Twenty-nine of us came together for a two day workshop offsite at the beautiful Goodwill Camp in South Sioux City, NE.  Some knew one another, most of us did not.

My task was to bring them together in a short period of time as a team.  And also in a way that was different from some of the other trainings they have attended.

I built an alliance with their leader before we all met and forged some trust.  Then he graciously handed over his precious cargo into my hands.

 

We built an alliance with all of the participants.  They sensed that this was going to be a different workshop from others.  Part of the alliance was that no one got to be wrong, everyone was asked to speak freely, confidentiality was in place, and a big emphasis was put on managing distractions and staying present.

We kicked off the event with a deeper understanding of what Leadership is versus Management.  I use the words of Dr. John Kotter.

“Management is a set of processes that help organizations produce reliable, efficient, and predictable results.”

“Leadership is about vision, opportunity, agility, inspired activity, innovation and collaboration.”

 

Next was learning the importance of emotional intelligence.  Primal Leadership Business Coaching‘s foundation and belief system to building leaders is predicated on knowing feelings.  Once an individual understands their own anger, grief, joy, fear, and shame they have the tools to move into another person’s space and meet them where they are at.  All good leaders have this agility.

 

We then went into a “check-in” using the P.I.E.S model (physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual).  Each person “check-in” with how they were Physically, spoke to what they were working on Intellectually, used the EQ model of mad, sad, glad, fear, and shame for the Emotional check-in, and finished by stating what they wanted Spiritually.  This check-in process really sets the stage for more intimacy.

 

Feelings are now being validated in a whole new way with the likes of the work Dr. Brene Brown is doing.  Now 13 years of research in the making, she has taken the importance of knowing shame to new heights.  Shame is described as one of the most insidious cancers in business.

These feelings, along with the basic understanding of how your ego works, sets the stage for getting out of old behaviors and creating new ones.  New behaviors that are generated and fueled by each individual’s core value system.

 We did this work thru the exercise of saboteur assessments and values.  Creating the contrast between the two helped the participant understand that ultimately, they have a choice on how they show up.  As a leader, or someone who gives their power away to another.

 

Once we established the power each person possesses, we were able to move into some vision work.  Creating a vision for the future sets the stage for an activity we do which requires reflecting on what you want the people closest to you to say at your 80th birthday celebration.  From there we worked on how to be clear moving forward and staying out of drama, and in purpose.

 

I am always in awe of the work everyone chooses to do in these workshops.  This was no exception.  I left that event with twenty-nine new friends and allies.  The world seems just a little bit more balanced to me now.  Thank you.