The Empathic Leader:
A New Dynamic for School
Improvement
Michele W. Atkins, Ph.D.
Ann H. Singleton, Ed.D.
Union University
Jackson, Tennessee
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?
Agenda
1. Support for a New Paradigm of Leadership
2. Characteristics of the Successful Leader
* moving from authority to influence
3. Influence for Change
* “the snowball effect”
4. Characteristics of the Successful Learner
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.
It’s 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)
It’s 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.
It’s 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)
It’s 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.
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. That’s how it all
begins – with fundamental respect and
empathy.
Bob Galvin, CEO
Speaking of his father, founder of Motorola
Characteristics of Effective Leaders
Leadership Reconsidered (2000)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
•
Commitment
46% of those who quit their jobs
Competence
last year did so because they felt
Self-knowledge unappreciated.
Authenticity
U.S. Department of Labor
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).
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
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
How do I Lead with Empathy?
• Adopt a new mind set: Teachers don’t 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.
Let’s learn from the business world…….
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.
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 don’t
understand that you should be working for your
mislabeled ‘subordinates’, you haven’t understood
anything.
Dee Hock, CEO
VISA International
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.
A leader’s 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 person’s
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.
10 Attributes of the Empathic
Leader
(or Executive Emotional Intelligence;
1. Nonjudgmental
2.
3.
4.
5.
attitude
Perceptiveness
Sincerity
Presence
Relevance
Ryback, 1998)
6. Expressiveness
7. Supportiveness
8. Boldness
9. Zeal
10.Self-assurance
•See handout for a detailed description of each attribute
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
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)
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)
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)
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)
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.
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
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.
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 don’t face the petty
disturbances that arise in mainstream
schools. We resolve conflicts as they
come up, thereby reducing the
children’s distractions.
Schlossman, Principal
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.
Every man must decide whether he
will walk in the light of creative
altruism or in the darkness of
destructive selfishness. Life’s most
persistent and urgent question is,
What are you doing for others?
Martin Luther King, Jr.