Leadership Skills

SI: Build Skills of Empathy

Empathy is understanding and sharing another person's emotions even though you may not have had a smiliar situation. Empathy involves relating to another person's situation, and it is different than sympathy, which involves caring or comforting the person. Empathy is a shared feeling between two people.

Try these activities in order to build your empathy:

• Watch someone who seems unable to connect with others easily, and note which behaviors seem to alienate others. Think of behaviors that could be incorporated that would enable him or her to be more skillful.
• Watch someone who connects easily with others. Make a list of behaviors that seem to attract others.
• Observe people in social situations (shopping is great). Note behaviors that support others and those that seem to be less supportive. Consider how things could be done differently.
• Imagine you meet someone new at a social event. Write five things you can say or do to "loosen up" the person. How could you make the person feel more comfortable? These should be things that allow the person to share freely.
• The next time there is an argument between people, make a list (afterwards, of course) of the toxic, empathy-destroying things any of the participants said or did that aggravated the situation. What could have been done differently?