Navigating Change Management with Empathy

I managed teams for 10 years before I learned this important truth: Empathy isn't a "soft skill." It's your most powerful leadership tool. I once had a top performer who was missing deadlines. Instead of asking "Why isn't this done?" I asked "How can I support you?" Turns out, she was dealing with family health issues but was afraid to speak up. That one conversation changed everything. 8 ways I learned to show empathy at work: — Listen without jumping to fix things — Be flexible when life throws curveballs — Make time for non-work conversations — Give praise in public, feedback in private — Create space where no question feels stupid — Support mental health days, not just sick days — Ask how you can help, not why things aren't done — Treat your team like people first, employees second When you lead with empathy, productivity and loyalty naturally follow. You don't have to choose between being human and being successful. The most effective leaders are both. Because at the end of the day, people don't leave bad jobs. They leave environments where they don't feel understood or appreciated. Want to transform your team? Start with empathy. It's the investment that pays the highest returns. ♻️ Agree? Repost to spread the message. Thanks! 📌 Follow Justin Wright for more on emotional intelligence. Want my 99 best cheat sheets? Get them free: BrillianceBrief.com

Last month, while facilitating a session inside of a leadership development program, a complex topic came up: How do you lead change when you didn’t make the decision (and maybe don’t agree with it?) What do you do when you're expected to rally your team around a decision, new policy, new process etc. when you may not have made (or even agree with) all while feeling empathy for those impacted. It's a tough nuanced situation, no easy answers. But here were a few key insights and ideas that emerged from our discussion: - Check yourself first before leading others: Since people model and watch what leaders say and do, before showing up for others make sure to check in with yourself. Do your own self-awareness and reflection work internally so you can process the change and be itentional about how you show up, communicate and act with your people - Empathy/Clarity aren't mutually exclusive: For particuarily charged or controversial changes to policies/programs that are truly beyond your control, you're still responsible for making sure those things are carried out/results delivered. At the same time, you can acknowledge the pressure/challenges that these changes create. Diverse perspectives matter, and as a leader, you can hold space for empathy, while also reinforicing accountability to exepctations. It's not about choosing one or the other, but about navigating both with intention. - Help Your people find their agency: Few things are more disempowering than feeling like you have no voice or control. Engage your team in ways that invite agency and ownership. When people can shape and have a voice in how they have to respond to change, they can feel more invested in making sure that they're committed to seeing it out, versus feeling it was imposed on them - Listen/Respond/Share: It's unrealistic to expect everyone to agree happily with every big change. What matters is creating that forum for people to express their perspective in an honest but healthy way. Listen with curioisty, use your role as a leader to share feedback through the right channels and follow up so your team feels heard and valued. I don’t think there are silver bullets or playbooks, but I think we came up with some great ideas and thought starters. If you’re a leader who’s had to navigate this, I’d love to hear what’s worked for you! #leadership #change

After my talk at the National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN) on cultivating compassion to enhance the NICU experience for all families, a nurse asked me a profound question. She wanted to know how to support a family who had been in the NICU for a long time and had grown tired, becoming more “challenging” or “difficult,” when in the beginning they were more “agreeable.” Immediately, her choice of words caught my attention. I had already shared how the language we use has power—it shapes how we think, speak, and act. I asked her to clarify what she meant by "difficult" and "agreeable." What specific behaviors had led the team to perceive the family this way? How had the communication with this family evolved from the start of their NICU journey? While it's true that heightened stress and emotions are common in the NICU, both for families and staff, we must be cautious about using labels like these. They can strain the relationship between families and staff, further isolating the family. It’s natural, in moments of frustration, to think “this family is being difficult,” especially when outcomes don’t match our expectations. But often, when a family is seen as "challenging" or "difficult," they are signaling a need for psychological safety. These families are frequently overwhelmed, anxious, or feeling powerless in an already stressful environment. Creating psychological safety in these moments is essential. It allows families to express their concerns without fear of judgment, building trust between them and the care team. As I shared with the nurses during my talk, families come to us with their own unique backgrounds- exposures, education, and experiences. Add to that information from other NICU families, their community, or what they’ve read online. All of this must be acknowledged. The key to building that connection is curiosity—asking questions to understand their perspective. This is how you can truly make a difference. As professionals, it's essential that we regularly practice emotional intelligence, effective communication, and empathy-driven compassion. These skills are intertwined, vital to our work, and can be continuously developed to foster meaningful connections and provide better support to those we serve. If you’re dealing with a complex case or want to improve your staff's ability to deliver compassionate, patient-centered care, feel free to send me a message. I’d love to provide a training session to support your team and elevate the care in your unit! 💚 #nicu #familycenteredcare #emotionalintelligence #compassion #nicubaby #nicujourney #nicuexperience #nicuparents #nicumom #addressingbiasinhealthcare #advocacy #communication #traumainformedcare #psychologicalsafety

