Communication lies at the core of all human relationships, dynamics, and partnerships. The ability to understand the perspective of another human being, treat the interests and needs of others as equally important as yours, listen with empathy, not hijack conversations, and handle conflict with empathy are advanced communication skills that separate inspiring leaders from the rest.

Watch the video of coach Alex Lyon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tyFJTtzYtY&t=260s

What do you think empathetic communication is about? According to him, there are three main ideas to consider:

1. Empathy gives our communication more compassion

2. Empathy helps us shape our communication more effectively – to shape what we want to say with the other persons’ perspective in our mind. You will shape your messages with the other person in mind.

3. Empathy helps our messages connect.

If we use empathetic communication it means that we connect as person to person, rather than having the leader and follower conversation.

As there is always room for improvement, here are a few tips through which you could improve your empathetic communication:

• Increase the attention by self-detachment and self-decentralization.
• Be more receptive to what the other person is saying.
• Withdraw from quickly assessing the situation and giving suggestions to the speaker.
• Increase the active listening by participating in what the other person says. Make the effort to see the situation from their angle and have the patience to let them finish what they are saying.
• Move from listening to the dialogue’s informative content to listening to the things that cannot be directly or verbally expressed (nonverbal communication).
• Check whether what you heard and what the other person didn’t verbalize is correct. Try not to make assumptions.