Creative Leadership Conversations in Ethiopia

I recently conducted a coach training session in Ethiopia for the Leadership Beyond Boundaries effort. It was an experience I enjoyed very much. Here's a post filed on the Lead Beyond blog:

The methodology used the Creative Leadership Conversations Toolkit to help participants learn essential coaching skills, key leadership principles, and half-a-dozen simple but powerful assessment tools. The two-day program included multiple opportunities for the participants to apply the skills learned in a cascading series of coaching sessions conducted in learning teams.

The participants found the tightly woven experience powerful and forged strong bonds with their learning partners. Some of what they shared at the conclusion reflected both personal and professional learning:

“I am feeling I learned both professionally and personally that I have everything I need. It has been two powerful days for me. I had a big breakthrough in my group and make a commitment to hold and be held accountable by my group.”

 “I feel I am turning in a new direction. The experience was great and moving, powerful. I need to open my heart and let the change in. I never thought about me in the same light before and it became very clear to me. I feel I found my direction.”

“Good energy! I learned that human beings can apply the coach approach in so many ways.”

The last comment speaks to the intention of the Creative Leadership Conversations methodology that coaching techniques can be used to develop others and also to foster greater understanding and collaboration between individuals. The participants in the program expressed a intent to apply the learning to work with school teachers, to initiate coaching through their training organizations, and make changes in their personal lives.

I am looking forward to the next program we have planned for Jamaica.

Creative Leadership Conversations in India

This is a cross-post from the Center for Creative Leadership's Leadership Beyond Boundaries blog:

The Leadership Beyond Boundaries effort has launched a prototype of the Creative Leadership Conversations toolkit. This is a resource to help individuals use “the Coach Approach” to engage in purposeful conversations that may be about developing leadership capacity (coaching and mentoring) or enacting leadership (collaboration, co-creation, and conflict resolution). The toolkit offers knowledge, practices, and tools that can be used to transform how we engage. The process begins with relationship building and developing an understanding and appreciation of the perspectives and needs of others through deep listening, inquiry, and feedback. It then flows into engagement to envision and enact a course of action that is energizing and empowering to all involved. The toolkit is the product of a collaboration by a team of CCL coaches, Tzipi Radonsky and Philomena Rego, and Pat Williams of Coaching the Global Village. Philomena recently tested the toolkit with a group of nuns in India. She filed this report.

“I had the opportunity to run the first test of the toolkit on two different groups of nuns in India. These religious workers surrender personal lives to be of service to others. They are tasked with great demands and limited resources. I recognized that leadership development could help them reconnect with their purpose and gain skills to be more effective in their work. While I had interacted with this population before I had never done any leadership development and was not sure how it would be received.

The first group I worked with was a team of nuns running a HIV/AIDs treatment center in Goa, India. This group of nuns had spent over 25 years in religious life. I started by setting an intention for us to have an open mind as we stepped into unfamiliar territory. Initially they found the coaching methods difficult and challenging. Yet I was encouraged to observe that they were open to be vulnerable as they struggled with new concepts. As the program unfolded, there was deep sharing of personal identity and struggles and the openness to receiving insights and feedback from others. At the conclusion of the program, the group made a commitment to develop an approach of engaging others in a different way — to suspend judgment and be curious about alternative perspectives. A week or so later, I heard from the person in-charge that she has noticed a difference in how the nuns had been using this new practices in changing how they were interacting with each other, the other staff, patients and children. Some of the participants who were least expected to change had changed the most. As the toolkit methods are designed to be shared with others, one of the nuns planned to do a short program for others who hadn’t been able to attend.

The second session I did was over a day in Bangalore, India with a group who were involved in education and development for marginalized women and youth. These nuns had been in religious life between 5 – 11 years. The material transferred really well and they got a chance to practice the skills with each other. Even though the participants felt that it was not enough time, they felt comfortable to take the practices to the groups they work with. Their superior said that the participants had gained a different perspective on how they could work and this would help them become more effective leaders in the community. I am encouraged by the power this tool to shift the nature of engagement and enhance the lives of people so dedicated to improving the lives of others.”

Next, we take the Creative Leadership Conversations toolkit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where we will be running a Coaching Essentials workshop for a group of professionals who intend to bring coaching to the social sector.

Celebrations/Graduation

Last month my five-year old had her graduation ceremony. It was both a happy occasion and a realization that she is growing so fast. As we approached graduation, there was so much excitement and a wonderful energy in the house. The countdown to the event took place everyday nearly a month in advance. My daughter was prepared for what she called the Big Day well in advance. It was amazing to see her bubbling with joy and excitement and she wanted everyone to be a part of her celebration.

