🙋♂️ This is no joke! Do you work in IT, ENGINEERING, any other MACHINE driven industry? There is one critical human skill that you need to master to become a superstar.
➡️ EMPATHY ⬅️
Do you think this skill is just BS skill that doesn’t drive results? Another thing that you don’t have time to deal with?
Think again!
Empathy is the main ingredient of trustworthy connections, connecting and belonging to a group is what we are as humans.
The best part of this skill is that even if you have never paid attention or simply didn’t care, you have time! Empathy can be learned, teached, practiced.
Below a set of steps that can help you learn, improve and practice.
✅ Intention to practice empathy
It is on you to decide whether you want more trustworthy, stable, valuable and stronger relationships in your life. Start to acknowledge that you will have to listen more and speak less, put your guard down, get rid of your poker face and get used to feel a bit more vulnerable, emotional, and truthful to who you are. If you do that, you will be ready to practice and learn how to empathize.
✅It is not about you
This one is a hard one, but it is essential. Empathy is not about you. It is about the person in front of you. It is about their feelings, their history, their context. If you are having a conversation and you use the “I” pronoun, it is a red flag. Get yourself out of the equation unless someone asks you to be part of it. Your mind will wonder to all your history, experiences and will tell you to share but NO, take that control back, it is not about you.
✅Listen and ask questions
Your job is to ask powerful questions and simply to LISTEN. What are you feeling? Why are you feeling that way? What can you do to improve the way you are feeling? How can I help? Practice the art of active listening, a great tip is to paraphrase what you have listened and ask for a confirmation of your understanding. Do not give advice unless you have been specifically asked for one. Each situation and context is irrepealable, leave the distractions and focus on the person.
✅Reflect, how did it go
If you have listened, asked questions, appreciated the sharing, shown vulnerability, it is your time to congratulate you as that was a great step on practicing empathy and It has strengthened that relationship. You helped someone, you have practiced empathy and you helped yourself, your team, your business, your company. Think about how that made you feel, what could have been better, and be ready to repeat the process once again.
Empathy is an actual gap in IT and Engineering professionals, not an issue of the future, and it directly impacts results.
Learn and practice empathy as we need to create true connections more than ever.
Check our Empathy workshop and improve your professional and personal relationships.
