Here at The Think Tank, we’re very open about and focused on our commitment to support all our people with continuous professional development through The Think Tank Academy.
Naturally, we’re a diverse team, with varied personal and professional backgrounds and motivations. To help us understand ourselves a little better, this week we attended an engaging training session based on Empathy Development with Lara Milward. A highly skilled and engaging coach whose methodology is based on neuroscience.
Lara led and encouraged our discussions around what makes empathy, perhaps a little surprisingly, a highly effective and rewarding business skill. And a key life skill, of course. By developing greater empathy in the workplace, we create deeper connections, understand others’ perspectives, which leads to more fruitful collaborations. It’s an important tool.
Risk or Reward?
Lara explained how our sub-conscious brains have not yet fully evolved for modern working life; we see social interactions (and that includes the office) as either threatening or rewarding. We are always looking to reduce perceived threats and maximise reward.
To work together more cohesively, we need to understand these psychological responses and develop our understanding of empathy.
Lara introduced us to the SCARF model of the social brain, which has helped us better understand how our brains respond to certain situations and behave in social settings.
This means we’ll be able to collaborate better, enhance our understanding of each other, and work together more effectively. Already, this knowledge is helping us to remove barriers and be more connected.
Further development with The Think Tank Academy
There is more work to be done, as we grow and develop new skills together. But the SCARF model will be one of the tools we continue to apply, and it will feature in further training that we all receive at The Think Tank Academy.
The Think Tank Academy is a comprehensive professional development program, created to strengthen our team’s B2B marketing & PR skills and incubate new ideas, through expert-led training.
To find out more about how the Academy works, visit here.
