Empathy is a skill.

Like any other skill, empathy can be developed.

While one can learn to be empathetic, the way to maintain and deepen one’s level of empathy is deliberate practice.

Habits are a good way to practice important skills, and these 7 habits will exercise your empathy muscles and help you develop into a highly empathetic leader

❶ Be curious about people. Every day, aim to learn something more about someone around you.

❷ Practice perspective taking. During a conversation, try and think about the situation from the other person’s viewpoint.

❸ Notice and reflect on your own emotions. Once or twice in a day, stop and take notice of how you are feeling. Express your own emotions more granularly.

❹ Practice active listening. When listening, go beyond the words you hear, and notice their tone, posture, facial expressions and other non verbals to decode their emotions.

❺ Experience what it means to be someone else. Once in a while go and experience how it is to be performing someone else’s job, recreate someone’s commute, eat the way someone eats - experience their way of life to the extent you can.

❻ Watch movies and read fiction. Don’t just lose yourself in the plot, but get deeply involved with the characters and how they respond to the twists and turns of life.

❼ Be mindful of your biases. It’s difficult to notice our biases - our thoughts and actions seem perfectly rational. However, by being intentional, seeking feedback, and reflecting regularly on our significant experiences, we can learn more about our biases

Building sustainable habits is a way of maintaining and deepening our skills. Of course, it is not easy to do so. If you find it difficult to build new habits, you might be better served working with a coach or mentor to develop these habits.

Which of these habits are you willing to work on, to develop your empathy?

________________________________________

2023-018 #atomicessay #ship30for30

7 Habits of Highly Empathetic Leaders

Empathy is a skill. Like any other skill, empathy can be developed. While one can learn to

The all-in-one writing platform.

Write, publish everywhere, see what works, and become a better writer - all in one place.