Human Resources Issues for Senior Management
Issue link: https://digital.hrreporter.com/i/699912
CANADIAN HR STRATEGY/19 as well," she says. "It comes down to self-awareness, and truly if leaders are aware that they relate well to others or if they've alienated themselves… so it's not necessarily a hard skill you can mea- sure for but it's de nitely something that your track record's go- ing to prove." And when it comes to training or development on the empa- thy side, it's really more around peer mentoring, peer circles, sharing best practices and talking about what works and sharing experiences, says Carreau. "It's a very tough one to train from a hard skill development side, other than really teaching people, when they are talking to someone, to park their own bias, park their own personal experience, and try to truly understand where the other person is coming from. So some communication training is very help- ful but it's not the be-all and end-all — you still have to put it into practice." And when it comes to self-awareness, leaders have to be ask- ing themselves the right questions and be willing to hear feed- back, says Town. "(It's about) 'This is who you are showing up as as opposed to this is who you want to be.' If there's any chance for move- ment and change and improvement on this, the person has to embrace this: 'There's a gap between where I should be and where I am.'" But if it's not role-modelled from top leadership, it won't have much stick, says Town. "If companies want to take a coaching approach and en- courage empathy skills, that needs to start at the top, other- wise employees don't buy in, they know this is the avour of the month." Many leaders may feel they need to be tough so exhibiting empathy can be seen as a weakness, says Dowden. And if they don't see someone emulating these behaviours, especially at the top, then they're not going to do that themselves. "They can think that being less empathetic and much more self-oriented is the key to success, so this is where integrating empathy as part of your culture is really crucial," he says. Research out of Harvard Medical School, targeted at physi- cians, showed it is possible to raise someone's level of empathy skills, says Dowden. "It's something that's naturally gifted and, at the same time, it's something we can build. I think that's what's also very ex- citing about that space is that this is something through prac- tice and awareness and understanding, we can actually foster within ourselves." Contact us to speak to an instructor 1.800.318.9741 | adr.ca | contact@adr.ca CONFLICT RESOLUTION TRAINING Everyone expects you to solve their problems. Could you be better at resolving conflicts and keeping relationships intact? How do you deal with upset and stubborn people? Could you be more persuasive in negotiations? Are you expected to imple- ment people strategies that support the organization's business objectives? Our training will provide you with the tools you need to excel at the tasks you face every day. ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION ADVANCED ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION APPLIED ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION We offer 3 levels of conflict resolution work- shops in Toronto and Ottawa. They are 4-day intensive and interactive learning experiences for HR professionals and senior executives. level 1 level 2 level 3 Learn to negotiate better results and resolve disputes in the workplace. Learn to mediate complex cases. Includes an opportunity for mentoring and the ability to observe a real mediation. feature/empathy