Better collaboration, more understanding, more authentic communications, less conflict … all these can be had if we work to enable empathy and understanding within organisations. Seriously.
Getting people together is the key I think.
When we don’t know anyone from a particular group of people, it is easy to think of them as “they”. And that makes it is easier to see them as less as people – or at least less than we are.
They the employees.
They the suppliers.
They the union reps.
You get where I am going right?
As soon as we meet someone from a group, we suddenly realise they are actually pretty much like us. And that tends to make it harder for us to treat them as lesser than ourselves.
If you are a manager, do you actually, viscerally, GET your staff’s daily challenges, frustrations and wins? And vice versa. If more of us visited the sweatshops in China, I’m sure we will buy less of certain brands.
Who are you having coffee with today?
