Kia ora!
Welcome to your
Enlightened Leadership
resource and assignments portal.
Note: There are no 'assignment police'.
Leaders lead themselves.
Use what is useful and leave the rest.
"The wise leader's ability does not rest on techniques or gimmicks or set exercises. The method of awareness-of-process applies to all people and all situations”
- Lao Tzu
Heading
OUTCOMES
Learning environment (culture) Keys to success
Comfort Zone to Learning zone video
Motivators for human behaviour
Why be a Global Learner?
Superpowers Overview
The Success Spiral
Emotional Bank Accounts
The Helium Pole
Session Eight - Presenting
Assignments and Resources
1. Your big assignment is creating a way to present your buddy's brilliance on behalf of the whole group. Reach out if you get stuck.
2. Your now ongoing assignment forever - NOTICE WHAT YOU NOTICE - and choose from there.. These can become habits of practice you continue to nurture. That will be easy as you acknowledge your growth and the impulse to keep pruning and growing and composting and harvesting.
3. GRADUATION DAY - (Moot is Dec 4th as a change)
You will have 5 -10 minutes to share reflections on your journey through the programme. Review your Day One outcomes (and the team harvest above) and identify your noticings and best learnings. You will also have 'as long as it takes' to acknowledge your buddy on behalf of the group.
Review your own notes - and practise gratitude
Stay on your own team - back yourself! Your inner coach is a HUGE resource for presenting purposes! You need never do another presentation on your own again! Keep your inner critic out of it ;)
YOU ARE THE PROJECT! Be very good to your fine self always.
BONUS MATERIAL - Free mini-course
'Pain-Free Presenting' This is a short video course on a couple of mission critical principles you are already aware of and a walk through the 8Step prep plan. If you missed the session this will get you up to speed. You can use the coupon 'ELFREE' and access a short course made from a webinar I did ages ago - still relevant. You will find the mini-course here
NOTE: You will see the landing page has a $50 off coupon - ignore that and use the code ELFREE instead and you should get free access.
Handouts and Resources
1. I Can Speak Clearly Now the pain has gone
(PDF) Highly recommended - especially Parts Two and Three
2. 8STEP Preparation plan (PDF)
3. The Bow and Arrow - short talk structure to inspire action PDF from the session)
4. This stays for every session follow up. A guided sensory check-in (lifted from The Accelerator). This can serve as an introduction to meditation (audio mp3)
Your buddy - it's all over in a month! - go for finishing well!
ONGOING: Keep spotting the brilliance and coach your buddy towards their outcomes. Revisit those at the top of the page...have we progressed?
Remember we are all here to serve each other.
Session Seven - Teams
Assignments and Resources
1. IF YOU WATCH NOTHING ELSE IN HERE, WATCH THIS - A little treat from Nature - may this team inspire you to trust in your own life process deeply. Something greater than us knows best. As we yield to our truest selves and make the leap, our transformation begins...Chapters yet to be written about what we do with our lives.
2. Check out your Helium Pole performance ( video above) - it's inspiring! Note: Fiona your laugh is highly contagious!!
3. Your now ongoing assignments. These can become habits of practice you continue to nurture. That will be easy if you acknowledge your growth and the impulse to keep pruning and growing and composting and harvesting.
Review your own notes - and practise gratitude
Stay mindful of how you show up in team settings. Having the awareness to notice the influence you have on those around you will keep you growing.
Stay on your own team - back yourself!
YOU ARE THE PROJECT! Be very good to your fine self always.
BONUS MATERIAL - from The Accelerator
Relationships with Others - reading (PDF lifted from The Accelerator)
Upgrade Notes - (PDF) Lifted from Module 5 in The Accelerator
The Accelerator - info and registration page.
Handouts and Resources
1. Now - Then - Bridge - a framework for problem solving in teams (PDF)
2. Blame or Gain Cultures (PDF)
3. Handout pack (PDF from the session)
4. This stays for every session follow up. A guided sensory check-in (lifted from The Accelerator). This can serve as an introduction to meditation (audio mp3)
Your buddy - it's all over in a couple of months - finish well so you feel good about yourself!
