Are we losing the #empathy and #patience to listen and respond? A recent incident which plays out regularly at the workplace got me thinking.

An elderly uncle who is nearing 80 was on a call with the customer care of his bank to change his net banking password. He works on the computer but takes longer than most of us would to perform routine functions.

The process to change the password was a complicated one. The executive online was constantly proddingmy uncle to work faster. He was very politely telling him to be patient. Seeing my uncle getting upset, my daughter took over the operation and completed it.

This incident set me thinking. We see similar situations all around us. How can we #makeit easier?

My learnings from the interaction

1.Recognize there is another perspective beyond your own: The executive had an SLA and wanted to finish the call quickly. It stopped him from viewing the situation objectively

2. Seek to understand, then be understood: If the executive had enquiredabout why the process was slow, he would have been able to deal with the situation better

3.Think about your actions: Our systems are often highly competitive and leave little room for the disadvantaged. We often blindly follow