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Novel approach to teaching empathic leadership using heuristics
Jeremy Howick1, Amber Bennett-Weston2, Jodi Halpern3
1Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK jh815@leicester.ac.uk.
BMJ Leader
|April 13, 2026
Summary
Healthcare leaders can improve patient safety by developing empathic leadership skills. This study created practical heuristics and a training course to foster curiosity-driven perspective-taking, moving beyond potentially draining compassionate leadership.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Leadership
- Patient Safety
- Empathic Communication
Background:
- Failures in UK healthcare systems highlight risks from leaders who do not listen or understand patients.
- The National Health Service (NHS) promoted compassionate leadership, but it can lead to leader fatigue.
- Empathic leadership, focusing on perspective-taking rather than emotional merging, presents a more sustainable approach.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop practical heuristics (rules of thumb) for empathic leadership.
- To create a training course to teach these empathic leadership heuristics.
Main Methods:
- A structured workshop involved 21 healthcare leaders.
- Heuristic development and curriculum design methods were used.
- Participants generated, refined, and prioritized heuristics, then co-designed a training course.
Main Results:
- 35 heuristics for empathic leadership were generated, with 12 prioritized.
- Key heuristics include 'Listen first, speak last', 'Say sorry', and 'Walk the shop floor'.
- A one-day interprofessional course was co-designed with experiential learning and implementation planning.
Conclusions:
- Practical heuristics for empathic leadership were identified and prioritized.
- A training course was developed to teach these heuristics.
- This short course can help healthcare leaders enhance empathic leadership in practice.
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