Date: November 19 & 19, 2026 Time: 9am - noon Location: Zoom Audience: Employees Empathy and accountability are often treated as opposites. Empathy can be misunderstood as softness, agreement, emotional over-involvement, or avoiding discomfort. Accountability can be misunderstood as pressure, blame, or correction without care. This workshop begins by making an important distinction: sympathy is not the goal. Empathy is. Sympathy often creates distance. It can sound like pity, over-concern, or “I feel bad for you.” In workplace conversations, sympathy may unintentionally lower expectations, rescue people from responsibility, or make the conversation more about comfort than progress. Empathy seeks to understand another person’s perspective, context, emotion, and experience without taking over, agreeing with everything, or removing accountability. Empathy says, “I want to understand what is happening for you,” while still leaving room to say, “And we also need to talk about impact, ownership, and next steps.” Empathy helps people feel seen, heard, and respected. Accountability helps people clarify expectations, own choices, follow through, and repair trust when needed. Together, they create conversations that are both human and useful. This workshop helps participants practise the language, mindset, and behaviours needed to stay kind without becoming vague, and stay clear without becoming harsh. Participants will leave with practical tools for listening, naming issues, setting expectations, giving feedback, and having more constructive conversations in real workplace moments.