The Empathic Leader:

1
The Empathic Leader

• A New Dynamic for School Improvement
• Michele W. Atkins, Ph.D.
• Ann H. Singleton, Ed.D.
• Union University
• Jackson, Tennessee

2
Underlying Questions

• Why are you a school leader?
• What are the characteristics of an effective
  leader?
• What are the goals of education?
• Do we really want to produce good people?
• What are the characteristics of a successful
  learner?

3
Agenda

• Support for a New Paradigm of Leadership
• Characteristics of the Successful Leader
• moving from authority to influence
• Influence for Change
• the snowball effect
• Characteristics of the Successful Learner

4
The Problem at Hand

• There is a myth that an organization can find
  salvation through efficient management.
• Thus, the model of leadership is one of
  omnicompetence the skilled classroom
  practitioner plus curriculum leader, plus
  technical expert, plus all the manifestations
  associated with being the figurehead.
• It is no wonder that so many leaders in education
  seek early retirement or suffer a range of
  work-related illnesses.

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Its Time For a Change

• Being a successful leader is not about making
  sure the busses run on time or managing teachers
  students leadership is about relationships
  service.
• Most schools are essentially archaic in
  organizational terms, resembling classic
  bureaucracies which, by definition, lack
  flexibility, adaptability, and the potential to
  be transformed. (West-Burnham, 1997)

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Its Time For a Change

• The world is not linear, rather, complex and
  chaotic. There is no predictability.
• Likewise, each child in each class is a variable,
  made up of a complex range of variables that
  determine how they might learn.

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Its Time For a Change

• Equally, every school leader spends most of
  his/her time managing unpredictability, yet this
  is rarely reflected in role descriptions, the
  deployment of time, organizational structures,
  etc.
• Schools are demanding places to work (for adults
  and children) because individuals have to live in
  a state of permanent tension between the
  superficial simplicity of management and the deep
  complexity of learning and leading. (Wheatley,
  1992)

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Its Time For a Change

• The language of leadership must be changed to
  reflect the unpredictable and chaotic world in
  which leaders can lead and children can learn.

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A New Way to Lead

• Dad once looked down at an assembly line of women
  and thought, These are all like my own mom
  they have kids, homes to take care of, people who
  need them. It motivated him to work hard to give
  them a better life because he saw his mom in all
  of them. Thats how it all begins with
  fundamental respect and empathy.
• Bob Galvin, CEO
• Speaking of his father, founder of Motorola

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Characteristics of Effective LeadersLeadership
Reconsidered (2000)

• Commitment
• Competence
• Self-knowledge
• Authenticity
• Empathy
• These characteristics become interrelated. When
  we are not empathic leaders, others around us
  stop being authentic, stop bringing talent and
  energy into the workplace, and stop using
  feelings to support personal work-related goals
  (Cooper Sawaf, 1997).

46 of those who quit their jobs last year did so
because they felt unappreciated. U.S. Department
of Labor
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Importance of Being an Empathic Leader

• Many researchers agree that empathy is a key
  ingredient in the success of a leader
• Sperry (in NASSP Bulletin, 2000)
• Goleman (in Harvard Business Review, 1998)
• Ferri (in Innovative Leader, 1997)
• West-Burnham (in School Leadership Management,
  1997)
• Howard Gardner (known for his theory of multiple
  intelligences

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A human being is part of the whole, called by us
the universe. He experiences himself, his
thoughts and feelings, as something separated
from the rest a kind of optical delusion of his
consciousness. This delusion is kind of a prison
for us, restricting us to our personal desires
and to affection for a few persons nearest us.
Our task must be to free ourselves from this
prison by widening our circle of compassion to
embrace all living creatures and the whole of
nature in its beauty. Albert Einstein
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How do I Lead with Empathy?

• Adopt a new mind set Teachers dont work for
  administrators, administrators work for teachers
  and teachers work for students.
• Understand that rationality and reason (the
  archaic organization management tools) are no
  more than structures, and structures best suit
  those whose talents lie in manipulation.
• Lets learn from the business world.

