Suppose you have already made the significant leap and successfully brought your business into the digital age such as companies such as Adeva did. In that case, you are probably wondering now whether or not it is possible to have empathy while working from home and what are some ways that can help you improve your relationship with your coworkers.
This article is for you if you run a business, are in a leadership position, and want to foster a sense of empathy among the team members in an era of teleworking, home offices, remote work, or whatever else you want to call it.
Why is it important to show empathy?
Let’s see what is the importance of empathy in the workplace and not only. Empathy for another person is to allow that person to feel as though they are understood.
If you are able to empathize with other people, you will be able to make it so that they don’t feel judged when they express their thoughts and feelings, and you will also be able to make them feel heard when they do so.
Today you can learn how remote work with empathy can benefit your entire working environment by reducing the amount of distance between coworkers. Continue reading to find out how to put it into practice, so your remote workers will feel like part of your team.
Watch out for overwork
Burnout in the workplace is a real problem in the modern era. Sometimes when working remotely, people can get anxious because they are working longer hours than ever before and have had a hard time separating their work life from their family life.
Entrepreneurs who are skilled at empathic leadership are able to identify signs of overwork in others before it becomes a problem, which reduces the likelihood that burnout will occur.
This may entail setting aside a few additional minutes each week to check in with team members, evaluate how they are coping with the current workload, and offer assistance to those who are recovering from being overworked.
Recognize the challenges
The first thing that managers of companies need to do is acknowledge the difficulties that their staff members have been required to conquer.
Perhaps, sometimes employees can experience a decrease in the performance of the activity or productivity, which can affect employees’ thoughts, which means that they may get the impression that the support they receive from their managers is insufficient.
They may experience feelings of isolation and have difficulty avoiding distractions when they are at home.
Remote work can be challenging, and it will be much easier to manage the team if you can demonstrate empathy in these circumstances and have a good understanding of their situation.
Set standards
It’s essential to establish rules for remote work with the team to improve the level of empathy used in the process. Your ability to successfully manage the team will directly correlate to how clear their instructions are and how well the team communicates with each other.
In this sense, you have the option of using video calls and emails, as previously mentioned, and you can make use of all the available models of communication to ensure the greatest amount of convenience in that regard.
Daily communication
In order to be successful, managers of business, and even organizations themselves, need to demonstrate a level of understanding and sensitivity if they want to attract and keep employees.
While this has always been important within a company, from one office to another and from one desk to another, it has taken on an even greater significance as more workers have begun performing their jobs away from the office.
Maintaining open lines of communication with the team on a daily basis is an essential component of effective team management. Individual phone calls and online conferences are both valid methods for carrying out communication.
This not only helps to ensure that everyone is on task and aware of what work needs to be done, but it also provides an opportunity to check in on how they are doing. Also, daily emails can be sent to inquire about the state of projects, or team members can communicate through communication channels such as Slack.
The Bottom Line
If workers constantly challenge and improve themselves, they will generate significantly higher levels of productivity and results, which their employers will significantly appreciate.
An excellent illustration of empathy is provided by managers who don’t pay much attention if their employees have a fixed work schedule. While working remotely, perhaps the worker needs some time for themselves to take a more extended break, tend to their children, if any, or go out to get some food. Empathy, freedom, and delivering good work all go hand in hand.
