Fostering Workplace Empathy for Increased Productivity

Audience:

all staff members (from leaders to front line employees)

Prerequisites:

Description:

Studies have shown many leaders throughout the world to be lacking empathy with their employees; however, those same studies show that when empathy is learned and applied in the workplace, productivity increases and relationships thrive. This half-day workshop will help participants develop and practice their empathy skills to have better productivity and better relationships at work.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

At the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

• Understand the meaning of empathy vs sympathy.
• Learn habits needed to be perceived as empathetic.
• Learn ways to teach empathy in your workplace.
• Practice activities for teaching empathy and applying to teams.
• Analyze where your team is now with the concept of empathy and where you want to be in the future.

OUTLINE:

Pre-assignment

Session 1: Course Overview

Session 2: What is Empathy?

• Why is learning empathy important?
• Pre-assignment review
• So, what IS empathy?
• What empathy is NOT
• Job skills strengthened by using empathy

Session 3: How to Teach Empathy

• Talk about empathy
• Teach listening skills
• Encourage genuine perspective-talking
• Cultivate compassion
• Support global managers

Session 4: Activities to Teach Empathy in Your Workplace

• Curious George (or Georgia)
• Weekly highs and lows
• Check-in with your emotions
• Now it's your turn!
• The Stubborn One
• The Quiet One
• The Jester
• Yakety-Yak
• Off Base
• Bigger Issues
• The Chatterbox
• The Know-It-All
• The Whiner

Session 5: Where Are We Now, and Where Do We Want to Go from Here

Personal Action Plan