St.Louis Business Journal
EMPATHY IS CENTRAL TO SUCCESS IN WORK

By Anna Navarro

November 2007  

Author's note: Client stories in this column are based on actual situations fictionalized to protect privacy and told with permission.



Understanding where other people are coming from, and being willing to take their needs into account as you pursue your goals, is one of the key elements of success in the workplace. Paradoxically, the more attention you pay to what others want, the more likely you are to get what you want.

Kara was unhappy with her job as the operations manager for a small non-profit. She’d been in the position for eleven years, was bored and needed a change.

As we explored her alternatives, she realized she wanted to be involved in program development and management of a non-profit rather than just run its business operations. On the heels of this insight, she also realized her non-profit could easily expand in a new direction where services were badly needed. She even had some funding ideas.

Her first instinct was to go to her boss, who was the executive director of the agency, tell him how unhappy she was with her current job and propose that the agency launch this new service and put her in charge of it. While the idea seemed to have merit, I suggested that Kara slow down, put herself in her boss’s shoes and consider what he’d be concerned about before talking to him.

She promptly realized her boss was very dependent on her and would probably be worried about replacing her. Another issue was that her idea would require board approval and her boss’s relations with the board were currently a little strained. Furthermore, he had just launched a big initiative and was still catching his breath.

After considering these aspects of the situation, Kara acknowledged that if she approached her boss as she had originally intended, he would probably say "no". But now she worried that she’d have to give up on her idea.

I urged her not to drop her idea but to consider approaching it in a way that took her boss’s likely concerns into account. My suggestion was that she share her concept for the new service and then propose doing a pilot project to test it. She could offer to staff it herself, while keeping her current job. The pilot would be low cost and so would not require board approval.

I also suggested she propose delegating a few of her current responsibilities to a subordinate who was ready for more challenge. That would provide the additional time she needed to undertake the pilot and provide developmental opportunities for her subordinate. In addition, it would give her boss a chance to get to know him and his capabilities better.

Kara’s boss didn’t immediately accept the idea, but a few weeks later she was able to persuade him to let her go ahead. The pilot was a success. A year later, the board approved a plan to seek funding for the new program. Kara was put in charge of it and her subordinate was promoted to her old job.

By taking the time to really think about what she was proposing from her boss’s point of view, Kara had anticipated his concerns. By incorporating those concerns into her proposal for getting the program off the ground she eliminated many of his potential objections.

A similar approach can be helpful in job hunting.

Ralph was in the final stages of negotiating a job offer. He wanted five weeks vacation. As I helped him prepare for the negotiation, I asked him to consider how this much time off might impact his prospective boss. He guessed it might require his boss to take on some problems that would otherwise fall to him to resolve.

Then he realized he never took vacations longer than two weeks because of his family situation. Most problems could wait that long. He went into the negotiation armed with this insight and ultimately worked out a win/win vacation agreement: he’d take a total of five weeks off, but agreed not to be gone for more than two weeks at a time.

Both of these accounts of people getting their way in the workplace turn on their willingness to take another person's needs into account, and integrate them into their own goals. This approach doesn't require you to give up your own objectives. It means going about you career in a way that factors in an awareness of others. Success in the workplace can sometimes hinge on how skillfully you are able to do this one thing.

Anna Navarro is the founder of Work Transitions, a nationwide career consulting firm that trains independent career strategists and consults with individual clients.

This column was originally published by the St. Louis Business Journal. The actual title of the column and date in which it appeared in the Business Journal may be slightly different from what appears on WorkTransitions.com.