Focus drifts
Attention is pulled in many directions, and it gets hard to stay with one thing.
The HeartWise way in
Self-Regulation (the Zones, the pause) and shared agreements about focus.
HeartWise Workplace
Make work human
Workshops and a whole-organisation programme that help people focus, understand one another and work well together.
HeartWise is not about making work comfortable. It is about making work human.
Yasmin Mubarak, HeartWise Workplace
Try at your next team meeting · two minutes · nothing to buy
One word to open the meeting
Open your next team meeting with a one-word Five Feelings check-in (happy, sad, angry, scared or tired), starting with the person leading. Keep it optional and without comment.
Everyday realities
What can hold a team back
Six things workplaces can run into, and the HeartWise way in to each.
Different worlds, one team
People of different ages and backgrounds bring different experience, and it is easy to misread one another.
HeartWise gives everyone the same simple words and agreements, so people can learn from one another.
The HeartWise way in
Empathy & Connection (the Mirror: What is it like to be you?).
Emotional intelligence is missing in everyday moments
Feelings drive how we speak and decide, yet few of us were ever taught to read them.
The HeartWise way in
Self-Awareness (the Five Feelings, the Iceberg).
Working together is hard
Good people can still struggle to collaborate, and small clashes stay unrepaired.
The HeartWise way in
Relationships & Repair (the Bridge, repair).
Time and energy slip away
Phones, notifications and long hours quietly take time and energy from work and from people.
The HeartWise way in
Self-Regulation and Resilience & Purpose (the Roots: What keeps me standing, and what is it for?).
Nobody is guiding the next person
Newer colleagues often have no one to learn from, and experienced colleagues have no time to pass it on.
The HeartWise way in
Adults go first: leaders model it. And a simple mentoring rhythm, so that everyone has someone to learn from.
The whole person
Everything is connected
A person is not two people, one at home and one at work. Home, habits, rest, feelings and work all shape one another. That is why a workplace programme has to look at the whole person.
- Home comes to work. Worries at home travel in with us. It is hard to focus when the heart is somewhere else.
- Work goes home. Stress from work follows us back, and without a way to settle feelings it does not rest.
- Habits and rest show up. After a very late night, a person can arrive on time and still be only half there: present in body, tired in mind.
- Leaders carry it too. A manager carrying unspoken troubles finds it harder to lead with clarity and kindness.
When a thorn is in the foot, the mind cannot be creative.
When the heart is in pain, the legs cannot walk, and the mind cannot think freely.
But when the heart is cared for, the feet find their way, and the mind finds its wings.
Home, family and work are one circle. Care for the circle, and everyone in it grows.
HeartWise begins with the whole person. We do not look into private lives. We give everyone simple tools to notice, settle and reset, so that people can arrive fully, in body and in mind, and the whole organisation feels it.
Two programmes
Both delivered by HeartWise
Choose the one that fits where you are today. You can start small and grow.
The One-Day HeartWise Workshop
One day, at your organisation or at a place we agree together. Bring a team, a department, your leaders or your HR team, and leave with a shared language and a plan.
See the workshopHeartWise Workplace Implementation
A Training Stage of at least six workshops for everyone, then an Assessment Period where HeartWise is put in place with you, with three audits along the way.
See the programmeStart with a day and grow into the programme.
How the pieces fit
One path, one light to follow
Start with a free reflection, choose the programme that fits, and look towards HeartWise Certified Workplace when you are ready.
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Start free
Free reflection
Design your programme, or take the Workplace Pulse. A few minutes, no commitment.
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Choose your programme
One-Day Workshop or Implementation
The One-Day HeartWise WorkshopOne day, one group at a time. A good first step.
See the workshopHeartWise Workplace ImplementationThe Training Stage: a Culture Check-up and at least six workshops. Then the Assessment Period, with three audits at 1, 2 and 6 months after the last workshop.
See the programme -
Where it can lead
HeartWise Certified Workplace
The HeartWise Standards are being shaped now, and its own formal review will come later. You are welcome to register your interest.
Programme 1
The One-Day HeartWise Workshop
One day, at your organisation or at a place we agree together.
