Emotional Intelligence: What Does Empathy Have to Do with Emotional Intelligence?

Have you been working on empathy lately?

Empathy means thoughtfully considering others’ feelings, along with other factors, in the process of making intelligent decisions. Empathetic people listen and learn what coworkers are feeling and acknowledge their fears and frustrations.

Team members must be able to sense and understand the viewpoints of everyone around the table. It is important to create a supportive environment where team members can speak openly and raise concerns. Empathy can be heightened collaboration.

Globalization is another reason to demonstrate empathy. People that lead with empathy are alert to what is said, and what is not said, and they notice minor changes in nonverbal messages. People who have empathy have a deep understanding of both the existence and the importance of cultural and ethnic differences.

Empathy plays a key role in the retention of talent. Empathy plays a critical role in attracting, developing, and keeping good people. When good people leave they take the organization’s knowledge with them. Empathy, combined with coaching and mentoring, provides better performance, increased job satisfaction, and decreased turnover.

If you and your coworkers could benefit from an engaging presentation on emotional intelligence, contact me at kit@welchlin.com, and I will provide an interactive presentation that will refine your emotional intelligence.

If you need to find a keynote speaker, plenary speaker, breakout speaker, concurrent session speaker, seminar leader, or workshop facilitator who can deliver in-person, virtually, or via prerecorded session, Kit Welchlin, M.A., CSP, CVP, is a nationally recognized professional motivational speaker and author and can be found at www.welchlin.com or www.SeminarsOnStress.com.