Empathy In The Workplace

Empathy In The Workplace

Or how the previous generation is responsible for millennials’ failures.

Managers are leaders that should help employees be at their natural best. Their main feature is empathy, so what’s wrong with modern management?

How do people become managers?

People usually become managers if they are good at their job. This sounds great, but pay attention not to fall into the meritocracy trap. If one is good at doing something, it doesn’t mean they should be leading because, first, they have to change their way of thinking. For years they are focused on dealing with customers or maximizing profits. Then, they are in charge of building a team. And to build a good one, they have to bear in mind that they should get the blame and let others take the credit. But, does it always happen?

The manager’s role.

The idea that managers’ priorities are shareholders or maximizing profit spread in the 80s and 90s, in the years of an economic boom, when modern leaders started working. But as we have seen in a previous article (https://www.greenfeeling.it/2022/10/30/quiet-quitting-what-is-quiet-quitting-and-why-its-happening/), that hustle society is no longer sustainable. In our current situation, leaders should be responsible for the people who work with them, the same who are in charge of talking to the customers or maximizing profit. It is not about getting the job done but creating a good environment in which employees can shine.

Why Empathy is so important.

Empathy is essential because it helps us work (and live) in a better environment. And a lack of empathy is bad for business. Let’s give an example. I worked in a company for years and I knew good and bad managers. Good ones created good teams, while bad ones were focused on shareholders, without taking care of employees. For them, two semesters with no profit and people were out. This is wrong in at least two aspects. first of all, it is bad for people who lose their job because that negative period can have deeper roots. Maybe it is caused by a health problem, or maybe it has to do with family. We don’t know. So, better ask, and be sure that it has nothing to do with something outside before taking an important decision. And this leads us to the second reason empathy is important.

How can people who keep their job feel? In that situation? They keep doing their job with their heads low because there is no room for being vulnerable. People would be afraid of losing their job all the time, ad if they don’t understand something they won’t say anything, because it would mean putting a target on their backs.

The previous generation’s failure So, if entire generations (millennials and soon gen Z) are struggling to find their way in the modern labour market, it is also because there is a generation that is still thinking like forty years ago, while the world around them is changing at a rapid pace.

Matteo Felici

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