Empathy is a guiding compass for a brighter business future

When King’s Cross was first envisioned over 20 years ago, the goal was to create living, breathing spaces that cater to the diverse needs of society. While that core ambition lives on today, it’s safe to say that the sector has experienced seismic changes in recent years.

The axis has swung heavily towards how people use spaces and places daily, whether as a visitor, a resident, a small business or a major office occupier. Each of these groups represents an important part of our customer base at King’s Cross. So, how can we engage with our customers in a way that allows us to truly understand their experience, enabling both of us to grow as a result?

We believe that employing an empathetic approach is key. Empathy is a word used infrequently in property. But to us, empathy is vital. Why? Because it means we are actively listening to our customers and understanding their needs. That’s why we’re getting out there, speaking with our customers and understanding where we can develop and put their needs first. It’s also how we remove any preconceived notions of what we – as a ‘landlord’ – think is right.

The old adage that ‘people make a place’ couldn’t be truer. Developing collections of buildings without consideration to the people within them risks creating soulless places. That’s why people have been the primary focus for the team at King’s Cross since its inception.

We are listening, now more than ever, to the people that make King’s Cross so unique, and are establishing clear routes that will propel us to the next level in customer experience. Over the last year, we have made great strides in scaling up how we listen to our customers, so we can better understand what they need from the estate and how we can work closer together on shared objectives.

As part of this work, we have established a quarterly ESG Forum – a knowledge exchange platform for us and our customers to share ideas and agree joint objectives so we maximise our impact at King’s Cross. Such platforms give us the opportunity to enable continuous conversations between customers and the King’s Cross team – helping to bridge the gap between experience, empathy and business. Our goal is to function as a connector, facilitator, engager and enabler for the businesses on the estate as well as for our wider King’s Cross community, acting as a catalyst for positive change and development.

Empathy also guides our internal conversations as a team. With our delivery partners, we are focusing on developing listening skills so our teams all work towards getting to know our customers better. We have done this by centring on a shared set of values and launching specific client management training, as well as developing digital tools to help the teams share knowledge.

So much of what we do now is enabled by technology, but it’s far from the golden ticket. There’s no doubt that technology has a huge role to play in driving forward a successful customer experience, and we’re proud to have invested in and piloted multiple proptech innovations that are leading the way in this field. But if we forget to pair technology with empathy, we risk dehumanising and automating customer experiences. You cannot go ‘tech-heavy’ without first understanding and empathising with your customer. Investing in technology must go hand-in-hand with investing in your people and customers.

To truly succeed we must look beyond the structures and buildings we have built and address the relationships we nurture and the experiences we facilitate. The lifeblood of King’s Cross is its people – a sentiment that is even more important as the estate enters its final stages of development.

Empathy is a value that is often overlooked by those in our industry, dismissed as emotional rather than rational. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. The ability to empathise with the people who inhabit these spaces, both now and in the future, is fundamental to securing the longevity and durability of your assets – and most importantly, the happiness of your people.