Newsletter Article
Member Benefit
Published Mon Jul 11 2022
Empathy training’s heart is in the right place, but it’s up to leaders to take it a step further. Empathizing with employees is one thing, but it’s an entirely different thing to actually care. To understand what this means, we must better understand the two terms themselves. Empathy has to do with feeling what another person is feeling or preserving the context for their behaviors. Caring takes it a step further. Regardless of whether you feel or even understand what another person is feeling, caring means taking the time and investing the effort to improve an employee’s experience. More simply put, empathy can be equated to knowing, while caring is doing. Action is the difference. When Gallup studied empathy among business leaders and the outcomes related to it, the organization found that some of the most successful executives and managers aren’t necessarily very empathetic. Not all of them could easily detect their team member’s feelings or needs, but they took the time and effort to act on the needs their employees communicated to them.
You've Reached ATD Member-only Content
Become an ATD member to continue
Already a member?Sign In
More from ATD