By Amelia Haynes Think back over the past year: Did you ever open up to a colleague, and even though it appeared they were listening, there didn't seem to be any emotional resonance? Or how about a time when the person you were confiding in commiserated in your struggles, but then it became about their experience?

Empathy is all in vogue. Driven largely by the Great Resignation, the mass exodus of about 40 million American workers since April of last year, the world is talking about the need for more empathic leaders.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Empathy, which has often been overlooked as a "soft skill", has recently become an increasingly vital characteristic for effective leaders, a trend spurred in large part by the need to maintain productive staffs during Covid-19.

Technology today presents us with a paradox, both as consumers and professionals. Increasingly, the productivity and communication tools we've become so reliant on are negatively affecting our well-being and personal development and hindering our professional growth. While most of us are constantly connected by technology, an alarming number of people feel more disconnected and isolated than ever.

For close to two years, leaders have been thrust into the role of Counselor in Chief, helping teams recover from the grief and loss of the pandemic, buoying the declining mental health of their employees, being sensitive to people's anxieties and often publicly sharing their own vulnerabilities along the way.

Empathy is a core skill of people with high emotional intelligence. It is also a key attribute in organizational cultures that are successful through transformational change and that are committed to being inclusive and diverse. While empathy may come naturally to some, it is a skill that we can all develop and refine with the right mindset.

Part 2: Coaching your Inner Critic Once you have identified your inner critic and decided that it has taken over too much of your thinking, the next step is to interrupt it. Breaking the cycle takes practice so patience and repetition are essential to making progress. Here's how this might work.

Q: How does psychological safety deliver business results in organizations? A: Harvard researcher Amy Edmondson raised the profile of the concept of psychological safety through her 2018 book, "The Fearless Organization." Businesses that care about innovation, employee engagement, outpacing competition, diversity, equity and inclusion need to care about psychological safety.