Empathy and recognition boost staff morale and inspire loyalty and effective leadership

Outline

5 minute: I will welcome participants, acknowledge them and list our objectives for the session, and share that this will be a very interactive workshop, and the more they allow themselves to get into it, the more they are going to get

5 minutes: Participants will be guided in a visualization that get them in touch with why they do this work

5 minutes: I will connect the dots between why the wellbeing of the leader is paramount for bottom line results. I’ll explain why a psychologically safe climate is so important and what are the main ingredients that are necessary to establish such a climate. I will then define what emotional resonance is and explain that intentionally leading with emotional resonance and being connected to our values and vision are the main ingredients that help effective leaders get results. I will then share that with most of the rest of our time, we will be engaging in practices that participants can easily integrate into their staff meetings, leadership meetings, and into one on one interactions with members of their staff.

25 minutes: The participants will be invited to move around the room and physically partake in exercises that lead to emotional resonance with one another. After each experiential exercise, we will discuss the scientific benefits (neurobiology and positive psychology) of the activity on deepening connection, and creating psychological safety. We will also discuss how certain educational technology tools can augment these benefits if used mindfully.
Examples of such activities are:
Improv Games
Ideation Circles with guidelines that promote joyful creativity and inclusivity
Gratitude Circles
Clarity of Personal Values exercise
Mindless leadership traps to avoid and how to become more mindful

5 minutes: I will then invite participants to play an active listening game in which they will recognize that 95% of communication with others is listening to what is not said. It’s noticing the emotions underneath what is said and the energetic shifts that occur. Participants will be encourage to reflect how attuned they are to their staff members when they listen to them

5 minutes: We will engage in a closure exercise that will allow people to synthesize which practices they might want to try to integrate into their daily routine the following week.

Supporting research

The practices and strategies presented are grounded in the fields of Organizational Behavior, Positive Psychology, Interpersonal neurobiology, and Emotional Intelligence. I’ve used many of these practices when I was the Ed-Tech Coordinator and on the Leadership Team at my schools and over the last 5 years, I’ve shared them with thousands of administrators who have seen positive results with their staff across K-12 schools and colleges.