3) Being able to place yourself i
course. The course was advertised as a training for social and philanthropic work. Birmingham was the first UK University to give aspiring social workers full status as students. From its founding in 1900 University staff had been actively involved in social welfare and philanthropic work in the City of Birmingham. Through research into the employment and housing conditions of poor people in .
