Empathy is about curiosity. It’s about seeking to understand. It’s about holding space.
Building on this recent post on what empathy sounds like here are some questions we might use to practice cultivating empathy:
- What’s the hard part?
- Where are you stuck?
- What’s the real challenge here for you? (hat tip)
- What’s a quirk you have?
- What’s your superpower?
- What’s on your mind?
- What’s it like to be you right now?
- What does success look like for you?
- What are you not doing out of fear of it not working?
- What is something you believe to be true that a lot of people think is untrue?
- What else?
- Tell me more about that…
Just like sleep, indoor plants and crunchy peanut butter we can almost never have enough curiosity.
When in doubt set a rule for yourself that you’re only allowed to ask questions.
Follow your nose and seek to understand.
