CANADIAN HR STRATEGY/17
And you're more aware, so even when you have to make dif-
cult decisions, you understand what the implications of those
are and you manage them accordingly."
Empathy really is the ability to park your own biases, your
own role and your own set of experiences to truly put yourself
in someone else's shoes so you can understand the world from
their perspective, says Debby Carreau, founder of Inspired HR
in Calgary.
And leaders, as they grow, get further and further away from
other people's roles, and the roles they once had, she says, "not
only because of the time factor but also because the world has
changed dramatically and so often what we'll do is we'll paint
everyone with the same brush when the reality is no one's ex-
perience is exactly the same."
Empathy is a sense of awareness, says David Town, president
of Your Leadership Matters in Aurora, Ont.
"It's an awareness and an appreciation for others' feelings and
perspectives."
And it's critically important for building relationships, he says.
"The skill of demonstrating empathy contributes very pro-
foundly to coaching because without a strong relationship, it's
hard to have a conversation where you're in uencing someone
without just telling them what to do or ordering them... So from
a relationship perspective…. there's really two main ways to in-
uence people — hard tactics and soft tactics," says Town.
"And I think we're nding that soft tactics are more appeal-
ing for gen y and gen x and it requires the skill of appreciating
someone's feelings."
feature/empathy
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos