Empathy. Without it, you can’t understand your learners—what they do, what they see, what they hear and experience. You also can’t understand how to partner effectively with stakeholders, Sub...
Published 8 years ago
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Great article Trina! I think empathy as a skill is often overlooked.
One other piece of advice I'd add, which I learned from my mom (a psychiatrist): it's important to remember that everyone's behavior makes sense in their own head. I've sometimes found myself in situations where I felt someone else was behaving irrationally or inappropriately, so I dismissed what they were saying because I figured they were overreacting. But, as my mom would say, that person is reacting appropriately-- you just don't understand the context in which their reaction is appropriate.
So in a work context, if you're surprised by someone's reaction to something, it might be easy to say that the person is overly negative, exaggerating, etc. But it's much more likely that they know something about the situation that you don't. Maybe they know that your "minor problem" will add a week of work for them, or that your "brilliant solution" is going to cause even more problems. Or maybe they've just misheard what you said. In any case, it's important to acknowledge the other person's concerns rather than dismissing them!
One other piece of advice I'd add, which I learned from my mom (a psychiatrist): it's important to remember that everyone's behavior makes sense in their own head. I've sometimes found myself in situations where I felt someone else was behaving irrationally or inappropriately, so I dismissed what they were saying because I figured they were overreacting. But, as my mom would say, that person is reacting appropriately-- you just don't understand the context in which their reaction is appropriate.
So in a work context, if you're surprised by someone's reaction to something, it might be easy to say that the person is overly negative, exaggerating, etc. But it's much more likely that they know something about the situation that you don't. Maybe they know that your "minor problem" will add a week of work for them, or that your "brilliant solution" is going to cause even more problems. Or maybe they've just misheard what you said. In any case, it's important to acknowledge the other person's concerns rather than dismissing them!
Hi Adrienne. Just wanted to thank you for taking the time to read and comment. And, I love your mom's advice: context is everything!