Empathy Project (100 points)
Your Final Exam Project (due May 5 at 11:59 pm)
Purpose
An important skill for humans to possess is empathy. It is an important skill for leaders and managers to develop and use. We talked about empathy early on in the course, and we are going to conclude the course with an exploratory project to facilitate skill development in this area.
This is the first time I have used this project. It will unfold in different ways for each individual student based on what you choose to explore. There is no exact way to conduct the project, and the amount of flexibility or ambiguity may be uncomfortable or challenging for some.
This project will also ask you the skills of critical thinking, open communication, and reflection. These are also skills that employers are seeking.
What is Empathy? Consider this definition and discussion of empathy shared by Paul Parkin in the TedTalk you will watch.
“Many would say that empathy is standing in somebody else’s shoes seeing the world through their eyes and feeling what they’re feeling…. I want to suggest that’s not possible and when we think we can actually do that we actually start making assumptions about other people have experienced. Assumptions can lead to disconnection and misunderstandings….
Empathy is the righteous struggle to try to understand what it’s like to be in their shoes, and to try to understand what they’re feeling….
[Empathy] is a process that happens through communication so empathy doesn’t make assumptions but forges communication that is inquisitive and non-judgmental. Communication that is validating and compassionate. When we start to communicate in that way, the primary thing that it does is it changes us. It softens us. We see people in our lives differently. We rewrite the narratives that we tell ourselves about others and the kindest ways possible because when we cultivate empathy, we enlarge our capacity to love, to forgive, and to be accepting because empathy is many ways the foundation of those things.”
THE PROJECT
- Self-Assessment
Take one or both of the following empathy self-assessments. One is an online quiz that scores automatically. The second is a paper assessment that you score yourself. The paper one does break empathy apart into some sub-scores which may provide you with more information. But for the purposes of the project, you are required to take one of the assessments and reflect on what the assessment reveals about your empathy.
Empathy Quiz
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/quizzes/take_%E2%80%8Bquiz/empathy
Empathy A Self-Assessment MCRHRDI
https://www.mcrhrdi.gov.in/splfc2021/subjects/Management/3/Empathy%20-%20Questionnaire.pdf
After taking the self-assessment, share which test you took and your score (high, med or average, low empathy). What do you learn from this self-assessment about your current skill level of perceiving empathy for others? Did you find value in taking this self-assessment?
- Learning More about the Skill of Empathy
Watch these TWO TedTalks about Empathy
- Reimaging Empathy: The Transformative Nature of Empathy Paul Parkin TEDxUVU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4aHb_GTRVo
- We’re experiencing an empathy shortage, but we can fix it together | Jamil Zaki | TEDxMarin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DspKSYxYDM
Also, read these webarticles about Empathy
- Building and implementing your capacity for empathy
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/24/health/develop-empathy-skills-wellness/index.html
- What is Empathy?
https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/empathy.html
- The Most Important Empathy Skills (with examples)
https://www.zippia.com/advice/empathy-skills/
- Developing Empathy: 8 Strategies & Worksheets for Becoming More Empathetic
https://positivepsychology.com/empathy-worksheets/
- Telling an Empathy Story
https://positivepsychology.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Telling-an-Empathy-Story.pdf
- Designing Your Empathy Project
Purpose of this project
Empathy is a skill that can be developed. Research shows that leaders with empathy have a positive impact on the people they lead including eliciting more ethical behavior.
Step 1. Select an Issue or Situation
Identify an issue or situation about which you do not have much empathy. Your challenge will be to be open to learning more, communicating with others, and taking steps to understand more about this issue and how this issue or situation impacts others. I ask you to put yourself in a different position to be open to understanding and communicating in an exploratory way to better understand another person’s feelings about this topic.
You also could pick an issue or situation you do not know much about or have been neutral or disengaged from so do not have much empathy for that reason.
This is a project where you will have to be creative to come up with what will work for you to reach this new level of understanding.
Step 2. Self-Reflection prior to the Project
Before you take steps to understand, describe your feelings/perspective on this issue. Be honest with yourself about your starting position. Reflect on why you believe/feel this way.
Step 3. Identify the Actions You Will Take
Describe the actions you will take to strive to understand what the other person feels/believes. You need to take at least 3 different actions.
Action 1: What you will do and why you have picked this action
Action 2: What you will do and why you have picked this action
Action 3: What you will do and why you have picked this action
Example:
If you are a person who is for significant gun control and does not understand why so many people want to own and carry guns in the US, then you could increase empathy by —
Action 1: Watching some interviews with people who feel differently than me about gun control (help me to see things differently and also opens me up to having a conversation in person)
Action 2: Prepare for a conversation with a friend/family member about the role of guns in our lives by reading some articles about active listening and listening to understand rather than listening to convince another person. Prior to the interview, get in the right mindset to explore. Be calm. Meditate. Find a location for the conversation that is free of distractions.
Action 3: Talk to a friend/family member who strongly believes that any gun control is wrong. Be prepared with open-ended questions that seek to understand a person feelings about the subject with lots of why questions? Be sure to not judge or debate but listen to understand;
Action 4: Have this friend/family member take you to a shooting range to safely learn how to fire a gun (by experiencing something I said I would not do or that I often shrug off as not a valuable thing to do, it will help me understand. It also shows a willingness to learn from them about something they fell strongly about);
Action 5: Talk to a family at the shooting range about why they are there and why they believe it is important that their children know how to shoot a gun and why owning guns is important to them.
You want to pick an issue/situation that you are capable of having an open dialogue about. Part of this exercise is knowing yourself and which issue will allow you to grow, but will not result in a dangerous situation or a damaging situation (harm a relationship). Put preparation is key. You cannot “wing” this and assume you will be able to keep your cool or communicate differently, if it is an issue that you feel strongly about. You want to have your questions written down. You want to practice reflective listening. You want to know what it means to listen to understand rather than listening to convince/win your argument.
- Putting Your Plan into Action
Once you have outlined the actions you will take, then do the actions. Modify and adapt but try to achieve the intended purpose of each action. Reflect after each action, and capture your thoughts on the template. It is very important that you reflect after each action rather than trying to reflect at one time at the end.
- Deep Reflection to Learn & Develop the Skill of Empathy
Reflect on the Specific Empathy Project You Undertook to Learn & Develop Skill
Reflect deeply on what you experienced and learned from taking those collective steps. Describe what you now understand about why and how this person or people feel. But more importantly, describe how taking these steps impacted you.
Reflect on how you can develop empathy generally
Reflect on steps you can take in general to develop your skill in empathy.
- Provide Feedback to Dr. Clark to Make Project Better
Provide feedback to Dr. Clark on how to improve this empathy exercise.
TEMPLATE IS BEING DRAFTED.
