About the workshop

Communicating with Empathy at Work is designed for managers, team leads and anyone else looking to level-up their communication with team members and colleagues. This three-hour, interactive workshop combines hands-on activities and short lessons to teach principles of empathy and vulnerability.

At the end of this workshop, participants will learn tools to leverage empathy and vulnerability for optimal team collaboration. They'll leave with the tools to lay a concrete foundation for that collaboration and the exact steps to take when that collaboration fails.

Topics covered in this workshop include:

Essentials of Empathetic Communication

• Turning empathy into an action-based enterprise
• The tools to communicate with empathy for more positive, productive conversations at work

Empowering vulnerability for a more productive workplace

• Defining vulnerability in the professional context
• Creating a culture of forgiveness on your team

Keys to creating and maintaining inclusive environments

• Boosting retention by learning to build and maintain a culture where diversity and inclusion flourishes
• Identifying where diversity and inclusion efforts fail

Principles of Affective Management

• Explaining the benefits of managing with affect to coworkers
• The tools to manage up, down, and sideways with empathy

Essentials of Empathetic Communication

Empathy is the cornerstone of positive, effective communication. When we approach every conversation from a place of empathy, we are doing three things: actively listening to the speaker; minimizing our natural biases to what they’re saying; and crafting responses that our listeners can both embrace and understand.

In this workshop, we will reframe how participants approach conversations in real time. We will dive into both aspects of conversation - speaking and listening - to improve both how participants receive and deliver information for optimal results.

Key takeaways:

• Turn empathy into an action-based enterprise
• Learn the tools to communicate with empathy for more positive, productive conversations at work

Empowering vulnerabilities for a more productive workplace

Vulnerability is a powerful tool leaders and teams can use to enhance human connection. Most people, however, do not experience the level of connection needed to optimize production. According to Gallup, 70 percent of employees are not engaged or are actively disengaged at work. The result is that employees will be detached from their teams, and those teams will be less productive.

Participants will learn the true value of vulnerability in the workplace. They will leave with the tools to create sincere connections with their coworkers as well as fostering a culture of forgiveness.

Key takeaways:

• Define vulnerability in the professional context
• Learn to create a culture of forgiveness on your team

Principles of Affective Management

No matter where your place is on the corporate ladder, every interaction at work is an opportunity for us to be great managers. We manage up to the the people we report to; down to those that report to us; and sideways to our peers. When it comes to empathy in the workplace, few things are more important than the way we manager our relationships. Why? Because we're people first and managers second.

Participants will learn the basics of affective management and how it empowers their teams. They'll leave with the tools to approach every management situation with empathy.

Key takeaways:

• Be able to explain the benefits of managing with affect to coworkers
• Learn the tools to manage up, down, and sideways with empathy

Keys to creating and maintaining inclusive environments

The research on diversity and inclusion is plentiful and all in agreement: diverse teams are smarter teams. They focus more on facts over feelings; they process those facts more carefully; and they are more innovative than teams that are monochromatic. Participants will leave this workshop knowing the exact steps to take to create an environment where diverse candidates thrive, not flee.

Key takeaways:

• Be able to identify where diversity and inclusion efforts fail
• Boost retention by learning to build and maintain a culture where diversity and inclusion blooms

The tools for the highest level of team collaboration

Collaboration comes down to two key points: the way we approach opportunities to communicate with our teammates and how we rebound when there is a failure of that communication. When every team member invests in active listening; embraces differing opinions as opportunities for growth; and values the perspective of those that don't look like them, collaboration will flourish.

At the end of this workshop, participants will know the basics of optimal team collaboration. They'll leave with the tools to lay a concrete foundation for that collaboration and the exact steps to take when that collaboration fails.

Key takeaways:

• Leverage principles of empathy to increase team collaboration
• Learn how to fight fair and use those disagreements as gateways to collaboration

About the Instructor

Why work with Sharon?

Sharon is a subject-matter expert on empathy and communication. Her LinkedIn Learning course Communicating with Empathy has over 75,000 combined views on both LinkedIn and Lynda.com. She has spoken to thousands of people internationally at conferences, corporate events and companies on improving communication through empathy.

Sharon is a lifelong stutterer, and her journey with stuttering has informed her view of both communication and empathy. She uses her speech impediment to show and tell both what empathy is and how to be empathetic.

Why Communilogue?

Communilogue is an empathy consultancy specializing in teaching principles of empathy in professional life. Through speaking, workshops and one-on-one coaching, Communilogue teaches audiences, teams and individuals how to be better empaths at work to improve communication, collaboration and inclusion.