Empathy

• Empathy is critical to good listening. It is the accurate and specific recognition and sharing of another person’s experience. The closeness of your relationship and the severity of the issue should determine the intensity your response. With people you don’t know so well, watch out for stereotypical thinking. Your job is to try to imagine the other’s experience. You might not agree with how they are responding to a situation, you just have to figure out how they feel and support those feelings. Consider what you know about the other person’s basic values, the constraints or challenges they are under, and the choices or compromises they have to make.

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