Empathy is really about a willingness to listen and make people feel heard.
Coalition MP Andrew Laming was recently ordered by the Prime Minister to do a private course on empathy, telling him that he wanted to see 'a behaviour change'.
Someone who can explain what empathy training involves is Ms Butterworth, as she is the founder of Empathy First. She says people come to her thinking they're coming to learn about other people, and how she begins her empathy training throws them off guard.
”So there’s a very vulnerable experience that we go through, and then I saw to people, tell someone what that was. And a lot of people go, uh, uh, uh, I don't know how to express it. And I say to the person listening, what did you want to say? And they all say, oh I just wanted to make it better. Is that what you needed? They go no! I didn't want a pamphlet. I didn't want to be told it would all be okay. I wanted to be heard."
NSW Human Resource Management expert Dr Sue Williamson says she's not convinced. Ms Williamson says the prescription of empathy training makes an organisation look like they're doing something without actually addressing the problem.
”Why isn't he going to learn about non-violence training and anti-bullying behaviour. To me, it seems to be more about bullying rather than a lack of empathy. And of course, they go together, but bullying is a much stronger charge to lay against someone.”
Click the audio icon on the picture at the top of the page to listen to the interview in Punjabi.
