We are aware that empathy is crucial while dealing with others, whether they be peers, customers, or coworkers. We can't engage with people in meaningful ways if we can't comprehend the challenges they confront in their careers, the things they value, and any potential ambitions, dreams, worries, or doubts they may have.

But far too often, empathy is not there in our encounters.

Customers are highly impersonal; they are leads to be passed from one person to another as we go through our process. We concentrate on productivity and objectives while promoting our services and goods. We don't comprehend the companies of our clients, nor do we comprehend them as people, much alone what they are attempting to accomplish or the challenges they face.

Our employees aren't all that different from one another; we track their activity, including calls, emails, meetings, and quota performance. We "coach" them by advising them to do more if they don't succeed in achieving their objectives. We are unable to discern what prevents them from succeeding.

So, in order for us to engage in meaningful interactions with others, empathy is essential. We won't be able to comprehend our colleagues, consumers, or other people if we aren't able to sympathize with them on a real level. We won't comprehend their emotions or the reasons behind them. We won't be able to express our sympathy or true concern for what they are going through, and we won't be able to provide much help. And they could be the issues that matter most to the individuals we are attempting to collaborate with.

In addition to allowing us to be aware of what is going on with the individuals we work with, empathy also enables us to comprehend what these events mean to the people involved.

But sympathy is not enough. More than just empathy, we need compassion. In order to assist individuals we are working with advance, learn, develop, overcome obstacles, and accomplish their objectives, we must care enough about them to do so.

We must assist people with whom we are collaborating in taking action to address their problems. We must assist them in comprehending and acting in order to proceed. We must assist them in changing.

It's not something we can do for them; rather, it's something we do in close cooperation with the people we work with.

Empathy and caring go hand in hand; we must be both in order to produce true meaning and worth.

Thanks to Dave Brock at Business 2 Community whose reporting provided the original basis for this story.