Empathy Morning Session Review

Recently, the (growing!) Empathy Lab team ran an open Empathetic Dialogue workshop for the community. We asked each participant to share with us what they believed were elements to an empathetic dialogue. The participants came up with some incredible thoughts on what makes a dialogue empathetic to them (see image below).

Insights: What An Empathetic Dialogue Looks + Feels Like

An empathetic dialogue is a conversation in which two or more individuals talk about a subject with compassion, curiosity, and care for each other. The first step is vulnerability. Only by sharing what makes us feel seen, heard, and cared for can we expect anyone to reciprocate. A simple chat can become uncomfortable quickly if we fail to understand both sides’ needs and preferences in the approach to dialogue. For example, some prefer eye contact, or hearing our names being spoken out loud, or simply being listened to without advice. Leaning into discovering these things with curiosity empowers us to have deep and interesting dialogue.

Agreement between those in the conversation is not the goal. The goal is to help broaden our perspectives on a given topic through sharing our authentic stories and experiences. Judgment, shame, and power manipulation have no part of an empathetic dialogue.

Takeaways

Small and simple gestures such as giving our full attention and not interrupting with a response can go a long way in connecting empathetically with others. Start practicing this pattern with “low stakes” conversational topics where you can easily find alignment. Starting small will build trust and open the relationship up to a broader set of topics, some of which might not be approachable if you’ve not put in the relational work.

For our list needing people, practice these 3 steps:

1. Give your full attention and don’t interrupt the person you are talking with

2. Start with “low stakes” conversations where you can find alignment

3. Build trust and move on to deeper topics