I’ve found myself navigating meetings when a colleague or team member is emotionally overwhelmed. One person came to me like a fireball, angry and frustrated. A peer had triggered them deeply. After recognizing that I needed to shift modes, I took a breath and said, “Okay, tell me what's happening.” I realized they didn’t want a solution. I thought to myself: They must still be figuring out how to respond and needed time to process. They are trusting me to help. I need to listen. In these moments, people often don’t need solutions; they need presence. There are times when people are too flooded with feelings to answer their own questions. This can feel counterintuitive in the workplace, where our instincts are tuned to solve, fix, and move forward. But leadership isn’t just about execution; it’s also about emotional regulation and providing psychological safety. When someone approaches you visibly upset, your job isn’t to immediately analyze or correct. Instead, your role is to listen, ground the space, and ensure they feel heard. This doesn't mean abandoning accountability or ownership; quite the opposite. When people feel safe, they’re more likely to engage openly in dialogue. The challenging part is balancing reassurance without minimizing the issue, lowering standards, or compromising team expectations. There’s also a potential trap: eventually, you'll need to shift from emotional containment to clear, kind feedback. But that transition should come only after the person feels genuinely heard, not before. Timing matters. Trust matters. If someone is spinning emotionally, be the steady presence. Be the one who notices. Allow them to guide the pace. Then, after the storm passes, and only then, you can invite reflection and growth. This is how you build a high-trust, high-performance culture: one conversation, one moment of grounded leadership at a time.

➡️ Core Components of Active Listening for Leaders   Last week, I started my series on active listening. Today I’m posting on the core components. 🔹 Cognitive Engagement Leaders must suspend judgment and activate critical thinking while listening. This means tracking not only what is being said but what is not being said. Incomplete narratives, subtle hesitations, or misalignments between verbal and nonverbal cues often reveal the most critical information. 🔹 Empathic Resonance Emotional intelligence is essential. Leaders should aim to match the emotional frequency of the speaker — not to mirror it blindly, but to validate it strategically. Demonstrating empathic understanding fosters psychological safety and encourages candor. 🔹 Reflective Responsiveness Effective listeners reflect both content and emotion back to the speaker in a way that acknowledges their perspective and invites further elaboration. This includes high-level summarization, inquiry-based clarification, and calibrated affirmation. Next week, I’ll post advanced listening strategies for leadership contexts. If you’d like to discuss this one on one with me, schedule a time. https://lnkd.in/e4mr_Zsa   #activelistening #leadershipgrowth #strategicleadership

They call it "soft skills" to make you ignore it. But EQ is your hardest competitive edge. For years, I wondered why my input wasn't valued the same way others' was. Same credentials. Same experience. Different results. Then I realized: I was focused on being impressive instead of being influential. Here's what (actually) builds influence at work 💡 1) Ask what they need before offering what you know ↳ "What's your biggest concern about this?" then tailor your response 2) Create psychological safety before delivering tough news ↳ "I'm bringing this up because I respect our partnership" 3) Use silence as your secret weapon ↳ After making your point, stop talking. Let it land. 4) Address the unspoken concern first ↳ "I know some might think this is too aggressive, but here's why..." 5) Frame feedback as curiosity, not criticism ↳ "I'm curious about your experience with..." 6) Make your boundaries feel like respect, not rejection ↳ "To give this the attention it deserves, I'll need until Friday" 7) End difficult conversations with clarity, not comfort ↳ "Here's what I heard... here's what happens next" Your expertise gets you invited to conversations. Your emotional intelligence makes people listen. Which shift will you try today? -- ♻️ Repost to help your network build influence that lasts 🔔 Follow Dr. Carolyn Frost for EQ strategies that create real impact

"I don't have time for feelings right now." A burned-out CEO told me this last week. Three months later? His top performers were updating their resumes. 🚩 Here's the reality: Emotional intelligence isn't a soft skill. It's your best insurance against team burnout. The hidden cost of low EQ leadership: • Missing early warning signs • Creating psychological unsafety • Driving quiet quitting • Losing your best people But here's what emotionally intelligent leaders do differently: 1. They Read the Room 📊 ↳ Notice energy shifts ↳ Spot burnout before breakdown ↳ Actually listen (not just wait to talk) 2. They Make It Safe to Struggle 🛡️ ↳ Share their own challenges ↳ Normalize mental health breaks ↳ Create judgment-free zones 3. They Set Emotional Boundaries ⚡ ↳ Respect after-hours ↳ Model work-life balance ↳ Give permission to disconnect 4. They Lead with Empathy 🤝 ↳ Ask "How are you managing?" ↳ Adjust workload proactively ↳ Make support accessible The truth? Your IQ might get you the corner office. But your EQ will determine how long your team stays. What's your best tip for leading with emotional intelligence? Share below 👇 --- 🔔 Follow Sharon Grossman for more leadership strategies ♻️ Share if you believe in human-first leadership