ONGOING: Keep spotting the brilliance and coach your buddy towards their outcomes.
Remember we are all here to serve each other.
Session Six - Emotional Intelligence
Assignments
1. Watch the EQ video above. This is a videoscribe version of the model I shared on Monday (lifted from The Accelerator).
2. Pause several times a day and turn your attention inwards - ask yourself “How am I feeling?” … if this is challenging, try using a frame that is a metaphor eg: ’Right now I feel like a leaf in a hurricane’ or ‘Right now I feel like I have ants in my pants/I’m fizzing like champagne!’ At the end of each day, summarise to yourself what sort of day you had on the inside. Notice. No judgements, only noticing. If you discover insights, write about/draw them.
3. The Superpowers framework identifies BUGS in the human operating system. Our Superpowers of Awareness, Intuition, Imagination, Reason and Will are expansive forces and promote growth and evolution. BUGS are contractive forces. They pin us down. Notice any BUGS that are holding you back in any way.
These BUGS are Blame, Undermining, Guilt, and Shame. All can be handbrakes and the more we notice their presence, the easier it is to eliminate them...by noticing, and choosing what we 'pay' attention to.
Review your own notes - and practise gratitude
Remind yourself you have the power of Reason to reframe. Reframing is a powerful composting tool. It helps find the 'silver lining' in our not so great experiences. Look for the lesson, the opportunity to grow through rather than 'go through'.
YOU ARE THE PROJECT! Be very good to your fine self.
Bonus reading - from The Accelerator
The Human Operating System basics (PDF)
The Accelerator - info and registration page. (Thanks Fionas for the catch - the link should now work)
Handouts and Resources
1. Emotional Intelligence - Reflection (PDF)
2. Emotional Intelligence - Reading (new)
3. Letter to critical self (we did in session)
4. This stays for every session follow up. A guided sensory check-in (lifted from The Accelerator). This can serve as an introduction to meditation (audio mp3)
Supporting your buddy - are you making the effort?
ONGOING: Is your buddy getting what they need in order to achieve their outcomes? You can be a coach, supporter/cheerleader, accountability buddy...there are many manifestations of this relationship. The idea is you know there is ALWAYS someone on your team! (Well x2 people actually if you add me in too!)
Remember we are all here to serve each other
Session Five - Wellbeing/Productivity/Stress Management
Assignments
1. Watch the two new videos above. One is about the superpowers framework I overviewed in session and the other a model called 'The Success Spira'l - more about that next session but let the notions cook away this month.
2. Create a WELLBEING acronym for yourself. What are the things that lift your spirits that can be a meaningful little list inside that word. EG: For me 'W' is for Wonder. I remind myself that life is filled with wondrous experiences and things and I am better for noticing. B is for beauty for me - always lifts my spirits to notice beauty. You get the idea. Decorate, create something that can go on the fridge or somewhere you see it regularly.
3. It's time to introduce my second book 'Activate Your Human Superpowers'. This is the work fleshed out in the model, and the basis of my online programme called The Accelerator. Download your digital copy here
Review your own notes - and practise gratitude
Remind yourself daily to notice what you 'could' be grateful for - not hard in our part of the world. An attitude of gratitude is an attractor. This is a goodie for children to get into the habit of doing - a life skill that can help during the tough moments because it shifts attention.
Making a summary of your main take outs each session is a good idea and will help the short to long term memory transfer stick.
Remember - YOU ARE THE PROJECT! Be very good to your fine self.
Handouts and Resources
1. Wellbeing handouts (PDF)
2. The ACCELERATOR You have free access for life to this online programme of very personal education. Check it out and register (or not) when ever the time feels right. You are welcome to share the link with colleagues, friends and whanau. This programme is now free to the world - no strings. Check it out and register here
4. Guided basic meditation x20mins (from The Accelerator) MP3
5. This stays for every session follow up. A guided sensory check-in (lifted from The Accelerator). This can serve as an introduction to meditation (audio mp3)
Supporting your buddy - are you making the effort?
