Leanne Butterworth - 19 June 2024
Thank you so much to Mick Hase of SEVENTEENx for inviting me to participate in 17x Brisbane. It was an absolute pleasure.
Leanne Butterworth's talk at SEVENTEENx Brisbane 2024 emphasised the critical role of healthy empathy in engaging staff and amplifying impact towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through her work with Empathy First, Leanne highlighted that empathetic leadership—where leaders listen, care, and challenge their teams—leads to higher engagement, improved well-being, and increased retention. By creating workplaces where employees feel heard, valued, visible, and safe, organisations can transform disengaged workers into motivated, productive contributors. This shift is essential for driving the inclusive and supportive cultures necessary to meet the SDGs, as empathetic environments not only enhance individual performance and profitability but also foster collective commitment to broader social and environmental goals.
Key Points
Employee disengagement is a significant issue in the Australian workforce, with 67% of workers reportedly "quiet quitting" due to lack of engagement and support (Gallup, 2023).
Empathetic leadership is crucial to create environments where employees feel heard, valued, visible, and safe.
Empathy First have created a model of "healthy sustainable empathy," distinguishing between emotional, cognitive, and compassionate empathy, and stresses the importance of balancing these types to prevent burnout and promote well-being.
Empathetic leadership leads to higher employee retention and loyalty, with 93% of people likely to stay with an empathetic employer (Businessolver 2019).
Empathy training is a valuable tool across all industries, promoting practical skills like emotional literacy, self-reflection, and unconscious bias training to improve organisational culture and support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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How empathetic is your team?
Hi! I'm Leanne Butterworth, Empathy Educator, TEDx Speaker, University Lecturer and Mental Health Advocate.
Empathy First is a Brisbane-based social enterprise offering Empathy workshops, online courses and individual Empathy coaching to help you build connection and strengthen your relationships for personal and professional success.
Contact me today and let's talk about how you can put Empathy First.