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The new model of business intelligence treats
people, markets, ideas, and organizations as
unique and alive, inherently capable of change,
interaction, synergy, and growth.
Leaders who are more attuned to intuitive
information (more empathic) will have more
influence than others who are not.
Why? The Bureaucratic Leader focuses on exerting
influence through the external pursuit of power
and control. The Empathic Leader is more inner
directed and can access a wider range of
competencies, thereby creating a form of
influence that is very powerful.
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If you look to lead, invest 40 of your time
managing yourself your ethics, character,
principles, purpose, motivation, and conduct.
Invest at least 30 managing those with authority
over you, and 15 managing your peers. Use the
remainder to induce those you work for to
understand and practice these principles. I use
the term work for advisedly, for if you dont
understand that you should be working for your
mislabeled subordinates, you havent understood
anything. Dee Hock, CEO VISA International
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Influence for Change

• We must fight the tendency to externalize our
  problems insisting that it is others who need
  to change. If we want to make change happen, we
  must first change our self and others will change
  along with us.

If you keep to one corner and neglect the myriad
aspects of the totality, if you take one thing
and discard the rest, then what you attain will
be little and what you master will be
shallow. Lao Tzu 6th Century B.C.
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A leaders true power is not the capacity to
destroy but the ability to influence others. John
Kotter Professor of Leadership, Harvard
University
The Empathic Leader acknowledges the other
persons competence and value, thereby creating
an atmosphere of reciprocal giving. When people
feel they give more to a relationship than they
get in return, they feel distress and typically
either reduce inputs (come in late, miss
meetings, gossip, careless work), increase
complaints (ask for transfers or better working
conditions), or end the relationship.
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10 Attributes of the Empathic Leader(or
Executive Emotional Intelligence Ryback, 1998)

• Nonjudgmental attitude
• Perceptiveness
• Sincerity
• Presence
• Relevance

1. Expressiveness
2. Supportiveness
3. Boldness
4. Zeal
5. Self-assurance

• See handout for a detailed description of each
  attribute

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Characteristics of a Successful Learner(Jones,
1990)

• Knowledge
• Critical and creative
• Motivation
• To learn and confidence in themselves as learners
• Tools and strategies
• For acquiring, evaluating, and applying knowledge
• Empathy
• Insight into the motives, feelings, and behavior
  of others, and the ability to communicate this
  understanding

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Why is it Important for Students to Possess
Empathy?

• Empathy is the underlying foundation of social
  intelligence (Mead, 1934)
• Empathy was found to be significantly related to
  self-esteem (Davis, 1983)

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Why is it Important for Students to Possess
Empathy?

• Many juvenile offenders have been found to lack
  empathy skills.
• A component of emotional intelligence, EQ is more
  important than IQ in predicting job success
  (Goleman, 1995)

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Why is it Important for Students to Possess
Empathy?

• Empathy seems to be related to developmental
  maturity, that is, cognitive, social, and moral
  development (Atkins, 1999 Bowman Reeves, 1987
  Eisenberg et al., 1991 Eisenberg-Berg Mussen,
  1978 Kurdek, 1981)
• Scores on measures of empathic understanding were
  found to be significantly related to GPA (Bonner
  Aspy, 1984)

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Why is it Important for Students to Possess
Empathy?

• Schools that have programs designed to increase
  empathy have higher scores than comparison school
  on measures of higher-order reading comprehension
  (Kohn, 1991)

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So, Can We Create Empathic Learners in My
School?Sure you can!

• Talk to the students about acts of caring that
  you have seen.
• Ask students to reach out to others that are
  having an extremely hard time.
• Use storytelling to teach significant values of
  caring.

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So, Can We Create Empathic Learners in My
School?Sure you can!

• Engage in service projects allow the students
  to decide the nature and implementation of the
  projects that are linked to curriculum (this
  creates the sense of activism, the power to
  make life better for others)
• Pin paper leaves to a big tree in the hall, each
  acknowledging an act of kindness

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So, Can We Create Empathic Learners in My
School?Sure you can!

• Work through problem solving process of conflicts
  talk about what happened, why, how it felt to
  the other person, how to do it differently next
  time, and what the restitution should be.
• Tell students to let you know if you say
  something that humiliates or hurts them in any
  way.

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Does it Work?

• When children feel safe, cared about, and relaxed
  they will learn more, not less. Our children are
  able to grapple with higher-order thinking
  questions because they dont face the petty
  disturbances that arise in mainstream schools. We
  resolve conflicts as they come up, thereby
  reducing the childrens distractions.
• Schlossman, Principal

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Here's the Catch
Do As I Do, Not Just As I Say
Research indicates that when educators model
desired empathic behaviors, children are more
likely to adopt these behaviors themselves than
when they are merely told to behave in a certain
manner.
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Every man must decide whether he will walk in the
light of creative altruism or in the darkness of
destructive selfishness. Lifes most persistent
and urgent question is, What are you doing for
others? Martin Luther King, Jr.