Leading with Empathy: Reimagining HR Business Partnership
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Speaker : Nqobile Pamela Xaba
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When : Wednesday, November 12, 2025
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Time : 01 : 00 PM EST
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Nqobile Pamela Xaba is an HR Professional, Leadership Consultant, and Transformational Facilitator with over 20 years of cross-sector experience spanning financial services, FMCG, public sector, and ICT industries. She is the Founder of Nonkosi Creatives, a consultancy focused on activating human-centred leadership and organisational culture transformation.
Pamela holds a Business Administration degree from GIBS Business School, with awards in Strategic Marketing and Self-Mastery. Her work sits at the intersection of people, purpose, and performance — crafting strategies that are both soul-led and business-driven.
She currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Department of Business Management at the Central University of Technology and hosts the acclaimed podcast The Diversity Roundtable, where she curates dialogue on leadership, identity, and inclusion.
Core Focus Areas:
- Leadership Development & Culture Transformation
- DEIB Strategy & Training
- HR Strategy, Talent Acquisition & Coaching
- Facilitation of Strategic Dialogues
- Women Empowerment & Advancement
Pamela
believes that leadership is a daily act of humanity, and her mission is
to help organizations lead with empathy, amplify human potential, and
build cultures that reflect the best of who we can be.
“Leading with Empathy: Reimagining HR Business Partnership” equips experienced HR professionals with the mindset and skillset to act as transformational change agents within their organizations.
Empathy, when integrated with strategic insight and system thinking, allows HRBPs to understand root causes, navigate complexity, and co-create people solutions that resonate across the business. This session explores the neuroscience of empathy, practical techniques for active listening and reframing, and how to turn empathy into action in high-stakes moments, such as conflict, restructuring, talent decisions, and executive coaching.
The course also unpacks how HRBPs can influence through narrative, guide leaders through discomfort, and role-model emotionally intelligent leadership in times of uncertainty. Participants will leave with frameworks to reimagine the HRBP role as a catalyst for connection, inclusion, and organisational learning.
Areas Covered
- Redefining the HRBP role for the future of work
- Empathy as a strategic capacity: from soft skill to leadership superpower
- Emotional intelligence and organisational trust
- Empathy-based consulting: diagnosing people challenges with curiosity
- Influencing without authority in complex systems
- Active listening, reframing, and narrative leadership
- Managing tension between empathy and accountability
- Using empathy in coaching, performance, and conflict resolution
- Partnering with senior leaders during change and crisis
- Real-world case studies of empathetic HR partnership
Who Should Attend
- Senior HR Business Partners
- HR Directors and VPs
- Organisational Development Leads
- Talent Strategy Professionals
- DEI Executives
- Culture Transformation Consultants
- Internal HR Coaches
Why Should You Attend
As the workplace continues to navigate disruption, from hybrid models to generational shifts and heightened employee expectations, HR Business Partners are uniquely positioned to guide the organization toward inclusive, resilient, and human-centred ways of working.
This advanced-level session reframes empathy not as a passive sentiment but as an active, data-informed leadership practice that builds credibility, psychological safety, and cultural fluency. Participants will explore how to bring emotional intelligence into strategic decision-making, influence senior leaders without authority, and shape systems that honour people and performance equally.
Attendees will leave with tools to challenge outdated HR partnership and step into a more courageous and consultative role — one that balances empathy with accountability, insight with action, and connection with influence.
Topic Background
The HR Business Partner (HRBP) role has evolved far beyond policy guidance and performance support. In today’s complex, emotionally charged, and rapidly shifting work environments, the most effective HRBPs are those who lead with empathy, not as a soft skill, but as a strategic lever.
Empathetic HR business partners help unlock organisational trust, improve decision-making, influence leadership behaviours, and enhance employee experience. This course is designed for experienced HR professionals who want to move from operational support to transformational partnership by embedding empathy, curiosity, and influence at the core of their leadership practice.
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$160.00
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