October – Leading With Empathy

For the month of October EDGE focused on the theme “Leading with Empathy”, which we felt was a relevant and timely topic given the state of our current environment.

We explored the video ‘Empathy’ by Simon Sinek as it specifically focused on how one person could possibly be two different types of employee based on the leadership style within the organization and the environment that is created. The employee who felt valued and cared for was engaging and genuinely excited to go to work every day while the same employee who felt that they were only valued for their production output showed up at work, put their head down and got through the day.

We also reviewed the contents of the book ‘The Empathetic Leader’ by Dwayne L. Buckingham and explored how the characteristics of a healthy organization ultimately leads to productive, compassionate and happy employees. We learned that people don’t quit jobs, they quit bosses.

We reviewed the 5 skills to becoming an empathetic leader and how seeking to understand employees, suspending judgement and maintaining a collaborative spirit will promote a more productive work environment. We touched on how the Empathetic Leadership Model connects to Emotional Intelligence and discovered how vital EQ is to building a successful leader – so much so that we are dedicating our entire November session to learning more about Emotional Intelligence.