Empathy always: the foundation of everything we do
- Emma Bayne
- Jun 9
- 5 min read
By Emma Bayne, Principal Consultant / 09 June 2025
'A person who is able to contribute something to the world is a fortunate person, and each of us should be able at least to ‘brighten the corner’ where we are'.
-Charles M. Schulz
Of late, I find myself increasingly reflecting on the importance of empathy in everything we do. We live in an ever-changing world with ever increasing expectations, opportunities, noise and threat.
I keep coming back to the urgent need for empathy to be baked into our service design and delivery, into how we deliver change and into our leadership styles and how, in these times, we need to lean into this as much as possible.
Digital transformation
Digital transformation is my specialism, but you won’t hear me talking about digital or technology specifically. Technology no longer does or should sit alone, it is a part of most everything we do, part of every change, service and leadership decision. Technology impacts how we act, think and deliver and empathy should be a thread woven throughout all aspects of it.
What's often missing in digital transformation initiatives is the human element. When institutions implement new systems without considering how users actually experience them, adoption falters and frustration mounts. I've seen projects succeed brilliantly when user research and empathetic design principles guide development—and fail spectacularly when they didn't. Technology impacts how we act, think, and deliver, and empathy should be a thread woven throughout all aspects of it.
Empathy is something I often speak about with Strive Higher colleagues, with our clients across the HE sector, and with friends and family. Throughout my life, the empathy and support my community has provided to me has been profoundly important. I’m deeply thankful for this and I always try to set it at the heart of every interaction and decision I make. It is fundamental to everything, which is why writing this is so important to me.
Service design and delivery
Empathy is at the heart of truly effective service design and delivery in higher education. It’s about more than just listening — it’s about genuinely understanding the emotions and experiences of students, colleagues, and stakeholders and making this part of your service design and delivery processes. In environments where people come from a wide range of backgrounds and face diverse challenges, taking time to understand their perspectives helps create a more inclusive and supportive atmosphere.
I’ve experienced how a little empathy can go a long way. Whether it’s a student overwhelmed by a personal issue or a staff member navigating a difficult decision, responding with compassion and flex builds trust, strengthens relationships and helps you reach a successful outcome. When students feel seen and heard, they are more likely to open up, be honest, ask for help, and stay engaged in their studies. This directly contributes to student success.
On a broader level, when empathy becomes part of an institution’s culture, everything changes. Policies become more humane, support services feel more accessible, and the community becomes more connected. Empathy turns day-to-day service interactions into meaningful moments — and that’s what helps higher education live up to its ideals.
Services designed and delivered with empathy at their heart are better for all.
Change
In every change project I’ve facilitated, the most important success factor was the people and what they brought with them, both their insight and their passion. Listening and supporting them with care and kindness always led to a better end result. For example, when implementing a new student record system, start with listening exercises with students providing real experiences of their user journeys instead of jumping straight to coding or technology ‘fixes’.
Of course you also need to focus on the usual key components, such as business requirements, success criteria, return on investment, fit with technology infrastructure and implementation/ communication plans, but meaningfully involving people and their insights will help you get the core components right and will ensure the right fit for your culture. Deep diving into stakeholder engagement will make sure change sticks. This includes listening to what is said along with what is not said.
Change has the power to have incredible positive impact, it just depends on how we, as humans, approach and apply it. Empathy makes it better.
Leadership
It’s a time of uncertainty for the sector which is impacting stress levels and wellbeing. We all need to approach everyday with empathy more than ever.
The mental health crisis is real – nearly 15% of people experience workplace mental health challenges, translating to 1 in 6.8 colleagues struggling around us. This makes empathetic leadership not just nice to have, but essential for a thriving organisation. (1)
We’ve all seen our fair share of both great and poor leadership. Poor leadership includes changes rushed through to 'save time', but inevitably slowing everything down. You can sense the frustration when change happens at the whim of an individual without understanding the benefits and impacts, resulting in a poor user experience. The demoralisation is obvious when leaders ignore clear signs that an approach isn't working, pushing to meet firm deadlines no matter what, leading to mediocre results and disengaged teams. In all these scenarios, we are not prioritising empathetic decision factors (as well as common sense!).
Empathy is fundamental to all actions and decisions we take as leaders. It doesn’t mean you can’t make hard choices; it enables you to handle them with care and situational awareness. Great leaders trust in their instincts, trust in their humanity, act with integrity and bring all this into everything they do. This builds trust, helps reduce uncertainty and supports success. Empathy helps make great leaders great.
Our greatest asset
Empathy’s greatest asset is that it is available to us all. It is free to use, a rarity these days. It improves experiences, makes change stick and makes better leaders. It improves the overall service offer in HE and in any sector. It also, most importantly, can positively change and lighten the lives of others and your own.
I say lean into it. Why not? Empathy rules.
As you finish reading this, I invite you to take three specific steps:
Observe: In your next meeting, focus on understanding rather than responding. Notice what people aren't saying as much as what they are.
Ask: When facing resistance to change, ask 'What concerns do you have that might not be obvious to me?' The answers may surprise you.
Reflect: At day's end, consider one interaction where you could have shown more empathy. How might you approach it differently tomorrow?
These small shifts can create ripples of positive change throughout your institution
Our approach to empathetic transformation
At Strive Higher, empathy isn't just something we talk about – it's woven into our methodology. We are sector specialists who lead with human-centred approaches that prioritise understanding before solution-building. We bring this philosophy to every partnership and collaboration, ensuring that change and transformation prioritises and engages the people who will ultimately deliver and receive the resulting services and user experiences.
If you’re interested in having a conversation with us about leading transformation and change with empathy, get in touch.
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