Who it is for
- A team
- A department
- Leaders
- HR
- A whole organisation, in sessions
Bring your team, or bring your whole organisation, one group at a time.
How the day can flow
- Part 1 of 5
Arrive and check in
Which zone am I in?
We begin by arriving. The Five Feelings (happy, sad, angry, scared and tired) give everyone a simple way to say how they are, and each person asks: Which zone am I in?
- Part 2 of 5
Look beneath the surface
The Iceberg
What we see of a person is a small part of what is going on. We look at why people do what they do, ourselves included.
- Part 3 of 5
Calm and clear
All zones are okay.
The three Zones, green, yellow and red, and the pause. We take a real work moment through L.A.N.T.E.R.N.: Label, Accept, Notice, Take a pause, Empathise, Repair, Next step.
- Part 4 of 5
Work together
Listening, repair, agreements
We practise listening so that people feel heard, mending small clashes, and making agreements that people actually keep.
- Part 5 of 5
Leave with a plan
One small step each
Each person leaves with one small step, and the team leaves with one small step together.
Programme 2
HeartWise Workplace Implementation
The whole organisation, in two stages: the Training Stage, then the Assessment Period.
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Training Stage
Start with the Culture Check-up
A baseline, so we know where your people are today.
Take the Culture Check-up -
Training Stage
At least six workshops, for everyone
Every person in the organisation attends. The series teaches the HeartWise guidelines from the basics. It is built from the HeartWise training modules below, which are working titles and not a fixed list. The Training Stage ends when the last workshop is done.
- T0Everyone’s FoundationsThe Five Feelings, the three Zones and L.A.N.T.E.R.N. basics.
- T1Calm TogetherRegulation for adults and teams.
- T2Words That BuildPositive communication, listening and empathy.
- T3The Growth Culture“Yet”, feedback and learning from mistakes.
- T4Repair and RelationshipsRepair after conflict and shared agreements that people actually keep.
- T5Steady HeartsResilience, wellbeing, boundaries and purpose.
- T6Leading With the HeartFor leaders onlyModelling, culture and “adults go first”.
- T0
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Assessment Period
We put it in place with you
When the last workshop is done, the Assessment Period begins. HeartWise sets up how it looks and sounds inside your organisation. Done by us, with you.
- The visual materials
- The shared language
- Internal communication
- Simple team rituals
A simple mentoring rhythm. Everyone has someone to learn from, and someone they help.
Assessment Period
Three audits
Three HeartWise audits, at 1 month, at 2 months and at 6 months after the last workshop, while your people live the HeartWise way.
Month 1Audit 1
Month 2Audit 2
Month 6Audit 3
- Audit 1
At 1 month
A first look, early enough to adjust together.
- Audit 2
At 2 months
A second look, to see what has settled in.
- Audit 3
At 6 months
A look after six months, to see how it lives day to day.
Plan for a journey of about six months to a year, from the first workshop to the final audit. The exact rhythm is agreed with you.
What an audit is
An audit is a structured, friendly review, carried out by HeartWise with you. It is not a test: there is no pass or fail.
- We observe. We see how people work together.
- We talk with people. Short, friendly conversations.
- We look at how the guidelines, the visuals and the communication are working.
- We write it up. Written feedback, then we agree next steps together.
Where it can lead
A natural road towards HeartWise Certified Workplace
When the three audits are behind you, HeartWise Certified Workplace is the natural next road to look at. The HeartWise Standards are being shaped now with a founding cohort of organisations, and you are welcome to register your interest.
See HeartWise CertifiedFive areas
What HeartWise puts in place
HeartWise teaches shared skills and sets up agreements in five areas. We look at each one with you, step by step. See what the research says.
- 1Shared skills for a respectful workplaceThe Zones, the pause, L.A.N.T.E.R.N., repair.
- 2Words for feelingsPeople can name what they feel and settle before they react.
- 3Agreements for focus and restAgreements about messages, meetings and rest, and leaders who model them.
- 4Agreements people keepAgreements people actually keep, and a habit of repair when they slip.
- 5Learning and belongingA simple mentoring rhythm, so that everyone has someone to learn from.
