EP: 4 Using Empathy in Communication

Marina from Chattahoochee Tech discusses the importance of empathy in communication. Empathy helps maintain positive conversations by understanding the tone and mood of the speaker. It also helps create and nurture positive interpersonal relationships by providing good quality advice and showing care for the other person. Developing empathy requires having an open mind and staying consistent. Welcome to the Working Wizard podcast. My name is Francisco and I'll be your host over the course of this series which is communication. Today on our episode we have Miss Marina from Chattahoochee Tech who has done some extraordinary research on empathy. But first a little bit about our sponsors for today's episode. Do you or friends struggle with chapped lips? Does it hurt when you eat spicy food? Or does it scratch your boyfriend or girlfriend's lips every time you go in for a kiss? Well with pickled lip blamp you can say goodbye to those crusty lips and hello to some flavorful lips. No more lip burning but added taste to your food. No more dangerous lips and you'll have your partner thinking they just had a sandwich for lunch. Use the code workingwizards15 to get 15% off your next order today. Now let's get back to the show. Let's welcome Marina from Chattahoochee Tech to the show. She is here today to teach us about the role of empathy in communication. Could you first start by telling me the true definition of empathy and what it is? Sure. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feeling of another. This can be considered both a skill and a trait that we develop as our conversational skills grow over time. Okay. Can we, can you use it in a sentence? Yes. When empathy is found in a sentence, it is typically used to describe a relationship or social interaction with two or more people. For instance, someone might say she has great empathy for her mother, meaning that the girl understands her mother's emotions and feelings. That completely makes sense. I can kind of relate to that. You know when you're talking to somebody you can actually feel that empathy and make that connection better. Now that we understand like kind of the true definition of it, why is empathy so important when it comes to communication? Great question. There are two key reasons why empathy is so important in the world of communication. It is key to maintaining a positive conversation on behalf of both the listener and speaker and it helps create as well as nurture a positive interpersonal relationship. That is a hundred percent correct. Relationships, creating that bond. Good thing you're here to teach us more about this. Can you begin telling us how it makes it helps maintain a positive conversation? Of course. Being empathetic during a conversation allows us to really understand why and how the person who we are conversing with is saying the things they are saying, leading to productive communication. The two main things considered are the tone and mood of the speaker. Great, okay. So how does empathy, how does empathy to understand the tone help understand the tone and the mood of the speaker during the conversation? How does it impact it? Well, understanding the tone and mood of the speaker is a great way to determine how the speaker is feeling, which allows us to respond accordingly to what they're saying and how they're projecting it. Let's look at some examples. First, let's imagine ourselves having a conversation with someone who is feeling angry and speaking in an irritated tone because they had a bad day at work. If we had no empathy for them, we would not comprehend that their tone is because they had a poor day and it may automatically be assumed that their unamusing tone is directed towards us personally, causing tensions that could possibly turn into negative conflict. And then, opposingly, in example two, let's imagine having a conversation with the same person who had a bad day with the exact same tone and attitude, but this time we have empathy for them. In this case, we would understand that the reason they are speaking to us with a poor tone is caused by their bad day, therefore ensuring that we did not take it personally. With this knowledge, it allows us to really respond to the speaker appropriately, avoiding conflict and leading to a much more positive conversation. Wow, that makes a lot more sense now. I'm glad I could help, but let's not get too excited because we still have to dig into how empathy can create and nurture positive interpersonal relationships. Okay, you got me curious. Let's hear it. Sometimes, the goal of an empathy conversation is to ask and receive advice. And typically, as we give and receive good quality advice, we build trust and become closer with the people who we are helping. Okay, how would someone give good quality advice? This is exactly where empathy swoops in. Being able to understand the entire situation the person looking to receive advice in will give us the best way to really provide helpful insight. If we do not take the time to empathize with the person who needs the advice, we would not be able to really put ourselves in their shoes and experience what they're experiencing. And our chances of providing good quality advice will significantly decrease. That is totally understandable. Now I know when to ask for help, and I appreciate good quality advice always. Thank you. Okay, so who knew empathy mattered this so much? Like, I'm empathetic sometimes, but sometimes I'm not. And if we forget to actually show that, are there any more ways that empathy can actually help a relationship? Absolutely. Having empathy, especially in closer relationships, is crucial just to show that you somewhat care for the other person. How about we look at some examples again? I would love it. Okay, example one. Let's say we're observing a romantic couple. We refer to them as partner A and partner B. As this couple has a neutral conversation, partner A is discussing how their day was and how it made them feel. Partner B then responds to partner A by showing nonverbal signs like shaking their head and proceeding to not hear out what partner A truly has to say. Partner A will notice partner B's lack of empathy and begin to feel shut out, maybe even realize that partner B does not care for partner A as much as they really thought they did, leading to negative conflict, causing unnecessary bumps and bruises within their relationship. Now if we look at example two, we are observing the same couple, have the same conversation, but this time partner B decides to show good nonverbal cues of listening, actually takes the time to understand how partner A genuinely feels. Because partner B is being empathetic, partner A will most likely feel more loved and cared for. That's a great example. So basically something as simple as showing signs of active listening and caring for your partner or the other listener shows empathetic as needed to create and maintain a positive relationship? Exactly. Okay, now that we went over the role of empathy and communication, what would be your advice for listeners and our listeners that we have on today who want to obtain and maintain this conversational skill? Well for those who want to develop empathy, the key thing to remember is to always, always, always have an open mind. Open-mindedness will allow you to naturally begin and help you truly feel what someone is experiencing. And it's very important to remember not to rush the process, stay consistent. The more open-minded you are, the more empathetic you will become. That is so true. Oh my god, like if you're open-minded to be empathetic, to talk to somebody, you know, it creates that relationship just like you mentioned before. I just want to say thank you so much Marina for joining us today and our listeners. I hope you all learned something new. If you guys have any lingering questions, feel free to comment below. Make sure to like the podcast because it helps a lot and make sure to subscribe and we'll try to answer those questions as soon as possible. See you guys next time on the Working Wizards podcast.