Commanding attention is built on clarifying relevance. In a world of competing priorities, endless emails, and distracting notifications, it is not surprising that some research finds only 30% of training is ever actually applied. Whatever the message, it seems that relevance, while necessary, is not sufficient.

By prioritizing empathy, we start with ourselves to connect at a deeper level with clients, customers, learners, and stakeholders. Empathy is the foundation for not only human-centered design principles and the relevance essential to effective messaging, but its neurological basis reveals it as the driver for creativity and emotional intelligence, connection, and communication. The practical manifestations of empathy that will be discussed will give both immediate solutions to adding meaningful content to training as well as long-term, practical solutions to making us more empathetic people as the foundation to our creativity, emotional intelligence, and ability to connect.

Participants will understand the strengths of empathy to put humans back at the center of human-centered approaches. They will be able to apply specific steps to take a more empathetic approach to their messaging. They will also come away with research-based practices they can deploy to improve their own empathy, creativity, and emotional intelligence to drive connection.

Jonathan S. Monson is the Training Supervisor at van Wagenen Financial Services. Before van Wagenen, Jonathan was the Senior Trainer and Researcher at Executive Speaking where he developed and trained learning modules on communication skills, tools, and strategies for national and international clients. His background leading up to his career in Learning and Development is diverse, having counseled patients addicted to heroin in Los Angeles, CA before attending graduate school at the University of Oxford in the UK. He has also taught, researched, and presented in psychology, philosophy, and communication skills throughout the US and UK.

The common component of Jonathan’s experience is synthesis: he melds different elements to add creativity to connection, strengthening the links between ideas and between people for innovative outcomes. He is passionate about empowering others through effective communication, collaboration, and practical solutions.