The Empathic Leader Programme

Empathy has emerged as the cornerstone of effective leadership in our complex world. While empathy is an innate human capacity, the skill of empathic communication and the ability to create collaborative relationships that honour everyone’s needs requires deliberate practice and development.

The Empathic Leader is an intensive 4 month programme designed for purpose-driven leaders who want to integrate Nonviolent Communication principles into their leadership approach.

This immersive and highly practical experience combines neuroscience insights with NVC practice to help you transform your leadership presence and create cultures of authentic collaboration.

My aim is to support you as you transform from the inside out so that you can lead in a way that is not only efficient and influential, but also connected to your values. Leading powerfully and empathetically, and feeling inner peace all the while.

Taster Session: Listen Beyond Words

Empathic Listening Skills for Leaders

Monday, March 23rd, 2026, 18:00-19:00 GMT (London)

Experience high-powered empathic listening skills for leaders in this free virtual masterclass. Learn how to elevate your leadership through empathy and make a lasting positive impact.

Register for the taster session here. 

Course Overview

This transformative journey will help you:

• Develop genuine empathic presence that creates psychological safety
• Transform challenging conversations into opportunities for deeper connection
• Give and receive feedback that inspires growth rather than defensiveness
• Navigate conflicts in ways that strengthen relationships and lead to creative solutions
• Align your leadership actions with your deepest values
• Create a culture where honesty and care coexist, enabling true collaboration

Through the integration of Nonviolent Communication principles, neuroscience insights, and practical leadership applications, you’ll develop both the inner capacities and external skills to lead with both wisdom and heart. The community provides support and inspiration to enhance your leadership journey.

Program Format

This immersive learning experience includes:

• 13 Live Virtual Sessions (90 minutes each): Weekly Zoom calls on Fridays, 14:15-16:00 BST (UK), April 24th – July 31st, 2026 (No class on May 1st, May 15th)
• Group Practice with my mentoring of real-life application of NVC principles to your leadership challenges with supportive feedback
• 3 Individual executive coaching/mentoring sessions: Personalised guidance to help you integrate NVC into your specific leadership context and streamline your learning
• Full Mentoring Access: Ongoing support through a dedicated group chat throughout the program (Whatsapp)
• Supporting Materials: Comprehensive resources including presentations, worksheets, readings, and audio recordings
• Practice Community Optional weekly practice with fellow participants to deepen your integration
• Access to the LEAP community for the duration of the programme, a live space where like-minded leaders gather together to grow together and support each other. Tackle real leadership scenarios in real time, apply what we are learning and practice as much as you want. Learn in community with other purpose-driven leaders in my programmes.

Course Content

The program explores the intersection of Nonviolent Communication, neuroscience, and positive human-centred approaches to psychology  through modules that scaffold your learning and build on each other:

1. Crystal Clear Inner Clarity: Self-connection as the foundation for authentic leadership. Developing emotional literacy and understanding the relationship between feelings and needs and how they are felt in our bodies
2. Compassionate and Confident Inner Voice: Transforming self-judgment into self-empathy and self-compassion. Connecting with your needs and values as a leader so that you can lead with integrity.
3. From Critical to Kind: Moving beyond judgments of others, interpretations and assessments into an empathetic way of showing up. Building trust and safety through empathically understanding other people.
4. Creating Connection: Developing awareness of tacit messages we send and creating conditions for genuine connection, no matter how hard the circumstances.
5. Tactical Empathy: Mastering the art of empathic listening that creates safety and enables authentic dialogue.
6. Resource Before Responding: Understanding and regulating reactivity and getting ourselves resourced inside before we respond. Accessing choice points in challenging interactions (as supposed to letting your reactivity rule your responses).
7. Radical Authenticity with Care: Expressing your truth with honesty and assertiveness, while you show care and consideration of others, and responsibility for the impact of your words  observations. learn to make effective, honest requests that lead to change while maintaining connection.
8. Bouncing Back to Balance: Bend but Don’t Break. Be flexible when there are tensions, to understand and help others needs while also tending to your own and the team’s and organisation’s. De-escalating tension in yourself and others. Learn to bring your nervous system back to calm balance when you feel agitated and can’t think clearly.
9. Conflict Transformation: Shift your perspective on conflict — it’s less about opposing sides and separation, and more about a process of transforming relationships through deeper understanding and collaboration. Learn to stay with discomfort and shift it.
10. Feedback that Inspires: Offering evaluations that support growth and build a culture where anything can be said while keeping relationships strong. Receiving feedback with openness. Build an honest feedback culture and learn to appreciate without praising.

What Participants Say

Over the coming months, you will not only integrate NVC principles and practices, along with many others, but also deepen your understanding of yourself and your relationships. You will become more skilled at making effective requests and finding solutions that meet everyone’s needs and desires in ways that feel satisfying for all.

“After studying with Nati I’ve been called a Jedi Knight. I can mediate difficult conversations and meetings and dissolve conflicts in the moment.”  — Head of Department at large corporation

“The integration of neuroscience with NVC principles has transformed not just how I communicate, but how I show up as a leader. The skills I’ve learned have created profound shifts in my team’s culture and in my own wellbeing.” —  Environmental NGO Director

“I work in conservation and community engagement. In the kind of work that I’m in, difficult conversations are the bread and butter of the work… you’re constantly with different types of people talking to them about very intense subjects that can be quite polarising. This program gave me practical tools to navigate these conversations with both clarity and compassion. The quality of all my relationships have improved, as has my mental health.” — Marine Conservation Leader

Next Steps

The first step is to schedule a connection call to discuss your leadership challenges and how this program might serve you. It ‘s a chance to get to know each other, as we work very closely during the course.

Register for the free taster session on March 23rd

Book a 30-minute chat to discuss the program

Payment options include a sliding scale based on organisational or individual funding, with payment plans available. Details in the “Registration” section of the course’s webpage (scroll down).  Please contact nati@natibeltran.com or schedule a call for details.

Explore my articles

Empathic Leadership Explained: Leading with Heart

The Complete Guide to Nonviolent Communication for Purpose-Driven Leaders

About Nati

I am a Certified Trainer in Nonviolent Communication with a Master’s in Neuroscience. I bring a unique blend of scientific understanding and emotional wisdom to my work with purpose-driven leaders who are creating positive change in sustainability, social impact, and organizational transformation.

With a second Master’s in Montessori Leadership and Education and a background in Physics, I integrate evidence-based approaches with deep empathic practice. My approach helps leaders navigate complexity and difficulty with both wisdom and heart, creating ripples of positive change that extend beyond their immediate environment.

I am passionate about helping leaders learn to have a gentler touch with people and with themselves while enhancing their positive impact in the world. I have personally experienced how my ability to hold myself and others with empathy is the difference between succumbing to aggressive ways of doing business or transforming tense situations into shared understanding and effective collaboration that leads to better outcomes.

I am a trustee at the Irish Conservation NGO Hometree.

For more information, please visit www.natibeltran.com or contact nati@natibeltran.com