Episode 67- The importance of compassionate curiosity as an essential skill/tool for managers and leaders

The importance of compassionate curiosity as an essential skill/tool for managers and leaders

🎙️ Host: Mary Asante | HR Independents
👤 Guest: Andy Green (Andy Green Consulting Ltd)

Episode Overview

In Episode 67, Mary is joined by Andy Green to explore compassionate curiosity — what it is, why it matters, and how leaders can use it to build trust, improve performance conversations, and create psychologically safe teams.

With a background spanning 30 years as a clinical vet, business ownership, and responsibility for people leadership and HR, Andy shares practical insight into what happens when leaders go beyond processes and truly connect with the humans behind the job titles.

What You’ll Learn

• What compassionate curiosity means in day-to-day leadership
• Why “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” still holds true at work
• How compassionate curiosity supports trust and psychological safety
• The difference between being curious and being compassionately curious (and why it’s not the same as being nosy)
• How leaders can use curiosity to handle performance issues without jumping straight to judgement
• Why leaders get blindsided when curiosity is missing — and how to reduce blind spots
• How to communicate with compassion during uncertainty (restructures, pay freezes, change)
• How to build the skill through practice, questions, and better listening

Key Takeaways

• Curiosity with compassion builds connection. It strengthens rapport and helps leaders understand what motivates people, what worries them, and how to support them.
• Trust starts at the top. Teams mirror what leaders do — consistency matters more than occasional “nice” gestures.
• Psychological safety enables high performance. Compassionate curiosity creates space for healthy challenge, debate, and innovation — not artificial harmony.
• Performance conversations should start with “What don’t I know?” Leaders get better outcomes when they seek context before conclusions.
• Self-care comes first. Compassion fatigue is real — and leaders can’t support others if they’re running on empty.

Andy’s Top 3 Tips

1. Start with yourself: practice self-compassion and self-awareness
2. Practice the reps: build the skill in low-stakes situations first
3. Be consistent: make compassionate curiosity a habit, not a one-off

Listen & Connect

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your network.

📩 Questions or topic suggestions? Email hrvoices@hrindependents.co.uk
🌐 Learn more about HR Independents: www.hrindependents.co.uk