Not to long ago we hosted a management seminar regarding the in's and out's of managing people. All the usual buzz words and behaviors were covered as well as a few new topics. Everything was going fine until we hit my personal red bulls eye word...EMPATHY.
EMPATHY by definition means:
the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another...Yes, ok, I'm fine with this, and encourage it without reservation.
Empathy in the workplace however has morphed into a strange beast that is hell bent on making us embrace mediocrity! Call me old fashioned, but when you take a job I believe you should be able to perform the job, and if your not up to speed on certain aspects, get the information/training you need and get up to speed tout suite (quickly)!
The very idea that a person cannot perform their job, cannot learn the necessary information to be able to perform their job, is not interested enough in their own abilities to task themselves to learn their position etc...is pure crap, and I for one am not letting them off the hook for it nor am I remotely interested in cutting them any slack over it!
Add in the rosy glow of Gen X and Yers who have little concept of, or patience for learning things they are not interested in, having to execute the non glamorous portions of their job as well as the fun stuff, and heaven for bid pay their dues and work their way up, and now I have to be empathetic while they are having the millionth meltdown over blah, blah, blah, and why weren't they promoted, after all they have been working for six solid months...OH PLEASE!!
So my final words on the subject go something like this...get over it, learn your stuff, do your job, wait your turn, and have your meltdowns with friends, off campus, over a latte...because I still have plenty of work to do!
And we're off...