What a diary study found about inner work life
A diary study by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer followed 238 people on 26 creative teams. It found that when people’s inner work life is positive, meaning their emotions, their view of the organisation and their motivation, they do more creative and productive work.
This is the ground HeartWise builds on: social-emotional wellbeing, steadier feelings, focus and respectful working together. A diary study shows a link, not a guaranteed result, so we use it to guide the programme and then measure our own results with each organisation. See how strong this evidence is.
Amabile, T. M. & Kramer, S. J. (2011). The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work. Harvard Business Review Press.
We measure what matters
Each organisation owns its numbers. Before the Training Stage, and at the audits at 1, 2 and 6 months, we look together at simple indicators such as:
- On-time delivery of the team’s own commitments
- How good the key meetings feel
- A short, anonymous team pulse
- Absence and staff turnover, in aggregate
- Whether the mentoring rhythm is being kept
We share real results, openly
HeartWise Workplace draws on published research on emotional skills, teamwork, recovery, focus and mentoring. It is a new programme, and we will measure it openly. When organisations have completed the programme, and with their permission, we will share what they actually found, the good and what we can improve.
Start free
Begin today, no commitment
A programme designed for you, a gentle reflection, posters, the Culture Check-up and the first pages of the book. All free.
Start here · Free, about five to ten minutesDesign your programmeTell us what your workplace is going through and what is going well. Get a plan made just for you, with your own Productivity Wheel.Design my programme
More ways to start
The Pulse is a conversation starter for a team (16 statements). The Culture Check-up is a plan for your people (16 statements). The Compass is a personal reflection (12 statements).
A few minutes, freeThe Workplace PulseAnswer sixteen statements about your team and get the solution you need next, with a first small step.Take the Pulse
FreeWorkplace postersFive A3 posters, each with one small thing to try today.Get the posters
A gentle reflection · a few minutesThe HeartWise CompassThe workplace version: a reflection for you and your team, never a test.Open the Compass
The start of Implementation · about five to ten minutesThe Culture Check-upSee where your people are today.Take the Check-up
Talk to us
Let us talk about your people
Tell us about your organisation and what you are looking for. This is an enquiry, not a commitment.
- We will write back to talk about what could fit.
- Not sure which programme? Choose “Not sure yet” and we will help.
- Your email is needed so that we can reply.
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Good to know
Honest answers
What is HeartWise Workplace built on?
HeartWise grows from Yasmin Mubarak’s more than twenty years of experience in education and from the study of psychology and educational psychology. The HeartWise Workplace programme brings emotional intelligence and a whole-person view into everyday work. Organisations that want to go further can work towards HeartWise Certified Workplace, whose Standards are still being shaped.
Why does it look at home life, habits and rest?
Because a person is one whole person. What happens at home travels to work, and what happens at work travels home. Late nights, worries and habits that drain us show up in focus, mood and teamwork. HeartWise gives everyone simple tools to notice, settle and reset.
Do people have to share private matters?
No. Nothing private is asked for. HeartWise works with skills, shared language and agreements the whole team chooses. Anyone who needs more help is pointed gently towards the right support.
How long is the One-Day Workshop?
One day. We agree the details with you in a conversation, so that it fits your people.
How many workshops are in the programme?
At least six, for every person in the organisation: T0 to T5 for everyone. T6, Leading With the Heart, is for leaders.
Where does it happen?
At your organisation or at a calm place we agree together.
What does it cost?
We share this after a conversation, because it depends on the size and the plan.
What are the two stages?
The Training Stage comes first: a Culture Check-up and at least six workshops for every person, until the last workshop is done. Then the Assessment Period begins: HeartWise puts everything in place with you, and there are three audits, at 1 month, 2 months and 6 months after the last workshop.
When do the audits start counting?
From the end of the last workshop, when the Training Stage is complete.
What is an audit?
An audit is a structured, friendly review, carried out by HeartWise with you. We observe, talk with people and look at how the guidelines, the visuals and the communication are working. Then we give written feedback and agree next steps together. There is no pass or fail, and it is not a certification.
Can a single team join?
Yes. A single team, a department or a group of leaders can join a One-Day Workshop. The whole-organisation programme is for a whole organisation.