What is empathetic listening?

Happy Friday. Let’s keep this short.

Empathetic listening is none of these things:

• Giving sympathy (“How awful…”)

• Minimizing (“It’s not a big deal…”)

• Reassurance (“You’ll be fine…”)

• Diagnosis (“Your problem is…”)

• Judgment (“You should have…”)

• Comparing (“That happened to me too…”)

• Assistance (“I’ll help you…”)

Empathetic listening is focusing on the other person and tuning into what they’re feeling, in order to uncover their unmet needs.

Have a good weekend, everybody!