What is empathetic listening?
Empathetic listening is hard to do. Here are some tips
Seek to understand, before being understood
Empathetic listening is an essential skill that involves fully understanding and connecting with someone’s feelings and perspective without judgment or the urge to offer solutions. It’s a deeper form of listening that requires putting aside one’s own thoughts and opinions to truly hear and empathize with another person. This kind of listening is particularly important when someone needs to feel heard and understood, rather than seeking immediate solutions.
Let’s understand what’s not empathetic listening
The concept of empathetic listening can be contrasted with other forms of listening that may seem helpful but don’t embody empathy. These include giving unsolicited advice, explaining one’s own situation in response, correcting the speaker, consoling, sympathizing, interrogating, evaluating, and trying to one-up the speaker’s experiences.
- Giving Advice like “I think you should …”
- Explaining your situation “But I didn’t mean to …”
- Correcting the person “Wait! I never said that!”
- Consoling the person “You did the best you…
