The first E in the FINESSE fishbone diagram stands for Empathy. These are four tips to help you improve your empathy and empathetic listening.
Why Were You Asked to Present?
Empathy as a trusted advisor starts (and stops) with this one question. Most technically trained professionals falsely believe that they have been asked to present in two-way communication. The article highlights five reasons we often lose our way.
You are an expert, and senior management needs to know what you know to make a decision.
This is one of the few chances you have in front of senior management, so you must look valuable.
This is one of the few chances you have in front of senior management, so your department (or team) has to look valuable.
We forget that we are there to make senior management look good (or at least not bad).
You believe senior management wants to have a two-way conversation with you.
You Get One Shot at Credibility
Don't miss the opportunity to stand back in the exhibit hall and observe the exhibitors' empathy techniques. In addition to empathy, you will also see some great examples of how to build or lose credibility with decision makers.
Six Preparation Tips
The key to empathetic listening is to make the decision maker feel understood. Becoming an effective presenter requires empathetic listening that allows you to connect with others, understand their emotions and perspectives, and respond in a helpful way.
Seven Blockers to Empathetic Listening
This article provides seven blockers to empathetic listening: mind reading, rehearsing, filtering, daydreaming, advising, judging, and condescending. Becoming an effective presenter requires empathetic listening that allows you to connect with others, understand their emotions and perspectives, and respond in a helpful way.
Check Out the Video
We provide the foundations of Empathy in this 3-minute video.
The first E in FINESSE Creates Effective Communication
The first E in the FINESSE fishbone diagram stands for Empathy. Do you have an approach for communicating big issues with high complexity and uncertainty? Are you Communicating with FINESSE?
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