Here's how you can incorporate empathy when evaluating communication performance.

Interest is crucial for fostering active listening. Focus on being fully present and attentive. Eliminate distractions, maintain eye contact, and nod to show understanding. Reflect back on what the speaker says to confirm comprehension and validate their feelings. Ask open-ended questions to encourage them to share more. Avoid interrupting and be patient, allowing pauses in the conversation. Show empathy by acknowledging their emotions and responding with compassion and understanding. This approach fosters trust and deeper connections.

From my experience, active listening is important. Interest is important for fostering active listening. I focus on being fully present and attentive, eliminating distractions, and maintaining eye contact. I nod to show understanding and reflect back on what the speaker says to confirm comprehension and validate their feelings. I ask open-ended questions to encourage them to share more, avoid interrupting, and be patient, allowing pauses in the conversation. I show empathy by acknowledging their emotions and responding with compassion and understanding. This approach not only builds trust and deeper connections but also makes it easier to understand their communication strengths and areas for improvement.

I prefer the term "present listening." "You cannot truly listen to anyone whilst doing anything else at the same time." Morgan Scott Peck. Great listening requires the cessation of doing. It needs us to quieten down the noise in our own heads to create space to truly receive the other person. Not just what they're saying and how they're saying it. But truly being able to pick up on they're whole being. I've always found this helpful: Don’t just listen with your mind, listen with your whole body. HOW? Place a light attention on your breath as you listen. SO WHAT? This should quieten down the noise of your own thinking, increasing your presence and, therefore, the quality of attention you give to the other person.

Empathy, the ability to understand and share feelings, creates a supportive environment. Active listening enhances the process of empathetic communication by fostering understanding and growth. It involves fully concentrating, understanding, and responding to the speaker. This is a necessary skill that I always mention to the learners in my ESL sessions. I often use open-ended questions in my training sessions, acknowledge emotions, provide compassionate feedback, and highlight strengths. I provide them with opportunities to collaborate. This approach helps build trust, increases motivation, identifies issues better, and allows for personalized feedback, leading to effective empathetic communication improvement.

Empathy comes from knowing the other, understanding them, what they want, need and what is the best way to approach them. There's no one recipe for empathy. This means that you need to prepare for each meeting with a fresh perspective.