The empathetic manager – digital?

Empathy is not a separate perception ability; rather, it is the ability to interpret analogue communication expressions and thus also understand the emotional message in the midst of busy factual information. This requires interaction. The open spaces for interaction, as realised in the new office concepts, create opportunities for interaction – they are low-threshold and can happen spontaneously. Here, there are brief moments of leisure in which empathic perception can occur and in which – this is the second side of the empathic manager – one’s own empathic understanding can also be expressed.

Now, especially today, when opportunities for interaction are severely restricted, people need empathetic encounters – they convey what is most important for our stability: I am being noticed.

We are currently working with our customers to create digital meeting spaces that are not about pushing forward topics and tasks, but rather about conveying care, relationship and attention. Especially for department heads and group leaders, we are helping to set up weekly virtual »stand-ups« or digital coffee breaks that are not primarily about topics, but about the emotional presence of the manager. This empathetic »presence« will become even more important in the coming weeks, once the stimulating appeal of the new has worn off.