Guidelines For Empathetic Listening

1. Be Attentive
You will create a positive atmosphere through your nonverbal behavior, for instance, eye contact, and open relaxed posture, a friendly facial expression and a pleasant tone of voice. When you are alert, attentive and relaxed, the other person feels important and more secure.

2. Be Interested in the Speaker's Needs
Remember listening at level 1 that already we learn before, means you listening with understanding and mutual respect.

3. Listen for a Carring Attitude
Be a sounding board by allowing the speaker to bounce ideas and feelings off of you. don't ask a lot of questions right away. questions can often come across as if the person is being "grilled".

4. Act Like a Mirror
Reflect back what you think the other person is feeling. Summarize what the person said to make sure you understand what he's saying.

5. Don't Let The Other Person "Hook You"
This can happen when you get personally involved. Getting personal;y involved in a problem usually results in anger and hurt feeling and motivates you to jump to conclussions and be judgmental.

6. Uses Verbal Cues
Acknowledge the person's statement using brief expressions such as, "uh-huh", "I see", or "interesting". Encourage the speaker to reveal more by saying "tell me about it", "let's discuss it", or "I'd be interested in what you have to say".

Following these guidelines will help you be a successfull listener.