I would like to guide you through the inner world of empaths in the workplace.
It’s fascinating to see how many different interpretations of the word “empath” we might have heard. Before sharing my personal experience about being an empath, I would like to redirect the attention to the etymology of this word. “Empathy” comes from the ancient Greek ἐμπάθεια (empatheia) which can be decomposed into ἐν (en, "in, at") and πάθος (pathos, "passion" or "suffering"). To put in a few and simple words, empathy is the ability to recognize emotions in others. Empathy can assume various forms: emotional, somatic and cognitive empathy. In its most developed stage, empathy can help to detect the emotional status of a human being, but also contributing to support others in challenging situations. In an office, the empath is able to build authentic connections with other colleagues and to strengthen relationship having a positive effect on the overall performance.
I have seen, unfortunately many times, that empaths are not framed in the appropriate way. Being an empath and detecting others’ emotions is a high demanding job, it sucks your energy, it drains you emotionally and mentally. The empath is not the person at the corner of the meeting room, sitting on a chair and claiming to read people’s minds. Nope! The empath stands in the middle of the room absorbing everything people brought in that room. Usually meetings are very exhausting moments for empaths. If you are wondering if there is an option for an empath “do not feel” the others, the answer is: technically it is not really possible to do so. The empaths can only train their minds in order to build healthy boundaries to protect their well being.
I found also interesting that empaths have to carry some “unfair” weight on their shoulders. I have heard this for example: “since you are an empath, you should understand your colleagues and take the high road. If someone raises the voice in the meeting room, you should understand what is behind the person and help that person”. Ok, what does that mean? To my mind, this is only an indicator of leadership lack. Instead of doing what a leader must do ( = create healthy and secure environment for the entire team), you don’t want to solve the root of the issue and dealing with the person raising the voice in the room. You are giving to the empaths an unbearable weight this person will have to carry.
I would like to share with you a brilliant video by Brené Brown. The American professor helps us to understand what empathy really is and what differentiates it from sympathy. The video is absolutely worthy to watch!
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