Hub for Product Managers & Business Analysts & Product Owners

Empathy is the ability to put ourselves in another person's shoes and comprehend their needs and feelings. A friendly, empathetic approach is characterised by warmth and openness. This does not, however, imply that you have to like the other person and that you must always be cheerful and smiling. It also does not imply that you should sugarcoat messages, just give people what they want to hear, or put up with problems. Contrarily, as the following example demonstrates, you can empathically address harmful and improper behaviour. Consider John as a key stakeholder who rarely shows up to the product planning sessions you've invited him to. John is a sales representative. Instead, he speaks with you directly to request modifications to the product roadmap. Then you should think about requesting that John alter his behaviour and show up to the strategy meetings so that he may express his change requests. However, use a compassionate approach: Discover John's situation first, a...