psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being,“ Empathy is a building block of morality- for people to follow the Golden Rule, it helps if they can put themselves in someone else’ s shoes.” It is a key ingredient of successful relationships because it helps us understand the perspectives, needs, and intentions of others.
Effective empathy takes you out of your world and into the world of another to see and experience the tensions that inform relevant insights and decisive action. It can be developed on three levels:
The first level is deep listening, and courageous conversations are the entry point to developing the empathetic lens. Allowing for silence, asking unscripted questions for free-flowing conversation and deeper answers, and probing for examples and stories that illustrate what may be difficult to articulate are all ways to start peeling back the layers. Frequency and consistency build connection, and, with time, an intuitive gut will develop.
The second level is through observation which helps in recognizing contradictions, noticing real versus claimed behaviors and beliefs, and perceiving social dynamic shifts in the presence of others are all critical in understanding real people in real life.
The last level is experience which makes it possible to genuinely live with the ideas, realities and limitations of others. We can get close to what it feels like to live someone else’ s experience.
For research to drive results, empathetic approaches need to be included in three key areas which are research design, participant engagement, and debrief or when releasing the results.
You must keep the consumer ' s emotions and needs in mind when designing the research project. Although at the design stage, you aren ' t talking to the consumer, you still understand them and design questions based on where they are.
Participants should be engaged in a way that makes them feel comfortable, relaxed and understood. Researchers must show them genuine care about them, about their experiences in their greatest details.
Whether it’ s a presentation or a video, empathy still matters when it comes to sharing research findings. Insights need to be shared in a way that caters to the research users for the results to drive meaningful action.
Creating a culture of empathy within an organization where“ connection with others beyond yourself” is a habit requires ongoing effort, is driven by agreed values, and is embedded within the daily workings of the organization.
A genuine assessment of the organization will help to set appropriate goals for improvement. Simple questions using behavioral science as a foundation will allow for the examination of the factors driving behavior and behavior change within an organization. These principles can not only show us the“ why?” but also the“ so what?” and the“ what now?”.
The most effective empathy programme for an organization is one that is consistent in terms of efforts and must address four questions:
The first question is the motivation of the team to change behavior to a more consumer-centric commitment. Are the benefits widely recognized and translated to daily business language? Is there confidence around what it means and an opportunity for people to receive guidance and feedback without risk?
The second is the ability of the teams to be more empathetic. Do they have skills and capabilities? Is the programme timely, relevant, or experiential? Are there programmes to help develop habits of empathy? Are they embedded in your daily routines?
Third is processing in terms of the work it will take to be people-focused on your organization and how automatic is it for your teams to answer any strategic question with the people they serve in mind.
The physical setting should also be conducive to an“ always on” representation of real people in real life. Finally, is whether the organizational norms and values support a human focus. Empathy must be part of the values held by the organization.
As stated earlier, empathy is not a onetime training or singular conversation.
It requires strong intention and focus to move through to meaningful insights.
To build an effective empathy programme for an organization therefore:
• Build the empathy muscle. This should be done while keeping in mind that creating a culture is no small task, but a critical“ movement” within an organization. This should start with training to build the necessary skills to get the most out of conversations, observations and sensory experiences. You also must measure and keep track of improvement over time.
• Connect consistently as empathy is not a one-time engagement. Apply your empathy muscle to connect with real people, in real life, on a regular basis. Find the people who can best represent the target audience and decide on the ideal way to connect with them with the right frequency.
• Add value! Bring the thinking, access and resources of your organization to the forefront and use them to address real problems. This is the time to convert empathy experiences into tensions and implications to be answered by business solutions.
• Finally, develop an ecosystem where empathy thrives. This can be done by retaining learnings and enabling them to be shared throughout the business to get maximum value from your programme. Find ways to capture and retain knowledge to organize and make sense of the time you have spent.
You need to tap into your organization’ s knowledge management platform to manage digital assets and socialize what you have learned throughout the company. This will avoid repetitive learning and inspire a creative feedback loop through collaboration and collective knowledge.
In developing an empathy programme, it ' s important to remind ourselves to take a step back and contemplate the why behind the initiative. There is nothing as rewarding as staying plugged into the true experience of seeing things from other human beings’ point of view.
Enock Wandera is the Chief Client Officer at Ipsos Limited. You can commune with him on this and related matters on mail via: Enock. Wandera @ ipsos. com.