Golddy Kaur’s Post

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I teach business proficiency to subject matter experts, which I developed over decades while climbing the corporate ladder. A growth hack for aspiring experts…

Empathy vs Sympathy Have you seen conflicts between leaders and their team members? Often the conflict keeps them apart and they don’t see the problems from the same perspective. It may surprise you how differently leaders see themselves vs. how their employees perceive them. Perhaps there is a language gap among leaders and employees. I mean the "emotional language" as a gap. I mean the choice of words each party uses by which their feelings are expressed creating a gap.  It's not what someone says, it's the importance of someone's feelings/ perceptions that come across. When a language is used that undermines others, making it impossible to influence and engage others meaningfully, it creates a gap between two parties. The bigger the gap, the poorer the relationship is.   Is it worth reducing such a gap within the organization?   I truly connect with the work of Prof. Brené Brown on emotional language and I think we all can pay attention to the language we use to connect with people. Here is what she says about the empathy and sympathy: ▶ "EMPATHY is feeling with people. It's a vulnerable choice because in order to connect with you, I have to connect with something in myself that knows that feeling. Rarely can a response make something better. What makes something better is CONNECTION."   Language of Empathy:  ✅ I understand how you feel... ✅ It sounds so tough... ✅ You can tell me what's on your mind….   ▶ "SYMPATHY drives DISCONNECTION. It's very interesting because the one thing that really stops us from being able to be present is our fear. Sympathy drives disconnection because it's not connecting. It's a drive-by 'I'm sorry.'"   Language of Sympathy: ❌ I feel sorry for what you're going through. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help. ❌ I'm sorry for your loss. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to reach out. ❌ I can't imagine what you're going through, but I'm here to support you in any way I can. When we lack genuine understanding and come across as a superficial acknowledgment of someone's concerns, we will not show a deep understanding that can connect us with people. The lack of emotional language creates a gap between two parties. It is important to learn language of Emotional Intelligence.

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Golddy Kaur

I teach business proficiency to subject matter experts, which I developed over decades while climbing the corporate ladder. A growth hack for aspiring experts…

6mo

Maja Hukic, thank you for sharing the post with your network. 🙌

Arielle Cline

Coordinator: Passionate About Educational, Environmental and Recreational Community Programming (Certified Administrative Professional)

6mo

Personally I see value in combining the two. Offering to help is always nice. Plus I “understand” how you feel can be contrived. Maybe, I’m trying to understand how hurt you are feeling or I think I understand but I know I’m not in your shoes. Something like that. I agree with the direction this post is going in and understand the underlying point, but I’m not really on board with this visual.

Kaushik Dutta

Manager Data Services at Rotary International Infotech Pvt. Ltd.

6mo

It depends on our realistic abilities and capacities. Empathy is just to acknowledge the concerns if my ability and capacities are limited. Otherwise I can provide a measurable support mentioned in the sympathy chart.

Steve Wood

Experienced Operations Director, Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer

6mo

Understanding how to be empathic and showing that in a practical, why is a transformational moment for any leader this offer some great insight into that area. Thank you as always. Golddy Kaur

Rowland Glew

Self employed, Operational Excellence Practitioner | "Driving Efficiency and Innovation| Improving your processes

6mo

Great visual Golddy Kaur and a great message. For me, empathy adds much more value than sympathy, usually, empathy comes from a place of experience and a real place of emotion. Sympathy is like an expected reaction to a situation. Balancing both is difficult and you are not always aware if you have been either empathetic or sympathetic.

Johan Meyer

Teaching You How To Become a Dynamically Capable, Empowered Professional 👉 Start by getting your FREE copy of our system "Beyond the Paycheck" (Link Below)

6mo

And you’re right Golddy - people pick up on this quickly. It’s the difference between sending flowers and helping to tend the garden

Aisling Murphy

Special Class Teacher at Department of Education — Ireland

6mo

I don't find the second and third ones in sympathy bad at all. Why not say this?

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