Empathy is the ability to figuratively trade positions with another and sense their emotions or thoughts. While it might not be mind-reading or telepathy, it’s a superpower. Here at innoVia Productions, empathy is the keystone of our culture and business philosophy. Whether we’re listening to client’s objectives or designing an attendee’s experience, empathy has always worked to ensure each stakeholder’s desires are addressed.
Practicing empathy is not only vital to successful meetings, demonstrating empathy in a workplace sets the foundation for a flourishing work environment. Empathy will help engage clients and co-workers alike and is the number one ingredient for developing great leaders. A recent study by Forbes has shown that 96% of responders value empathy as ‘important for companies to demonstrate,’ and it stimulates financial performance.
So, how can you cultivate empathy? Luckily, empathy is a skill, and like any skill, it can be trained. This can be done by:
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Interviewing current and prospective attendees, employees, customers and suppliers to better understand how they measure success.
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Devising as many ways possible to gather ongoing feedback from all those whom your business effects.
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Thinking about biases (we all have them) and take them into consideration.
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Examining different environments and project how these will affect your attendees’ or user’s experiences.
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Developing curiosity within your team.
As a professional, empathy is essential to planning ahead and making sure an experience is memorable for all parties by “putting yourself in the other’s shoes.” Training empathy is simple and can be done through day-to-day activities such as having meaningful conversations with your attendees and team members.
Empathy is often overlooked, and yet is so integral to ensuring success on and off-site. innoVia practices this in both our internal and external communications. Empathy truly is our superpower!
