Reading: The engagement mindset

When someone arrives already frustrated, the first thirty seconds set the direction of everything that follows. Our instinct is to explain, correct, or solve. Those instincts are well-meant, but they tell the other person their experience comes second.

Engagement starts by making the other person’s perspective the first thing on the table. That doesn’t mean agreeing — it means showing you understand what they’re dealing with before you ask anything of them.

In this reading, notice how each example opens with acknowledgement, moves to a question, and only then introduces the practitioner’s goal.