Empathy is the ability to understand and sometimes even feel others’ emotions and be able to treat them according to those emotions and emotional reactions. Developing the ability to show others empathy is important to aid in solving someone’s problems and win over hearts within your social life. Empathy can also help you become a stronger leader within the workspace. There are different manners in which you can develop empathy skills.
Put yourself in Their Shoes
Being able to put yourself in others’ shoes will greatly help you understand the emotions of others and how you need to respond to their emotional reactions. Everyone responds to various issues differently and getting into that person’s shoes will allow you to understand better why they could be dealing with the issue in the manner they are. Ask questions to understand the situation better and find out how to address the person.
Handle the Situation Correctly
Like any other situation, you must be able to handle the situation at hand correctly. It would be best if you remembered that everyone handles different situations uniquely and most likely not in the same manner you would. Be sure to pay attention to what is going on at the time and react accordingly. If you over or under react to various situations, it can lead to the overall issue becoming worse and possibly more dangerous.
Develop Strong Observatory and Analytical Skills
Having the ability to observe behaviors of those around us can greatly improve the ability to develop our empathy skills. It is important to listen to the person, what they are saying, and read the person’s mind without casting that person’s immediate judgment.
Then you can use your analytical skills to consider the situation from various angles to determine the next course of action that must be taken. Being analytical involves you being able to consider financial, emotional, technical, logical, and mental aspects of the situation at hand. Your ability to be analytical will allow you to break down the situation into small issues that are easier to handle.
Effectively Communicate
Most all skills that are developed stem from the ability to communicate with others effectively. Showing empathy and developing these skills greatly depends on effectively communicating with others. No matter how much advice you have, how many times you have been in similar situations, or how much you know, if you cannot effectively communicate with others than all of your efforts have gone to waste.
You must be able to effectively express your advice, concerns, and feelings related to the situation without turning the other person off about what you are saying. You must be effective in everything that you say to help the situation properly.
Follow Up
When you are helping someone through a stressful situation, you must follow up with that person and check in on them. You want to ensure that everything is alright and that once looming over their head is getting taken care of effectively. You want to make sure that everything is going fine and anything else you can do to help.
People most times will not ask for additional help after they have asked for help initially. Do them a favor by lending the helping hands, opening the conversation, and making sure that everything is fine.
People like to know that they are thought about especially when they are going through difficult times. They begin to feel that they are not alone and are more willing to continue battling their obstacles rather than giving up on themselves.
Make sure you finish what you start and help them throughout the situation when possible.
