Empathy, a Foundation For Teamwork
This week I dipped into My Archives for a piece written in 2015. It’s short and sweet. Enjoy…
I was going through some of my old football notes the other night and I came across this little nugget:
“Empathy is a big thing in football and in a successful team. Don’t get beat easy, making it the job tougher for the defender; don’t slack making it harder for your teammates.”
I found this to be a big idea; one that speaks to the essence of teamwork and a thought worth exploring. It is probably a way of thinking that is not often discussed in sports because it is quite vague. How do you define something so intangible in a football setting, for example?
Still, looking at empathy and its basic meaning, it is undoubtedly one of the cores of teamwork.
Beyond dictionary definitions and psychological analyses, empathy on a team is doing your part because you understand if you don’t it will make things more difficult for your teammate.
It is sharing the pain of the workload, so to speak, and that is a hallmark of all great teams in sports, and beyond.
In football, for example, it could be marking from the front as a striker. Even though this is not necessarily foremost in your job detail, it helps make things easier for those teammates behind you who are expected to do the dirty work.
While I am not suggesting empathy is the be-all and end-all, an ingrained sense of empathy for your teammates will drive you in the 90th minute when you have to chase your man instead of letting the defence take care of it.
That one seemingly small action may prevent an open pass and help win the game. In any case — and crucially — your effort may also ignite the embers of fire in your teammates.
As is often said, empathy is a foundation for relationship building and productive communication. And, that is what teams are all about.
