Page 18 - Demo

: Can you share examples of how you have shown empathy to others?
: I’ll start broadly with empathy I show the organization as a whole. This may seem like a weird thing, but just being on camera. I think that’s just so important to show connection – just being there smiling.
Also, just checking in with each other (kind of like the example I gave about my team checking in on me). It goes both ways and extends to others. We check in with each other when someone feels a bit of a sting, or to say, “You did an awesome job at that meeting today!”
Here is a little bit more specific of an example: there is a young mother on my team and her husband also works at Land O’Lakes (and is now working in the other corner of the room from her). She has two little boys and has had a lot to deal with this past year. Besides that, we’ve also brought in a new LMS, and she was in charge of that, so she had a lot of job responsibilities. She would sometimes say, “I’m not going to be on for the next couple of hours because I need to take the boys outside and just run with them for just a little bit.” Prior to last year, I probably would have reacted like, “You know, we’ve got to get our work done. What are you doing?” But over this past year with the emphasis on empathy, I feel completely different about that now. I know that getting her work done is just as important to her as it is to me. She will just get it done in a different way. And what can I do to make it a little bit easier for her? That’s kind of a new twist that I don’t know I would have thought of before.
The last example I’ll tell you about happened around when George Floyd was killed here in Minneapolis. Phenecia, an African American, used to be on our L&D team and now works in the Diversity & Inclusion group. I’ve known her for around 6 years, so when George Floyd was killed, I didn’t know what to say to her. I just didn’t know. I was thinking, “What can I say to make her feel better right now?” So, I texted her and said, “Hey, I’m thinking about you today.
My thoughts and my prayers are with you, but I have to be honest. I don’t know how to support you, so let me know what you need from me.” And that meant so much to her. She called me back immediately and said, “That’s the best text I have received today.” I reiterated that I just didn’t know what to say and she said that was the perfect thing: to ask how to support her. She then talked about this story with the entire company on a big company webinar. But it was just the right thing to do at the right time, with her. Again, I don’t know if I would have done that prior to 2020.
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