The Power of Being Heard

Recently, while running a virtual learning session for an organisation, a particularly thorny issue surfaced.

Several participants raised it at once.

Supportive comments began to fill the chat and thumbs-up emojis followed.

It clearly struck a chord with everyone.

I slowed down and paused.

My first instinct was, how can I help fix this?

But in that pause, something clicked for me.

I looked at what was happening, not just the words being used, but the energy in the room (even a virtual one).

I realised we’d created something important: a psychologically safe space.

And in that space, those participants weren’t actually asking for solutions, nor were they looking for me to jump in and fix anything.

They simply wanted to be heard.

And I mean 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 heard.

That moment reminded me of what I’ve learned again and again in coaching: people don’t always need answers.

They often don’t need you to solve their problems, how could you really anyway?

What they need is to feel understood.

To know that someone is genuinely listening, without judgement or a checklist of fixes at hand.

This is empathy in action.

Not the soft, fluffy kind that gets tossed around far too easily, but the grounded, humankind.

In that space we stop trying to solve everything and instead sit with people in their reality.

We listen not to reply, but to understand.

Sometimes the most powerful thing we can offer isn’t a solution.

It’s simply our presence.

What gets in the way of your ability to just listen?