John Jordan is the head of The Academy at Bank of America, leading learning, onboarding and skills development for 200,000+ employees.
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Empathy—the ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes—is one of the most important skills we can cultivate in future leaders. Yet recent findings have shown that 42% of Americans said empathy has outright declined over the past year, and of them, 81% were concerned.
When I think about my own life, the most empathetic people I’ve ever met are those who face their own challenges. Their ability to understand and relate to another person’s struggles is unmatched. My younger brother, Andy, for example, was born with Down syndrome. Growing up, I developed a deep understanding of both the obvious challenges he faced and the extraordinary gifts he brought to our family. Experiencing life through his perspective has taught me to never judge a book by its cover and to always dig deeper to understand an individual’s unique gifts and value. Andy cares for others unconditionally, gives energy through his warmth and affection and always shows a genuine interest in everyone he meets. I look for superpowers like Andy’s in everyone I meet.
Many leaders think of empathy as an ingrained trait or predisposition instead of a skill we can work on, practice and develop. However, academic studies consistently show that empathy training is an effective way to build better relationships and workplaces. While my foundational experience within my family may have developed an early and strong understanding of empathy in my personal life, it’s a skill I work to cultivate every day in my professional life, too.
The Academy at Bank of America, which helps our 200,000+ teammates be successful through world-class onboarding, education and professional development, utilizes evidence-based technology that helps cultivate empathy in our workforce. Based on our experience, here are three ways any organization can prioritize building empathy to create a more inclusive experience for its workforce and clients.
Understand life milestones and moments.
Backed by a significant investment and a lot of research, we’ve built courses to help our employees lead their teams with empathy and better understand the needs of clients at different points in their lives. For example, one of our workshops equips managers to identify when a teammate may be showing signs of stress and how managers can offer empathy and resources to help.
With regard to clients, it's important to recognize that a young employee may not yet have experienced life moments such as a death in the family, buying or selling a home, or a marriage or divorce. For certain industries (like banking, in our case), it can make sense to offer milestones training to team members to help them learn to understand and empathize with someone, which ultimately can help them provide guidance on products and services that meet the client’s needs.
This can help employees learn how to engage with clients to understand what life events are triggering their emotional, financial and functional needs. For example, in interactive training sessions, our employees practice asking questions like, “How do you feel about sending your child to college?” or “How do you feel about your decision to retire?”
As you implement empathy training in your own business, ask yourself: Are we factoring in the experiences our colleagues or clients may be experiencing at various moments of their lives? Are we equipping our talent with the tools they need to successfully navigate these interactions? Is there a way we can replicate or practice these experiences to better prepare our teams for real-world interactions?
Practice listening.
To actively listen is to truly see and hear another person and to show them you have internalized what they have shared with you. It’s a physical act—listening and paying close attention—but it’s also reflected in our body language, eye contact and posture. In truth, listening may be the most critical element of empathy training, and it’s something we can all continue to practice and cultivate in our personal and professional lives.
For example, in virtual reality simulations, our teammates practice difficult conversations with clients through which they learn how to be better, more empathetic listeners and how listening skills help resolve problems and misunderstandings. The training encourages them to listen closely and use the information shared to reach positive outcomes.
Build an inclusive culture.
Everyone brings unique skills to the table and can thrive when the culture is inclusive. LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report noted that 83% of organizations want to build a more people-centric culture and 81% of Learning & Development departments are helping to make that happen. Creating opportunities for employees to connect, engage and advocate for inclusion is also critical. One way to foster an inclusive culture, especially for diverse workforces, is by building robust internal networks or employee groups.
For example, our 11 employee networks are a key part of our culture of inclusion and provide tremendous opportunities to meet new people, have an impact across multiple business lines, and grow personally and professionally. I help lead our Disability Action Network (DAN), which supports employees with disabilities as well as employees who have family members, friends or customers with disabilities, and I've seen firsthand how this helps drive inclusion at our company. We focus on outreach to employees through DAN to ensure that people feel comfortable raising their hands—and on how we can address ways to help them feel more comfortable—at work.
To build an inclusive culture, you need leadership to make it a priority. Our Global Diversity & Inclusion Council is chaired by our CEO and provides strategic direction on how we approach diversity and inclusion as a company. Senior leaders across the business are engaged in efforts to support inclusiveness to ensure that our policies, procedures, products, services and technology investments make the workplace accessible and meet the needs of our clients.
Conclusion
By building empathy in our workforce, we can drive a culture of caring and deliver better service to clients and communities. That’s something we can all get behind, regardless of industry.
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