” The difference between what we do and what we can do would solve most of the world’s problems, “ Mahatma Gandhi.
Do you know those arid deserts where there seems to be no life?
And then, a light rain comes, and many tiny flowers sprout from the ground, completely transforming the landscape into a plain of color.
Here leadership is like this desert: each of us has a leader within us, sometimes well hidden. All it takes is the right stimulus to bring him out.
This is the work we did in the group training and coaching “I am a leader! Develop your leadership in five moves”. A Play & Learn course by Playnbe.
In this first appointment, we studied the four main functions of leadership: mobilizing, federating, setting the course, and communicating. We explored the specific skills and personal qualities that facilitate them.
“Start from where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can ” Arthur Ashe – Tennis champion.
Being a leader requires excellent personal maturity, but working on oneself is difficult: introspective intelligence is yet to be commonplace. That is why I turned this training course into a playful journey inspired by space exploration: the exploration of the leadership galaxy.
With this common thread and thanks to serious play activities, it was easier for the participants to get involved, discover themselves, and reveal themselves to others.
Individually and together, we explored how:
- Get inspired by leadership as it manifests itself in the animal world (and it was superstimulating!) by studying leadership in nature
- Bring out the key characteristics of leadership by mobilizing some historical leaders.
- Use visioning techniques to highlight outstanding leadership moments from one’s history and model the key characteristics. Build your personal leadership business card, complete with a promotional slogan!
- Define one’s communication style and learn to adapt to that of others to mobilize towards our cause.
- Define a leadership growth goal and the strategy to get there.
- Recognize and study one’s fears and brakes on the path to personal leadership.
- Use the charisma of superheroes and great characters to motivate oneself to action.
All this in a playful, creative way and by doing excellent introspection work, thanks to NLP and neuro-cognitive approach techniques combined with creativity.
The work was delicate from the facilitation point of view because it involved alternating moments of training, facilitation activities, and individual coaching, albeit in a group. That’s why I was all the more excited to see curious people with the determination to step out of their comfort zone and, despite the difficulties, reveal themselves to themselves and others.
“A good leader inspires people to trust him; a great leader inspires people to trust themselves ” Eleanor Roosevelt.
It took me a long time to build my sense of leadership. And often, in the company, I had to row against overwhelming conformity and glass ceilings.
At the time, I would have been happy to have an organization that allowed me to do the work of introspection and personal growth to better myself.
So I am happy and grateful to condense years of learning into this journey, enabling others to discover their leadership faster and more intensively.
In their words, it was:
– a stimulating, evolutionary, introspective learning path
– an exciting, uplifting work in the knowledge of self and colleagues
– a challenging course that takes you out of your comfort zone and requires great open-mindedness
– a great deal of work on listening and empathy, necessary to inspire confidence
– an activity that pushes you to accept diversity, to learn to communicate with character profiles different from mine
– I realized that to bring about change, you have to accept the idea of having to give something up
It was intense work, light and deep at the same time. And I am very proud of the effort made by this group. STANDING OVATION!