Empathy - it’s more than just a buzzword; it’s a vital ingredient for success. Creating a culture that encourages employees to consider different perspectives and emotions throughout your team is something that will set you apart as a great leader. In the busy, fast-paced work environments many of us exist in, it’s easy to overlook what kind of impact this can actually have. When your team members feel valued and heard, it’s almost always evident in performance, effective collaboration, and overall morale.
When we break down our processes at CoachCruiting, empathy is always found at the core. It’s something that’s absent in automated recruiting and even many traditional recruiting processes. It’s behind everything that makes us stand out - and it’s what we believe will make you stand out too!
Empathy in Action:
Active Listening: Truly hearing what others have to say helps you understand their challenges and aspirations. It builds rapport and shows that you value their perspective.
Emotional Awareness: Recognizing and acknowledging emotions—both your own and your client's or colleague’s—can help navigate complex situations and foster a safe space for open dialogue.
Tailored Approaches: Every client is unique. Using empathy allows you to adapt your strategies to meet individual needs, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all solution.
Supportive Environment: Empathy helps create a non-judgmental atmosphere where people are more likely to feel comfortable sharing their vulnerabilities and exploring new ideas.
Building Trust: When people feel understood, they’re likely to engage with others more fully, leading to more meaningful outcomes.
Conflict Resolution: Empathy aids in understanding different viewpoints, which can be crucial in resolving and even preventing conflicts within teams or organizations.
Team Building - Your Team Craves It More Than You Think
Many business owners may look at investing in team building activities as fluff - essentially a waste of everyone’s time and money. However, the benefits we see from this investment tend to be foundational and lostlasting. Taking the time to understand how you and your team can consider each individual will likely lend to a greater overall appreciation for everyone.
I once had the opportunity to do team building work with a security team in the hospitality industry with a major, long-standing conflict. There were two valued and respected members of this team who had refused to speak to one another for eight years due to a conflict that had become seemingly unsolvable. The whole team was suffering from the effects of two people’s inability to understand one another. It had even reached the point of a write-up from corporate due to a noticeable decline in communication and performance.
I had each member of the team go through the Leading From Your Strengths Assessment, a tool created by Ministry Insights, which I’ve used for years to identify people’s strengths and ways of thinking. After meeting with each individual member individually to debrief their results, everyone gathered as a team to share and discuss what they’d learned about themselves. This process was helpful for everyone on board, but it was primarily eye opening for the two team members with the long-standing conflict. After hearing a clear explanation of the way in which the other functioned and thought about things, the door was finally opened to a conversation. The disagreement was finally solvable - a huge weight was removed from the team and quickly reflected in their performance reviews.
This is just one example of the impact empathy can have in a team setting such as this. Whether there’s a difficult situation at hand or not, having the right tools to deal with such is never a bad idea.
Considering Clients and Candidates
It’s of utmost importance to us to gain a deeper understanding of our client’s needs, team dynamics and culture, in order to find the best fit. This is where empathy comes into our unique recruiting process. Our Site Assessment specifically makes this possible. Spending a day in the office with your team and speaking with each member individually gives us insight into the feelings, concerns and ideas of everyone involved. We are then able to tailor our search to candidates that will fit right in.
But how can we extend our empathy past our clients and into our interactions with our candidates? And what’s the importance of doing so? After all, our candidates aren’t the ones paying for our services. Even so, the domino effect of each and every person we interact with is powerful. Something that’s very important in our process at CoachCruiting is rounding out communication with anyone we connect with - whether they’ve been hired, in the pipeline and not chosen, or interviewed and discovered to not be a good fit - we don’t “ghost” anyone.
When a candidate is selected and hired, part of our process is checking in with that candidate after 30 days on the job, as well as checking in with the client separately. Things may be going swimmingly from one person’s perspective, but not so much from the other. This allows us to hear out both sides and catch any issues that may be arising early on in the process. When a candidate is released from the pipeline after another person is hired, it’s important to us to communicate that as soon as possible, and thank them for their time and investment in the hiring process. Who knows - they may even be someone we’ll reach out to in the future for a different role.
When a candidate is simply not a good fit for a position and is not recommended to the client, it’s important to us to explicitly let them know that, rather than letting them wait for an answer that never comes. If the candidate asks for feedback on their interview or for the “why” of not being selected, we like to take the time to provide an honest, constructive response instead of leaving them wondering. It is kinder to criticize constructively than to simply not engage for fear of discomfort.
What’s Holding You Back?
In a world where genuine understanding is priceless, empathy is your superpower! If you're still weighing your options, dive into our inspiring case studies and testimonials here on our website. Or better yet, reach out to us directly - we’d love to chat with you about what we may provide to take your team to the next level!
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