Volume 13    Issue 6    November 2006

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An Empathetic Culture...Priceless
by James Terrell

As you will note in Marcia's piece as well, we were both moved by the remarks of Lynne Twist at the International Coach Federation conference regarding the role of abundance and scarcity, and honesty in our economic lives. At Collaborative Growth we have consistently sought to ensure that our work provides real value to as many levels of the organization as we can touch in our coaching and consulting work, because each system is made up of these subsystems.

Developing emotional intelligence in one leader, one manager, one team is always a step in the right direction, however too often the momentum of past attitudes and strategies tends to overwhelm the progress and pull things back into the status quo. The problem is that the status quo, the way we've always done it, is not adequate to the task. Things have changed too much, and at some level or another, everybody knows it. A globally integrated economy is too complex and too powerful to be guided by the goals and values of consumerism.

A recent article on environmental conditions pointed out that our planetary resources can only sustain 1.2 billion people consuming at the rate we do in America. Before the clock strikes 12 on New Years Eve there will be over 6.5 billion people sharing planet Earth. Emotional intelligence is necessary to help us develop the new behaviors that we need to begin living within our means. It requires vigilance and discipline to break our habit of seeking to acquire more. Independence must give way to greater interdependence. This requires improved empathy which is based on listening and hearing what is really going on with your coworkers. But who has time to listen that carefully today?

Interestingly enough it doesn't take that much more time to listen with respect and empathy. It takes some training... in restraint, because we have to be able to turn off the agenda that we are constantly seeking to achieve in order to correctly receive the critical information that others in our system have observed. That doesn't mean we abandoned our objective, in fact it means we're much more likely to accomplish it, with accurate information and the goodwill of people who gathered at and feel respected and appreciated for having done so.

©2006, Collaborative Growth