While I was witnessing all this one thought that popped into my mind frequently was: what happens to us adults regarding the events in our lives. In my own life I realize that so little time is spent in celebrating all the achievements big or small. I noticed the same pattern with my clients, friends and family. We hardly spend time in celebrating or relishing what has occurred. We quickly move on to the next thing. What do we miss by not celebrating? Celebration energizes everyone, and helps mark our growth. It gives us positive emotion, creates high frequency vibrations and brings us together with others to honor our achievements.

How about remembering to celebrate the little things in our day-to-day life and allowing the child in us to come out more. You’ll see what a big difference it makes.

Letting go

Change involves learning new things. Yet, the greatest change is often about letting go. It may be the way we do things, the way we think, the way we feel. It may be fears, habits, judgments, hurts, victimizations, attachments, attitudes, and beliefs that are not serving us. Letting go is hard and scary since holding on feels like we are protecting ourselves.

On day-to-day basis we must challenge ourselves to let go of the behaviors that are no longer bringing us the life we want. So, what is one small thing are you ready to let go today? What is something that is creating stress or imbalance? It could be something small to begin with or something that robs you of your joy. Or it could be a thought that pops up all the time and reminds you, you are not good enough, not smart enough, or not doing enough, or not bold enough and so on.

Letting go of what gets in our way brings us more freedom, peace and joy. Giving ourselves permission to let go allows us to grow and trust that we can grow. We don’t have to be perfect. We have a choice to let go and empower ourselves to create the life we want.

The Power of Appreciation

A video that will make you smile!

Validation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao&feature=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao&feature=player_embedded

"Validation" is a fable about the magic of making others feel good about themselves.

Work-Life Balance

We often hear about work-life balance. When I hear this phrase it seems that our being consists of just two areas -- work and life. So what do we mean by life? It seems that our health and well being, family, love/romance, recreation/leisure and fun, our physical environment and spirituality are all lumped under a single label: life.

How can we bring more attention to the things that give us energy? What is it that I do that nourishes me? Do I spend enough quality time with my family and friends? Do I make time to reflect, meditate, journal, exercise, read, dance, listen to music or play music or do what I love at least 3 to 4 times a week if not everyday. What am I doing to live a life of purpose, meaning and fulfillment?

Being singularly focused on work can take you away from things that really matter. Furthermore, when we don’t take care of things in the life category, our work suffers. We are most productive and efficient when we are relaxed, so remember to take time to relax your mind and body so that you can give your work your best. Some tips: When you are working on a project, take a lunch break away from your desk and go for a walk and admire nature so your mind is having a break too. Or have a lunch with your colleagues and do not talk about your project. You will be surprised that little break will stimulate the creativity in you and bring in new ideas, new energy, and inspiration from nature or your co-workers. Albert Einstein said, “You can't solve a problem with the same mind that created it.” Sometimes we need to get away from work to break out of our same mind and thinking patterns in our work. Your “life” matters to your well being, and paying attention to your “life” brings your best self to work.

Words that will change your life

I have been experiencing the power of journaling recently. It is something I’ve done off and on, and been repeatedly drawn to and been resistant to in the past. As the saying goes what you resist persists. I am now journaling regularly and starting to get a lot out of it.

On the surface, journaling is a way to capture the passage of life and our own thoughts and feelings. Yet once you put these down on paper, it gives release to our unexpressed emotions and provides healing, it helps us make meaning of what’s going on, and produces new learning and fresh perspectives on concerns and issues. It helps us stay grounded and remember what matters most. As a record of our lives, it allows us to see how far we’ve come, and what patterns seem to repeat. Over time, it raises our mindfulness and consciousness.

So what holds you back from this powerful practice? If you’re like me, it may be a sense that you do not have time for it. Yet, the value of journaling is greater when we make it a daily ritual. It is an easy way of giving ourselves some personal attention in life’s busyness, allowing us some quality time with ourselves.

Don’t you deserve a little time for yourself? If you need a simple practice to get you started, how about capturing one thing that you appreciate about the day and what you’re grateful for over the next 40 days? This precious book will deepen your awareness and appreciation and maybe even help you rewrite your life. Write away and write to me. I’d love to hear what you learn!

What is it to accept and love myself?

This is the season for giving. Here’s a gift I’ve chosen to give myself. Perhaps it is one you might consider for yourself too.

I have been asking myself how I can contribute more to this world? My reflection provided this response, “to accept and love myself so that I can do my best.” This does not mean that I do not need to change unhealthy behaviors. It means being considerate with myself while I am developing and growing in wisdom. It means being mindful of my own negative self-talk and to seeing how little it is serving me. So when I am in a space of being self-critical about something I instead ask what I can learn from what happened and what I can do differently in the future.

I want to invite you to notice if you are being adequately loving and accepting of yourself? If you do find that you are pulling yourself down take notice. Consider how you can be as kind and encouraging to yourself as you would be to someone you love.