5 Ways to Foster an Empathy-Based Project Culture

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Leadership   Talent Management  

When I first started managing projects, no one talked about empathy. (Heck, for virtually all of my career managing projects, no one talked about empathy.) But now it’s everywhere; it’s something we are told we have to master if we are going to be the best PMs we can be.

Does that mean I haven’t been very good for the last 30 years? Well, like so many things before it, the concept has got lost with the buzzword, so let’s get back to basics.

Empathy in a business context
I guess we should start by ensuring we’re all on the same page with what we’re talking about, so here’s a definition: Empathy is “the feeling that you understand and share another person's experiences and emotions; and the ability to share someone else's feelings.”

Okay, so how do we feel about that? Honestly.

I have to tell you, I’m not particularly comfortable with some elements of that definition. I don’t want other people to share my emotions in the work place, and I don’t know if people want me to share theirs. Some people are very open about their feelings, while others are very private and “closed” or guarded, and I feel as a leader it’s my job to respect that. Does that mean I’m rejecting empathy?

I don’t believe so; I think the term has been adapted for work situations since that…

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.