Empathy and Resilience
When people think about the tech consulting industry from the outside looking in, they likely won't think about empathy and resilience. As with most subject matter around the tech sphere, it is easy to visualize it as cold and calculating. Our team at Moser understands this perspective, and for more than 25 years, we have formed partnerships and grown with our clients through open and honest collaboration.
From the beginning, we knew that finding the right solution at the right time would be a hallmark of Moser Consulting. As our organization has increased in size, our commitment to these core values has also grown. Every single one of our customers that we work with is unique, and we strive to meet them at their pain points and walk through all the right steps for positive change to occur. Our aim with this blog is to hopefully inform other organizations on how they can include more empathy and resilience when working with customers.
What is Empathy?
Empathy is the ability to sense other people's emotions and be able to imagine what someone else might think or feel about something. This is an invaluable skill to have in the consulting business, as the more empathetic you are towards the customer's situation, the more engaged they will likely be. The different types of empathy from personal to professional all work to make individuals and teams the best versions of themselves. Before we move on, something we do to clarify is the difference between empathy and sympathy as they often get confused. Sympathy involves understanding from your own perspective and experiences. Empathy, as previously mentioned, involves putting yourself in the other person's shoes and attempting to understand why they may be feeling a particular way. The difference is very important, as many people can perceive sympathy as it can feel like you are pitying the other person rather than trying to connect with them
What is Resilience?
Resilience is both the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult situations. Individuals and companies must display a high level of resilience to remain successful. If a customer sees that you are capable of taking on demanding challenges, they will be more confident in your abilities to help them. Rough times in business are unavoidable, but resilience creates a unique opportunity to change and grow from the experience. To be resilient in consulting, you need to construct a team that asks the big questions and is not afraid to jump into the fire to find a solution, even if that means starting from the ground up.
What are Resilience Activities?
Being resilient and being able to teach resiliency to another party are two very different things. People can be taught the traits of resilience , and here are a few activities you can implement within your team and then to customers in the future.
Create Healthy Rituals: People are creatures of habit, and this means that establishing an agreed-upon method of tackling problems can lead to quicker solutions. This gives each barrier a jumping-off point for someone to take the lead and get the necessary people engaged in a meaningful way.
Schedule Fun Breaks: What? Isn't a key part of resiliency to push through hard challenges? Yes, but banging your head against the wall during a complex problem with not solve anything either. Reminding teams to take small breaks and step back from their work can often help reenergize them to tackle the problem with a clear head.
What are Empathy Activities?
The personal elements of work can often get tossed aside when things get busy, like when a deadline is closing in. It is vitally important for organizations to ensure that they are there for their employees no matter what is going on in the business. Luckily, there are simple activities that any company can implement to help.
Consistent 1-on-1 Meetings: In larger organizations, employees can feel like just another cog in a big machine, hurting both company morale and productivity. Ensure that management is checking in with all employees not just on performance but how they are feeling about the work and company as well. This promotes destigmatization because people can be open about their experiences in the workplace.
Company-Wide Shoutouts: Everyone loves to feel appreciated, even if they don't want to admit it. This is not just reserved for individuals that are excelling in their performance, but to show appreciation for those that are pushing to make the business work, even through difficult times.
What are the Necessary Soft Skills for Business Success?
At the end of the day, empathy and resilience in companies and employees will come down to having a diverse set of soft skills. These skills are a combination of people, social, and communication skills. They are then paired with character or personality traits, attitudes, career attributes, and social and emotional intelligence that enable people to navigate their environment, work well with others, perform well and achieve their goals with complementing hard skills. Some of these skills include attitude, listening, speaking, work ethic, teamwork, time management, and conflict resolution.
While some of these skills seem simple to acquire, they are actually in high demand due to their lack of presence in potential candidates. A Society for Human Resource Management report found that 84% of HR professionals found a lack of crucial soft job skills in candidates they were interviewing. This means those that dedicate the time to learn these skills will have more options professionally.
Moser Consulting: Leading Consulting Through Empathy and Resiliency
The core values at Moser are accountability, balance, collaboration, focus, integrity, social responsibility, support, and transparency. When you look at that list, those are not things you get from formal technical education. These skills are taught and nurtured to create an amazing team that can pass them on to customers.
If you would like to receive training in empathy and resilience, contact us today!