Your buddy relationship has gifts in it. what are they? The buddy relationship brings up things but is also intended to be a safe enough space that you can be real. It is a space to practise your skills and try out different approaches.
This is a good month to revisit your intentions for Enlightened leadership - AWARENESS is the biggie. Remind yourself to keep noticing what you notice and choose your actions from there.
Remember we are all here to serve each other.
Sessions Three/Four - The Essence of Facilitation
Assignments
1. The more you are open to and willing to notice, the more you will see. From there we make our choices rather than react from conditioned responses.
2. Ask TWO more questions. Staying fully present and listening deeply (being open to being changed by what you hear) is the go.
3. It's time to introduce my first book "I Can Speak Clearly Now the pain has gone'. If you read a few pages nows and then you will romp through the book - all of it is relevant to our mahi in EL. Download your digital copy here
Review your own notes - with your colours
Sometime in the next few days, go through your own notes on all our topics and capture reflections that have had time to cook. What will you remember? How important is purpose and outcome?? How important is being fully present? How important is listening and asking good questions and creating safe spaces ? How important is framing??? You get the drift.
Making a summary of your main take outs each session is a good idea and will help the short to long term memory transfer stick.
Remember - YOU ARE THE PROJECT! Be very good to your fine self.
Handouts and Resources
1. The Essence of Facilitation - PDF
2. EOF follow-up reflection for you and your team(PDF)
3. New Video - why you should become a global learner (approx 45mins)
4. This stays for every session follow up. A guided sensory check-in (lifted from The Accelerator). This can serve as an introduction to meditation (audio mp3)
Supporting your buddy
Is your buddy relationship working for you both? If you can, have a check-in and take the pulse. Tell your truth about it and re-choose it for the duration. If you are unable to do that, let's talk and we will find other ways to support you. The buddy relationship brings up things but is also intended to be a safe enough space that you can be real. It is a space to practise your skills and try out different approaches.
Remember we are all here to serve each other.
Session Two - Resources and Assignments
Keep noticing what you notice
1. Remember you are practising observing when you notice. Noticing activates a superpower you have. AWARENESS. As we become more aware, more wisdom can inform our choices and decisions. That leads to better outcomes. Noticing is not about overthinking, it is simply choosing to be aware of your environment and your space in it.
NOTICE everyone does the best they can with the resources they have in any given moment. This helps ease judgements. We do not know what others carry. We will continue to gently and naturally midwife ourselves into next level capacity to be fully present in life - to show up.
2. "Ask one more question". In your day-to day interactions, deliberately ask another question for a whole day (as often as you remember). This practise opens you to enquiry rather than 'telling', listening more than talking.
Keep observing your own values in action
Notice if you are being true to your own values - as defined by YOU. As we build our leadership practice around those values, you will see results. It's your job to 'read' those results as you go through your days. Make of them what you will and notice where you want to make corrections.
Encouragement: Share your values with your buddy and give each other permission to gently hold up the mirror if you are compromising your values. This coaching could facilitate a revisit and re-choose of what your leadership values (what you believe is MOST important) are.
Keep journaling your noticings/reflections each week around your top five. Remember - YOU ARE THE PROJECT! Be very good to your fine self.
Handouts and Resources
1. The Four Questions - Facilitator Guide (downloadable pdf)
NOTE: The doc references another team activity. We will get to that.
2. Session Two digital handout supplement (PDF)
3. Leader/Manager Reflection: (PDF) Where is your focus? Check out the distinctions presented between Managers and Leaders. Intend to expand your perspective - and you will!
4. A guided sensory check-in (lifted from The Accelerator). This can serve as an introduction to meditation (audio mp3)
Supporting your buddy
This relationship will naturally evolve and settle into how you will both roll through this programme. How you engage is up to you - and - my encouragement is to be open to what you can give to it and what is in it for you too.
Remember we are all here to serve each other and in so doing, help each other grow. The idea is you all get clear about what you want to learn more about/skills you want to build, and then you set about helping each other gain them when we are together (and any other time you give to the relationship).
