Do not seek an opportunity to respond with one's thoughts and opinions. Unlike most people who listen to respond, try understanding the listener then come to any conclusion. Encourage the speaker to continue the message, do not interrupt. Then, repeat the speaker's thoughts and feelings back to them. See how you would have felt if you were the speaker. Use a 'reflection' approach, which means thinking of yourself as a mirror. Try to get an idea of the speaker's feelings and keep in mind the emotional content delivered and the literal meaning of the words. It is essential to accept, but not necessarily agree, by nodding or adding phrases such as 'I understand' or 'I see.'

Do not judge what the person is telling you.Īn empathic listener must patiently listen to what the other has to say, even if you disagree.

Try not to think about what you are going to say while someone is still speaking.

Make sure you understand what the person is saying.

Show your interest in things that are said.

Try not to say, 'I know what it feels like.'.

You may begin by teaching your students these essential listening habits: To teach students to listen in an empathetic manner, you first need to develop good listening habits. Teach them to: Develop good listening habits Here are a few tips and strategies that you may implement to help your students become empathic listeners. How to teach empathetic listening to your students? With empathetic listening, you can create a space where others feel safe being themselves, laying the foundation for open and honest communication between the speaker and the listener. This kind of listening goes beyond the literal and even beyond the subtext of what has been said to the emotion beneath it. Where active listening may readily result in a list of action items, empathetic listening is focused on a more robust connection among teammates and a clearer understanding of another person's needs, motivations, and perceptions.Įmpathetic listening asks you to go beyond the surface of what is being said to unpack why and how it is being said and get to know someone's emotional experience-and empathize with it. But unlike active listening, empathic listening puts a particular emphasis on understanding the other person's emotional experience.

Both forms of listening require profound attention to another person to understand them better. Empathic listening means taking in what another person is saying-or not saying-with the intent to understand and relate to them on a human level.Įmpathetic listening is similar to its counterpart, active listening.

It happens when you deliberately slow things down and seek to understand others' inner worlds, i.e., you seek to understand first before being understood. Precisely, empathetic listening is all about establishing a connection. One leading quality of empathic listening is giving support and encouragement rather than advice or criticism.

Also called 'active listening' or 'reflective listening,' listening with empathy requires you to consider the other party's input. Listening with empathy entails establishing an emotional connection with the other person and finding similarities between their experience and your own so you can give a more heartfelt response.

Empathetic listening men or women