The Impact of Leading with Kindness You Can’t Ignore
- Event Type
- Webinar
- Sponsor
- HRDQ
- Date
- Dec 3, 2025 1:00 - 2:00 pm
- Speaker
- Jamie Graceffa
- Registration
- Click here to register.
- Contact
- Joseph Meeker
- jlmeeke2@illinois.edu
- Phone
- 217-300-6568
- Views
- 1
- Originating Calendar
- F&S Training Calendar
The way employees experience work is shaped less by perks and policies and more by the people around them. At the heart of it, we all want the same thing: to feel safe showing up as ourselves, to know our voices matter, and to feel valued, respected, and included.
Culture is often described as elusive or complex. Organizations spend heavily to measure and “fix” it, yet the most powerful driver of culture is something both simple and universal: leading with kindness.
Kindness is familiar to all of us, yet in the workplace, it rarely makes it into leadership conversations. We talk about effective leaders, trusted leaders, innovative leaders, but not kind leaders. Too often, kindness gets dismissed as soft or optional, when, in fact, it’s one of the most practical skills leaders can develop. Research consistently shows its impact: 70% of engagement is tied to managers, and toxic behavior is the strongest predictor of attrition. The costs of unkindness show up in turnover, burnout, and lost collaboration.
Kindness is not about avoiding accountability or being overly nice. It’s about clarity delivered with care, and support paired with high standards. Practiced intentionally, leading with kindness builds trust, fuels collaboration, and strengthens both culture and performance.
Learn practical ways to lead with kindness, build stronger teams, and create a workplace where people feel valued, heard, and motivated – you’ll walk away with strategies you can apply immediately to your workplace.