Business managers need to look beyond conventional techniques of management in order to acquire a workforce that has the ability to lead the organization forward. And one of the important ingredients for a successful business is empathy. Business managers must empathize not only with their clients but with team players as well. Some managers may find employee empathy unacceptable. Others are just so focused in their egocentric worlds that they are too busy showing off their superiority over other people.
Empathy is the ability to understand another person’s feelings. This type of understanding lets managers to build rapport which allows people to feel associated to each other. In business management, this allows you to truly know your employees and as a result create wise decisions on how to further improve job performance. Although not everyone has the ability to empathize with employees, there are management courses Melbourne which can help you develop the key ingredients of being an effective manager. Here are a couple of tips on how to build empathy.
1. Listen – You need to be a great listener in order to understand the feelings and thoughts of other people. Active listening warrants the goal to truly understand what you’re hearing. It can be done by making use of your ears, eyes and heart every time you listen.
2. Ask questions – Asking questions to your employees shows that you care about them and that you’re interested to know how they are doing.
3. Avoid interruptions. When an employee expresses a concern, don’t be negligent. Avoid rushing to give an advice or don’t try to change the subject. Let employees express themselves freely without any interruptions. And when they’re done talking, you need to ask permission before giving your opinion on the matter.
4. Understand non-verbal communication – Even if people are telling you something, their actions might be telling you something else. In addition to listening, you need to be observant about other people’s behavior or actions. You need to learn how to read other people’s behavior. Like the old saying goes, “actions do speak louder than words”.
5. Smile at people – Avoid frowning in the workplace. Start smiling at your employees whenever you see them. By doing so, you will appear more approachable and easy to talk to.
6. Give your undivided attention – Whenever you are having a conversation with an employee, don’t do things that may be interpreted as lack of concern such as frequently glancing at your watch, your cell phone or taking phone calls.
7. Give genuine appreciation – Give full attention on how your employees carry out their tasks. And give sincere praises whenever an employee does something great. Sincere words of recognition encourage people to work even better.
8. Persuade employees to share their opinions during discussions – Encouraging people to speak up particularly the quiet ones will help them increase their confidence.
9. Show your interest in people – You can do so by asking questions about their hobbies, the challenges they’ve been through and their aspirations. This will show them that you truly care about them because they are valuable to the company.