During a work training today we had a guest speaker from an industry we serve – franchising. We were learning the 101 and personas of franchise owners and how we can best understand and support them with our hiring software.
The presenter reminded us that people who start a franchise have usually put everything into their business. Their savings, all their time, their livelihood. It’s an investment and a bet on success. So remember, they told us, that if someone is being difficult it’s probably because they are scared.
We hear versions of that all the time: you never know what people are going through, be kind.
Today I thought about it in context of our clients and my growing empathy and understanding of small business owners. But I can broaden it: the emails that were sent too fast or the tone that was a brush too condescending in a meeting. This isn’t isolated to work, of course. We (as humans) so often fuel each other’s fire instead of taking that healthy breath to allow for empathy to have her say. We all have our pressures and challenges and the days where our fear shows up in unhelpful ways.
We (I) need to make room for that pause. In both judging others and in reacting ourselves.
With Love,
Natalie