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗙𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 - Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Our primary tools for demonstrating empathy are asking quality questions, listening, and confirming understanding of others’ perspectives. The two practices below demonstrate listening, ensure alignment, and allow for adjustment of your assumptions, if needed.   1) FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS Follow-up questions allow others to think more deeply about what you are asking them and helps them articulate the thinking behind their perspectives. The art of asking great follow-up questions lies in your ability to allow for silence and to listen. Resisting the need to fill the gaps in the conversation gives the other person time to reveal more thoughtful and meaningful information. To be effective, you must learn to ask a question, wait for their response, listen to their response, and then wait some more. People interacting with someone who asks lots of follow-up questions feel respected and heard. Great Follow-Up Questions • Tell me more about… • What else are you thinking? • Can you give me an example? • What does that mean for you? 2) PARAPHRASE AND CLOSE-ENDED QUESTIONS Effective paraphrasing clarifies understanding before moving forward with the conversation.  Start paraphrasing from the “I” perspective so that your conversation partner knows you own your perception of what they said. Your perception could be different than what the speaker said or intended to say. Close-ended questions typically lead to “yes” or “no” answers, which will either confirm alignment or uncover misunderstanding. The key to being a great listener lies in your ability to ask a question and then allow for silence. Effective paraphrasing followed by a closed-ended question ensures agreement and checks that your understanding is correct. Do you agree? Share your COMMENTS below. Click the 🔔 on my profile to be notified when I post | Tony Gambill   #leadership #careers #management #humanresources

I love data. Law is a language that helps me build policy. But the strongest tool in my impact toolbox is empathy. Empathy is essential to designing solutions. Many limit its power to “an emotional experience” but empathy is human intelligence intended to deepen connection and create impact that sticks. Empathy is also an innate research tool, especially for Indigenous and Indigenous-forgotten communities. Activating empathy has you move through the following logic tree: 1) What is the problem I’m sensing and why is it speaking to me? (knowing why you’re moved and connected helps keeps you in design mode) 2) How can I communicate with this person, this community, or this environment to encourage the sharing of the problem, conflict and solutions? (empower yourself with the full range of mixed research methods to assess the right problems and humanize them…and remember, the community also dreams of stellar solutions even if they’re experiencing the pain) 3) As I’m listening, how do I demonstrate to them “yo, I hear you?” (gathering information is not enough; how do those insights get replayed, reshared, visualized? This increases the probability of ongoing engagement by amplifying their voice) 4) Create a space where more hands are on deck to design (this isn’t easy and yes, takes more time. Most of our jobs for efficiency want to know the problem and just turn out a solution. But if you’re an Impactreneur, sustainability is one of your goals. And empathy tells you that solutions cannot fail for people who need them to work. More people invested in the design space, yes means more personalities. But at this stage, you should be in love with the people more than the product). Sharing an example of what activating empathy looks like from a campaign I led designing for the City of New York to address Black mental health—the first and only municipality to execute such a strategy. I’m happy to break down how we were able to train more Black people in mental health first aid in 8 months than the city was able to do in three years, but know at the origin of this strategy, empathy was the driving energy. Love to hear how empathy has driven success for you. #equitymindset #empathy #design #impact #entrepreneur

Change is never just strategic—it’s deeply psychological. During transformation, the biggest risk isn’t resistance. It’s silence. Silence means people don’t feel safe to speak up. And without psychological safety, ❌ Ideas disappear. ❌ Mistakes go unreported. ❌ Trust quietly erodes. That’s why high-trust cultures don’t happen by accident. They’re intentionally built—especially during change. Here’s a framework I use to help organizations foster psychological safety during transitions: 🔹 S — Speak Up Create a culture where people can share concerns or ideas without fear of being shut down. 🔹 A — Acknowledge Emotion Validate that change brings uncertainty. Don’t power through discomfort—address it. 🔹 F — Follow Through Keep your word. Psychological safety collapses when promises aren’t kept. 🔹 E — Encourage Learning Reward experimentation. Normalize failure as part of growth—especially during change. Leaders set the tone. If you want your people to lean in, not check out—start with SAFE. If you're navigating transformations and want to build a culture of trust that lasts, DM me “TRANSFORM”. Let's transform the way your organization leads through change.