Session One - Resources and Assignments
Make noticing a habit
1. NOTICE what you notice - without judgement (curiosity is more useful). Raising Awareness is simple. We bring our attention into the present moment and observe thoughts and feelings as we breathe quite consciously and deliberately. Even a short connection will grow your capacity to 'stay present' more. It is very easy to become distracted if we do not have the mental discipline to focus attention 'on demand'. We will gently and naturally midwife ourselves into next level capacity to be fully present in life - to show up.
If we try to hurry the process, we can 'blow a fuse' so please trust your process deeply. - no digging up your spuds to see how they're going. I promise you, you can afford to lean in to yourself on this.
For now, there is nothing to 'do' but notice. We will condition ourselves to a bigger 'charge' as we grow this capacity this year. The present moment is loaded with infinite possibility. It's where the ACTION is, and all the feels that go with that action! As we develop, we grow the capacity to stay present to the emotional content of life but if we opened to it all at once we would combust! Let's take good care around that. Wisdom is in knowing how to pace yourself. Our individuality is a conduit for life energy... it is brilliant!
Aligning fully with your leadership values
Reflecting on what you believe is important in a Leader (your leadership values), please reflect on your share in session, review your notes and others' feedback, and observe your own actions and behaviours day-to-day. By opening yourself to rating how you go with living them for real week by week ('walking your talk'), you will tune in more and more to your own integrity, and you will notice when you stray (the choice is then yours as to what to do with that noticing).
This can be a great topic for a great peer coaching conversation. Choose a rating scale to evaluate 'walking your talk' for yourself
Eg: % or out of 10 etc.
Journal your noticings/reflections each week around your top five. Do you keep your word? Do you say what you mean and mean what you say? Nothing to 'do' but notice with genuine curiosity.
Treat yourself as a topic of study from here on, and begin considering the best coach you could be - to yourself. We will explore this more.
Personal Action Plan
Check out your personal action plan (downloadable pdf)
Start on your own and/or (ideally) go through with your buddy. Capture what you really want and know you have your very own cheerleader willing you on (as you are for your buddy). Clarity leads to power -of the personal kind.
Dream big and aim high! The only limits are the limits of our imagination (another human superpower!).
Reminder: There are no 'assignment police'. Your commitment to your explorations is what will enable you.
Check in with your buddy
This is the space to practise your listening and coaching skills, to seek support in challenging moments (you do not need to suffer alone). Remember we are all here to serve each other and in so doing, help each other grow. The idea is you all get clear about what you want to learn more about/skills you want to build, and then you set about helping each other gain them when we are together (and any other time you give to the relationship).
Your first 'assignment' is to coach each other through the action plan - if you can manage that... we are just beginning to sketch a few things out. Your buddy can now be your accountability partner! There will be riches in these relationships - your job is to hunt for your treasure :).
Thought preparation for Session One
Reflection One
Consider what sort of leader brings out the best in you (and what doesn’t). Consider leaders you have experienced/been exposed to throughout your life. Notice what stands out for you and jot down your thoughts.
Highlight your top 5-7 things that bring out the best in you and bring them along.
Reflection Two
Reflecting on your early life, consider the environment you grew up in and what you learned about leadership from your ‘first leaders’ (parents/primary caregivers). The key is to observe without judgement as much as you can. We can learn from what worked, and what didn’t. Who led? How could you tell? What did you learn was important?
Watch the video above
This short video overviews my take on comfort zones and what you can expect as we learn and grow. It is lifted from my online programme called The Accelerator. You will learn about this soon - because you get free-for-life access as part of Enlightened Leadership!
Encouragement
These reflections are intended to be gentle thought experiments to start getting us in the mood for doing the work that no one else can do - to enhance our strengths and grow our skills and capabilities as leaders.
Notice your thoughts and feelings as you reflect. Notice your enthusiasm levels as you engage and observe any reluctance/resistance you have to these 'internal enquiries'. It is all grist for the mill. You may notice thoughts arising/dreams that hang around. There is nothing to 'do' but notice - even if emotions are in the mix. Be very good to yourself and genuinely curious about what shaped you.