Empathetic listening: for individuals & enterprises

The context of empathetic listening

We sometimes live in a world of stress and chaos, egos and rudeness, high pressure, expectations to perform or perish. For many enterprises, employees working in them, their shareholders, their supplier eco-system and customers a day in the life can feel overwhelming.

That sense of overwhelming becomes even more when there is a sense of disconnectedness. Empathetic listening can go a long way to help us all as individuals and also as an enterprise as a whole. Any company who can establish an organization culture of empathetic listening will not only create a happy, engaged, and successful enterprise but also create a pleasant and harmonious relationship with their customers, partners and ecosystem.

Empathetic listening. We know how important it is for personal relationships. However, we forget what we call as enterprises are essentially humans. Humans work with humans to provide products and services for humans. Thus, an enterprise is a sum total of human relationships; hence empathetic listening is critical for a happy and prosperous enterprise.

A best in class organization is one where empathetic listening is engraved in the DNA of the company culture.

The meaning of empathetic listening

You listen with kindness in your heart. You truly listen. You don’t listen with a hidden agenda or a point to prove. You don’t listen with a mere agenda. You don’t listen to answer. You don’t listen with a preconceived notion. You don't start forming responses in your mind when you are listening. You listen because you truly care for the other person and not your own ego. You listen selflessly. You listen with a mind of stillness, a sense of calmness, with intrigue and curiosity. You listen to learn. You listen to absorb. You listen because you love the experience of listening. You listen with patience. You listen with wisdom. You listen with the other person in your heart. You listen with humility in your mind and respect for the other person. You listen with patience. You listen to live the experience or at least respect and honor the experience of the other person.

Are you listening to the words of the speaker... or the feelings underneath?

Empathetic listening is when you listen with silence in your mind and compassion in your heart.

And when you practice empathetic listening, you provide the other person the honor, the joy, the sense of fulfilment of being heard, of being understood, of being cared for. And in that priceless moment, the speaker and listener are one team. You are in this together with a shared story, a shared purpose, a shared experience.

The value of empathetic listening for enterprises

Now with the above mindset, think about your role in your company. If you are a business leader – are you practicing empathetic listening to your organization, your team and eco-system? The same is true for all roles… are you designing products and services which truly solves your customer’s problems and gives them the transformative experience they care for? Are you using AI & technology to address and genuinely help your internal and external stakeholders? As an HR are you empathetically listening to the employees and organization culture? If you are a manager, are you one team with your team … do they feel heard and cared for? If you are an individual and you are listening to another team-member... are you practicing empathetic listening?

If you are a thought leader and innovator are you hearing the silence in the chaos? Are you listening to the salient deep desires of your enterprise, your customers, your industry?

You can show up tomorrow and each day of the year just doing your job as usual and make life a mundane experience. Or do it with a mind of empathetic listening and you will experience the joy of your daily job unraveling itself in a myriad of opportunities of growth, learning and happiness. ?

Bottom-Up Change: How do you practice empathetic listening at workplace as an individual?

It always begins with individuals bottom-up. No matter where we work, under what circumstances... each of us can be a change agent bottom-up. Personally, for me, my many years of extensive meditation practice and also my role as a solution advisor to customers and mentor to my team-mates internally … all of these experiences have helped me develop and work on this skill.

To begin with I suggest reading some books on this to understand what empathetic listening is. Then start practicing those skills on a daily/weekly basis. Here are some ideas:

1.????? Meditate

2.????? Journaling (written or mental) – recollect moments when you practiced empathetic listening and moments you did not

3.????? Your own ego will be your biggest obstacle towards empathetic listening. We are all obsessed about own own-selves and our own problems and our own desires. So, any work you can do to reduce your ego… from service work to helping and mentoring others, to genuinely taking a step back and shining the light on someone else, extensive deep practice in mindfulness, gratitude list, etc… the lesser your ego, the more the mind is open to empathetically listen

4.????? Learn to appreciate others. Genuine appreciation – not just complimenting someone on the surface but deeply feel gratified at what others do. Go out of your way to appreciate someone at work or a customer.

5.????? Get outside your own echo chamber and self-conceit. Interact with wide variety of people. Read different books. Develop different skills by going outside your comfort zone. Open your mind to different experiences and people. Work on ad-hoc projects.

Top-down: How do you create an empathetic listening culture as an organization?

Go beyond surveys. Go beyond just focused group discussions. Make this an integral part of your culture. Conduct workshops and trainings. Have empathetic listening as an essential skill in employee development plan relevant for that role. Reach out to your suppliers, your partners, your customers, and practice empathetic listening with them. Train your business leaders and managers in it. And do this in a programmatic frequent manner. Create a cross-functional Empathetic Listener champion community who will act as multipliers.

And give it time… patience… years... We are working with deep rooted human psychology .. at both an individual and organization level... so we have to give it a lot of time.

Summary

A creative mind, an innovator, a positive influencer brings change for the future because they are able to empathetically listen to what the world needs… the hidden story of the unspoken words. The best companies to work for and also sustainably long-running successful companies have always given importance to empathetic listening.

With humility, curiosity, and continuous practice … each one of us an individual and collectively as organizations and enterprises can bring joy and purpose to our fellow colleagues, organization, ecosystem and to larger humanity via empathetic listening.

May we all grow in the skill of empathetic listening as individuals and enterprises.

And above all ... don't forget to practice empathetic listening towards your ownself too. You are your own true friend! Practice begins at home :-)

Personal Disclaimer

The content expressed in this publication is purely the personal opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of organization the author works for.?The information presented in this whitepaper is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice or any specific implementation or actionable recommendation. Do not also consider this whitepaper for any implementation or software purchase or software design without doing your due diligence and evaluation. The case studies presented in this whitepaper are purely hypothetical and the purpose of which is creative ideation in the minds of the reader to generate excitement and interest in this topic for future self-exploration & research. This publication was crafted also with the help of generative AI technology from various LLMs. While the core ideas and content are the product of the author’s own work; sections of the article when related to content creation. editing choices, elaborations and summarizations of content are influenced by Generative AI and thus may include content from other sources not declared in the references and also may contain content which may be influenced by the inherent Generative AI inaccuracies or biases. Also note the domain of technology & AI is also rapidly changing so the relevance of this whitepaper may change with time. The information in this article is for general informational purposes only and is provided in good faith. The author makes no warranty regarding the accuracy or reliability of the content. Any actions taken based on this information are at your own risk. We do not endorse any products, services, or companies mentioned and are not responsible for any linked third-party content. By reading this, you accept this disclaimer in full.

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