Building Psychological Safety for Piraeus Bank's Leaders
The context
One Breath Leadership partnered with Piraeus Bank to deliver The Empathetic Leader: Cultivating Psychological Safety & Trust, a leadership development training designed for more than 100 senior leaders across the organization.
Delivered through full-day, in-person training sessions, the training focused on strengthening leaders' ability to build trust, create psychologically safe team environments, and lead with empathy while maintaining high standards of accountability and performance.
The opportunity
As organizations continue to evolve, leaders are expected to manage competing priorities, support diverse teams, navigate change, and drive performance, often simultaneously. Success increasingly depends on a leader's ability to create an environment where people feel comfortable contributing ideas, raising concerns, learning from mistakes, and engaging in honest dialogue.
Piraeus Bank sought to further strengthen these capabilities by helping leaders deepen their understanding of psychological safety, trust, and empathy, while providing practical strategies that could be applied in everyday leadership situations.
The methodology
The training combined research-based insights with highly interactive learning experiences, ensuring that participants could immediately connect concepts to their day-to-day leadership responsibilities.
The content focused on three core leadership pillars:
Psychological Safety
Trust
Empathy
Participants explored the role these elements play in team effectiveness, communication, engagement, collaboration, and performance. Discussions were supported by evidence from organizational psychology, emotional intelligence research, and leadership science.
A strong emphasis was placed on practical application throughout the training. Rather than relying solely on theory, participants actively engaged in a variety of experiential learning activities, including:
Individual reflection exercises
Small-group discussions
Peer learning activities
Role plays
Leadership simulations
Real-world case scenarios
Communication practice exercises
Action planning sessions
Participants examined common leadership situations involving performance challenges, resistance to change, difficult conversations, emotional withdrawal, accountability, and team engagement. Through guided practice, they explored how empathy, trust, and psychological safety can strengthen leadership effectiveness in these moments.
A key feature of the learning experience was the opportunity for participants to practice new skills in a safe environment, receive feedback from peers, and exchange experiences with fellow leaders facing similar challenges.
The training concluded with individual leadership commitments and action plans, helping participants identify specific actions and practices they would apply in their daily leadership interactions.
The impact
The training received an average satisfaction rating of 4.7/5, highlighting the strong relevance, quality, and practical value of the learning experience.
Participant feedback highlighted the relevance of the content, the quality of facilitation, and the practical value of the tools and frameworks introduced throughout the training.
Testimonials
"Excellent content with a strong focus on communication and empathy. A necessary cultural capability for modern organizations."
"The group interaction and role-play activities were particularly valuable."
"Leadership trainings like this are particularly valuable for leaders at this level of seniority."
"A valuable tool for reflection, leadership navigation, and action planning, with strong practical application."
Looking ahead
Leadership today requires more than technical expertise and business acumen. It requires the ability to build trust, strengthen relationships, encourage open dialogue, and create environments where people can perform at their best.
Through The Empathetic Leader: Cultivating Psychological Safety & Trust, Piraeus Bank invested in developing senior leaders who can combine performance with human connection, strengthening both the employee experience and organizational effectiveness.
We are proud to have partnered with Piraeus Bank on this initiative and to have supported more than 100 leaders in developing the capabilities that help teams collaborate effectively, navigate challenges with confidence, and build stronger cultures of trust.
If you’d like to explore similar leadership trainings, check out our work and schedule an introductory call.