Page 60 - Demo

If you were skilled at this [empathy] prior to the pandemic, you had a very needed and useful skill to address the range of issues employees might be facing. If you weren’t skilled, it’s likely you felt lost about how to interact productively with employees who were experiencing things that were challenging.
- Lev Hojda
All too often we believe that others share our perspectives and experiences, and we assess actions based on that assumption. Asking questions and being curious are far more enlightening than judging and accusing.
- David Zahn, ZAHN Consulting, LLC
Give people grace. Even now, everyone is struggling to make sense of it all: the pandemic, working from home, school, family. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Most people are doing the best they know how to do, so approach others with that idea and interactions will go much better. Find common ground with others. In this time, sharing how we are coping, how we are helping others, the things we are afraid of, our hopes - all of that helps us see each other as human beings rather than just voices or even video pictures that cut in and out all the time.
- Learning Colleague
Empathy is often hard for people to “do” because it’s not really about doing at all. It’s about being: being with another person in such a way that you get what they’re feeling. To empathize, you make a simple statement that shows you get what’s going on (e.g., “That’s frustrating” or “There’s a lot of confusion going around right now”). Empathy
is also important when another person is having a great experience. Expressions like, “That’s so exciting” or “That’s wonderful” are also empathetic statements.
- Maureen Caughran
Try to cultivate the 6 empathic habits, suggested by Roman Krznaric in his November 2012 article, “Six Habits of Highly Empathic People” (https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_habits_of_highly_empathic_people1): 1) curiosity about strangers
2) challenging prejudices and discovering commonalities 3) trying another person’s life
4) listening hard and opening up
5) inspiring mass action and social change
6) developing an ambitious imagination
These are all critical to navigating these changing times. - Kristen Geany
Empathy is a bit mysterious. Is it a skill or an outcome? I think of empathy as the end of a process. It is the reaction or emotional product that comes from skills like listening, questioning, imagining what others have thought, felt or experienced. If we focus on building listening, questioning, and imagining skills, will we automatically benefit from increased empathy?
- Learning Colleague
Really listen to what people are saying. It’s easy to hear them but listening helps you understand their story and where they’re coming from.
- Tonia Forlani, Self-employed
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