CRyder Design

The authors of Unstuck define empathy as, “The ability to hear and feel what someone is saying, verbally and otherwise, without casting judgment. It is the act of letting others know that you understand them and their situation. You feel what they feel.”  Empathy is stepping into the life of another person for a moment end experiencing all of the feelings and sensations they do, in order to understand where they’re coming from. It is an opportunity for connection.

Our brains are developed through empathy in the first few years of our life. “Humans experience empathy from infancy, physically sensing their caregivers’ emotions and often mirroring those emotions” (What is Empathy?). Although our minds are sort of built on empathy, we still have to continue to practice it throughout our life in order to maintain that ability. There are many reasons why people should empathize. It helps clear up disagreements, and creates healthier relationships and friendships, it creates trust through connection and vulnerability, it decreases the amount of bullying among students and so much more. “It is a key ingredient of successful relationships because it helps us understand the perspectives, needs, and intentions of others” (What is Empathy?). 

One important thing to keep in mind about empathy is that it is much different than sympathy. Dr. Brené Brown explains this difference in her video Brené Brown on Empathy. “Empathy fuels connection. Sympathy drives disconnection.” She goes on to explain how people who empathize are feeling with someone, and people who sympathize are just pointing out the silver-lining. She states, “Rarely, if ever, does an empathic response begin with, ‘at least.’ ” Brown goes on to say that a response with empathy would be, “ ‘I don’t even know what to say right now I’m just so glad you told me.’ Because the truth is rarely can a response make something better.” 

Empathizing is the second step in the Design Thinking process, but how does it relate? It is important to understand the person you are designing for, so you are able to create something extraordinary. Professor Hasting states, “We’re trying to identify the feelings and needs of the humans we’re designing for, and we’re trying to determine the problems or pain points in the delivery of our products and services.” By analyzing this information, designers are able to focus on where the issues are and how to change them. In doing this, they are able to indicate how to properly go about creating an improved design.

Active listening plays a key role in being empathetic. In order to be an active listener, you have to drop all judgments at the door, resist the impulse to advise and be vulnerable to all emotions. Marshall Rosenburg, psychologist and founder of Non-Violent Communication, says, “What is essential, is our ability to be present to what’s really going on within – to the unique feelings and needs a person is experiencing in that very moment.” It is also important to mirror the emotions of the person you are empathizing with, to ensure that you are understanding everything thoroughly and correctly. This is called cognitive empathy. “Cognitive empathy sometimes called ‘perspective taking,’ refers to our ability to identify and understand other people’s emotions” (What is Empathy?).

There are many remarkable examples of how empathy, used in the Design Thinking process, has created amazing inventions. For example, in a hospital where Amitha Kalaichandran works. In the trauma area, there is always someone walking around with an orange vest on. This orange vest signifies that the person wearing it is the leader of the trauma team. “It’s a simple yet effective innovation created by a nurse after a hectic gunshot trauma situation, in which a huddle of highly stressed emergency room staff members spoke over one another and there were no clear roles.” After the orange vest was implemented, there was reportedly more communication among trauma team members, and it has helped demonstrate who is the person in charge. “By fostering simple innovations through Design Thinking in hospitals, we can tackle many challenges in the hospital in new ways, saving both dollars and lives.” Simple designs can be novel in an idea, but groundbreaking in practice, much like the orange vest.

Empathy should be something that more people use in their daily lives. Every once in a while take off the shoes that you have on, and try on a stranger’s. The experience will most definitely leave you with something to think about, as well as an experience unlike any other.