Empathy in Insight: Empathy and Belonging
What happens when empathy moves beyond understanding customers and into how we understand each other? In the third instalment of The Empathy Exchange, Clare Woodward and Suzanne Martin explore the powerful connection between empathy and belonging, and why feeling seen, understood and valued matters for people, teams and organisational performance. Understanding builds empathy. Empathy creates belonging. And belonging helps teams thrive.
Welcome to the third instalment of The Empathy Exchange.
In the third of our series on empathy in insight, we’re examining the relationship between empathy and belonging.
In the first article of our series, we wrote about why we think we’re at a critical point for empathy within the research and insights industry, and the specific challenges we’re facing. In the second we discussed the role of storytelling as a tool to build empathy. Now, in this article, we’re moving from the role of empathy within insight as a profession and looking at how it can impact our experiences at work. We’ll explore why people and their stories are such a powerful force for connection, belonging and organisational success.
Research increasingly shows that when people feel understood and that they belong, organisations perform better. Stronger relationships create stronger teams. Stronger teams create stronger cultures. And stronger cultures create better outcomes for both people and business.
A 2022 Harvard Business report analysed factors that contribute to top performing companies and found that the top 7% of these companies were more likely to say that empathy is emphasised in their organisational culture. But, while 78% of senior leaders acknowledge the importance of empathy, only 47% believe their companies are effectively practicing it.
While empathy is often thought of as an individual trait, it is heavily influenced by culture. Empathy flourishes in environments where people feel safe to share, where different perspectives are welcomed, and where leaders model curiosity and openness. In this sense, empathy sits at the intersection of psychological safety, wellbeing, and belonging. It helps people feel understood, while those wider cultural conditions create the space for empathy to flourish. Psychological safety allows people to speak openly. Empathy helps people feel seen. Belonging is the result; the feeling that we are accepted, valued and included.
Empathy helps create psychological safety because:
- We suspend judgement.
- We seek to understand before reacting.
- We assume positive intent.
- We provide context for behaviour.
And empathy can improve wellbeing because:
- People feel understood.
- People feel supported.
- People feel less isolated.
Empathy is a mechanism for creating a space where people can feel like they belong.
Belonging isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity for us to thrive in our teams. Humans have an innate need to belong. 2022 Harvard Business Research found that high belonging is linked to a 56% increase in job performance, and a reduction in staff turnover and sick days. For a 10,000 employee company that equates to an estimated annual savings of more than $52m.
So the question is, how do we use empathy to build emotional connection in our teams?
A key element is finding ways to know each other better. While culture building activities often involve elements like personality profiling, cross-functional teams, and social activities, we believe that the same techniques we use to build empathy with customers can be used internally to build empathy with colleagues.
In the previous article, we explored stories and storytelling as a vehicle for building empathy. If we can see the value of stories and sharing when we’re conducting research, if we understand the value of building empathy so customers’ experiences drive the decisions businesses make, why don’t we aim to do the same with our colleagues and the teams we work in?
Many of us spend more waking hours with colleagues than with almost anyone else. We collaborate, solve problems and navigate challenges together. But beyond professional roles and responsibilities, how often do we understand the experiences that have shaped their perspectives, values and behaviours? We often know little about the experiences that shaped them as individuals. And while we may spend years working alongside someone, we may do so without understanding the events, challenges or values that influence their perspective.
We’re all human, and we have many different experiences and things outside of work that impact who we are when we come to work. We’re complex and deal with a myriad of different things every day that have the potential to impact who we are, our perspectives and how we show up. And it’s not just negative experiences. Think about the key life transitions, such as a parent coming back from extended family leave.
Often what’s missing from broader culture or team initiatives are the stories of not just what you’re dealing with, but how it changes who you are, and how you show up to life in general and work specifically.
When people share their stories then teams develop deeper understanding of one another, and this can create a stronger sense of belonging, stronger cultures, and ultimately better organisational outcomes. We believe that these stories are a key way of humanising teams, of humanising the people behind the emails and video calls. They’re a key method to get closer to each other, to create a better understanding of each other, to build empathy. Stories reveal not just what happened to someone, but how those experiences shaped who they are. When we create opportunities to share those stories, we build understanding. Understanding builds empathy. Empathy creates belonging. And belonging helps teams, cultures and organisations thrive. The power of people doesn’t come from working together alone. It comes from truly understanding one another.
If we can practise all of this in in our working environments, then it helps us build the empathy muscle, which ultimately helps us become better researchers and insight professionals.
Next week we’ll publish the final article in this initial series, where we talk about how to put this into action.
About the Authors:
Clare is an experienced clientside researcher who has worked across customer experience, B2B, and B2C insight. She is passionate about inclusion, with a focus on ensuring research and the research industry are inclusive across both practices and culture. Clare is the original author of the MRS Clientside EDI Best Practice guides, first published in May 2022, and the author of the MRS AI Clientside Best Practices guidelines published in July 2025. Clare frequently speaks at events and conferences, and is a Fellow of the Market Research Society.
Suzanne has built her career helping organisations drive meaningful change through insight. With experience across both agency and clientside insight roles in financial services, retail and telecommunications, she specialises in connecting customer understanding with business action to shape strategy, improve experiences and support better decision making. Suzanne is particularly interested in how organisations can build stronger connections with customers, colleagues and stakeholders.