American companies are facing a reckoning. It’s now become more critical than ever that they rethink policies and practices that could be working against a culture of inclusivity. From the company’s leadership to its new hires, all have responsibility for creating an atmosphere that promotes respect, understanding, and empathy.

What is empathy? According to dictionary.com, empathy is the psychological identification with the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another. In laywoman’s terms, it’s being able to put yourself in someone else’s Cole Haans.

This starts with expressing empathy toward each other. Research shows that empathy boosts employees’ productivity, morale, engagement and retention. But, according to the Washington Post, “practicing empathy has challenges: it is rarely taught…and is difficult to measure.”

Still, empathy starts with the individual. When you are empathetic, you begin to build a culture of empathy. Here’s how to ensure that you are bringing your most empathetic self to your workplace interactions:

1. Get to know your coworkers as people. A work environment is meant to be productive, but it doesn’t have to mean keeping your door closed or putting your head down for eight hours without taking time to build relationships with coworkers. Ask them about their lives and what’s important to them outside of work. Is one a single parent trying to be available for his child? Is another caring for a sick parent? Knowing more about the people around you will enhance trust and build empathy. In turn, your colleagues will try to get to know you better. Be open and caring.

2. Take time to actively listen to others. When coworkers come to you with questions or concerns, give them your full attention. This means stopping what you’re doing, facing your coworker, and making eye contact. Once the coworker has fully stated her question, paraphrase what you heard to validate it. Ask questions that demonstrate you care about what the other person has said. (This is particularly true when you disagree with what has been said. Listening well to divergent viewpoints is the essence of empathy.) Take the time to listen, clarify, and thoughtfully respond. Doing so allows others to feel fully heard.

3. Be honest with team members. Liberally praise outstanding work and, for any employee whose work is substandard, discuss it one-on-one. It’s likely the employee will be able to improve with constructive feedback and pointers. By offering an honest opinion, sensitively offered, you show that you care that everyone’s skills are being used to their highest potential. Don’t sugarcoat your suggestions, but don’t pile on with negative feedback, either. Often offering one thought for improvement is better than numerous suggestions.

4. Advocate for fair policies. It’s common to impose one-size-fits-all policies and perks, but give consideration to whether some coworkers might be excluded from benefiting from them. For example, are religious holidays of non-Christians honored? Does offering free parking passes exclude those who take public transportation? An important aspect of showing empathy is speaking up and addressing any work policy that excludes any coworkers.

5. Remove bias from the hiring process. Check that you’re not gravitating toward candidates like yourself, or who support your own point of view. When hiring, include a diverse assortment of job candidates and rate them against the requirements needed for the position, not on personality alone. Understand that a diverse staff can provide more perspectives, ideas and creativity when seeking solutions to organizational challenges.

Empathy has rightly risen to prominence as a key value in the workplace. Employees and customers alike have come to demand it, and a company’s level of empathy has serious ramifications for its success. Empathy is so important that now there is an app to measure it. Indeed, improving inter-organizational relationships through authentic engagement, fairness, honesty, active listening, and unbiased hiring practices — all components of becoming an empathy-driven organization — moves an organization toward the gold-standard of an outstanding organizational culture.