Cultivating Mindful Leadership Presence: A powerful workout in mindfulness practice for leadership & generative conversation

Cultivating Mindful Leadership Presence
A powerful workout in mindfulness practice for leadership & generative conversation

A 2 Day Experiential Learning Workshop, March 22-23, Wellington

Led by Lisa Markwick and Stephen Archer

Today’s constantly changing context demands that leaders be intellectually agile, emotionally attuned, physically (and virtually) available, and that we are alert to signals of the future as it emerges. In short leadership asks us to be “present” in all senses of the word. Although most us realise that these qualities are crucial, they tend to show up only occasionally, due to habitual practices of “I know” , the pressure of “being busy”, the drive for quick answers and the allure of narrowing perception.

This workshop very purposefully guides you through the practice of mindfulness (a systematic discipline for becoming most fully present), its application to leadership, and its power to enlighten and innovatively open-up and focus conversations. Given that at least 80% of a leader’s day is spent in the work of conversation, this is a vital practice. Are you effective in engaging in the conversations that matter…those that allow for capacity building connections and strategic breakthroughs? Those that give birth to new “brilliance”, and allow your team to be alert to signals of the future as it emerges?

Mindfulness recognises the quality of our attention as a fundamental agent for transformation. “Shifting the structure of attention does for organizations what meditation does for individuals: it deepens the process of becoming aware and increases the number of options for responding to a given situation. The art of leadership, from this perspective, is about facilitating the practice of collective meditation-in-action." – Otto Scharmer.

Learning Objectives
• Develop the practice of mindfulness as a core currency for leadership today.
• Build the capacity to engage strongly and mindfully in the “conversations that matter”, while remaining open to emerging dynamic outcomes.
• Embody the power of focused, yet open, attention and quality conversation in leadership.

Main Contents
• A serious work-out in the practice of mindfulness meditation, mindful attention and mindful dialogue
• Explore practical links between mindful practices, leadership presence, and generative conversation
• Utilise the power of present-moment attention for leadership, innovation, and strategy
• Engagement and coaching in generative conversation with peers – cultivating authentic presence, deep listening and releasing creativity, while purposefully addressing questions at the heart of leadership practice.

This workshop will involve periods of stillness and quiet and is designed to activate parts of our selves which are seldom in use. Come prepared to actively participate in order to fully immerse your self in the learning available.
See http://www.mindfuladventures.co.nz/facilitation/index.htm for details