In this episode, learn why the business of empathy matters to you, whether you represent an organization or are a professional or are simply a human being. No matter your job or industry, you can benefit from learning more about empathy. It improves professional skills, like sales and management, personal skills, like trust and intimacy, and skills that help with everything, like communication.

The theme of this episode is prosocial vs. antisocial behavior. The three key questions answered in this episode all are rooted in how behaviors, coming from those two categories, affect our day-to-day lives.

How does empathy impact an organization?

The four pillars of an unempathetic organization discussed in this episode—lack of respect, commitment, collaboration, and communication—result in a myriad of costs, including:

• High employee turnover
• Expensive hiring and training processes
• HR problems
• Poor customer service
• Lack of productivity
• Low customer satisfaction
• Low customer retention
• Poor company image
• Poor sales
• Inhibited growth
• Being slow to adapt
• Low shareholder returns
• A toxic environment making it hard to be productive, hire quality employees, and get customers

Consider this statistic (and see this study here): “82% of employees surveyed in one 2019 workplace study said they would consider leaving their current organization for a more empathetic one”

Do you want to be an organization that 82% of your staff would be willing to leave? Or do you want to be known for your organization’s empathy? It matters how your organization is viewed by both your employees and your customers because it impacts both who wants to work for you and who wants to buy from you.

A lack of empathy results in increased costs and decreased profits on the organizational level which can impact an organization’s ability to succeed, grow, and make returns to stakeholders.

Why should individual professionals care about empathy?

Empathy impacts the individual professional in a myriad of ways and recognizing that you work in an unempathetic environment is the first step to making change. That sort of work environment looks like hating where you work; having low job satisfaction, low motivation and productivity, high stress, and poor coworker relationships.

This problem may stem from a lack of empathy on the personal level within the team or there may be an organizational lack of empathy, which is often deep-seated in both written policy and unspoken company culture.

This episode focuses on an individual's impact on organizational empathy.

How does empathy impact us personally?

Empathy impacts every relationship we have, be it personal or professional, and by developing our empathetic skills in one context, with intentionality, we can learn to apply it in other contexts as well. By developing empathy as a professional skill, you will be able to better connect with your loved ones; better communicate your needs, wants, and ideas; and find greater satisfaction in the relationships you have.

What else?

Also in this episode, the hosts discuss:

Is the goal of the listener to become more empathetic or to exhibit more empathetic behavior?

Can people truly become more empathetic?

If this all seems interesting, then listen to find out more!

Actionable Takeaway for this Week:

Notice prosocial and antisocial behavior in yourself and others around you. Become curious about it. And join us next week as we begin our four part series about how to b