Compassionate Leadership Certification Program
Curriculum Overview
Whether delivered in 8-weeks or the accelerated version for team offsites, the curriculum covers the below eight modules:
Module one
Igniting Our Community for Impact: Stepping into the Journey Together
Learning oBjectives:
Understand the definition of COMPASSION and COMPASSIONATE LEADERSHIP.
Understand the four elements of compassion.
Understand the four elements of social architecture used throughout the course to support the growth of compassion competence in organizations.
Feel more deeply connected to this community, colleagues, and faculty individually and to the community as a whole. Compassion is relational.
Module two
The Case for Compassionate Leadership: Science, Organizational Evidence, and Model for Integration
Learning oBjectives:
Window of Tolerance and scientific basis of our ability to grow our compassionate capacity – We CAN lead compassionately!
Evidence-based benefits of compassion in organizations: Compassionate leadership is generative and beneficial for the leader, the team, and the organization.
Understand the most common fears of compassion.
Explore where you would like to bring compassion into your sphere of influence.
Module three
The Role of the Leader: Changing Systems From the Inside Out
Learning oBjectives:
Learn how to make your role into that of a leader who leads courageously and creates more compassionate organizations.
Understand “roles” as they are fulfilled in organizations, both role-taking and role-making.
Understand the connection between nurturing and courageous compassion, leading with compassion and leading for compassion, and role making and role taking.
Module four
Anchoring Our Leadership with Inner Strength - Inner Work of Compassionate Leadership: Awareness, Self-Compassion, and Vulnerability
Learning oBjectives:
Understand what self-compassion is (and isn’t) and its benefits.
Learn the foundational importance of the skill of awareness in leading oneself and others.
Learn the power of vulnerability on the part of leaders in creating increased safety and connection.
Module five
Building a Culture of Compassion: Psychological Safety and Growth Mindset
Learning oBjectives:
Understand why psychological safety is so valuable and ways that you can create that form of safety.
Know the difference between a fixed and growth mindset, how those differences manifest, and how to build a learning culture.
Understand culture as a pattern of shared group assumptions and discover interventions to promote a compassionate, caring culture.
Module six
Building a Culture of Compassion: Belonging
Learning oBjectives:
Understand how our instincts can hold us back from connecting to those different from us.
Understand two different frameworks for belonging: warmth/competence and uniqueness/belonging.
Understand the use of networks as organizational structures to create belonging at the organizational level.
Module seven
Communication as a Transformational Tool: Compassionate Communication and Feedback
Learning oBjectives:
Understand the different elements that make up communications.
Understand Scharmer’s four levels of listening.
Learn how to prepare for and hold a challenging conversation at work.
Understand how routines as an element of social architecture can support compassion competence within an organization.
Module eight
Integrating Compassion Into Work and the World
Learning oBjectives:
Understand the difference between nurturing and courageous compassion.
Understand the value of appreciative inquiry and its use to spark change.
Begin the process of bringing about systems change from right where you are.
Fall Program Dates
Sessions are held on Thursdays from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm EST
Module 1
Thursday, October 2 2025
Module 2
Thursday, October 9 2025
Module 3
Thursday, October 16 2025
Module 4
Thursday, October 23 2025
Module 5
Thursday, October 30 2025
Module 6
Thursday, November 6 2025
Module 7
Thursday, November 20 2025
Module 8
Thursday, December 4 2025
Tuition is $1,250. This certification may qualify for your company's tuition reimbursement benefit. The Early Bird rate of $950 is valid through September 2, 2025.
Use code EARLYBEES at checkout.
Non-profits, breast cancer survivors, disabled veterans, ADCOLOR FUTURES, ADCOLOR LEADERS (including all alumni), and the ADCOLOR Team receive a 20% discount on the regular tuition price.
Use code AFFINITY20 for this discount at checkout.