Changing Leader-Shape Development
Leadership development often relies on the notion of tabula rasa, or a blank slate, that new ideas can be etched into. Somatic coaching for leadership invites building awareness of what has shaped us as leaders, how we show up in the world, and how we connect or disconnect with others. In laying this foundation of our current leadership shape through somatic awareness, leadership development can result in embodied change that lasts, not just trying on new ideas from others' approaches to leadership.
“Do you have what it takes to help shape leaders?”
I recently received an offer to help shape leadership courses for a learning organization. In previous years, I’ve helped design various online learning cohorts, in person gatherings, and asynchronous courses, inservice of developing stronger leaders. The common factor in all these offerings was a leadership framework that named leadership attributes—relational trust, communication, culture building, giving productive feedback, etc. All of these characteristics are hallmarks of leaders that are admired and respected.
However, these learning experiences follow the formula: new learning from experts + how to steps to implement that new learning + goal setting about implementation. And the premise of the learning experience is that the formula of learning should result in stronger leadership.
Whether the course is “Leadership with Vision” or “Developing a Growth Mindset as a Leader”, leadership development too often assumes tabula rasa, or a blank slate to build from. Essentially, the learner can be a stronger leader if they just learn ideas from others to build their toolkit.
I’m not suggesting that there aren’t leadership lessons to learn from others’ experiences, but I think our current needs in leadership require more than just accumulating new ideas; leadership requires self-reflection of our previous shaping that has made us the leaders we are today, while building our awareness to lead to more intentional choicefulness as we learn how to grow our leadership.
Our responses to conflict. Our sense of our own dignity. Our ability to understand how our social standing in the world impacts of our connection with others. Our clarity around how our personal and professional experience has shaped us. Our conditioned tendencies in times of pressure. The current social, economic, and environmental conditions that influence our sense of being. All of these are the underpinnings of our full selves that help us understand how the potential new leadership learning reinforces who we are or challenges us to take on a new leadership shape.
Integrating somatic coaching and somatic awareness helps us acknowledge the foundation we are building on with new leadership learning. Our brains and our bodies are not blank slates. If we take the time to honor who we have been and what we are truly longing for in our next steps as leaders, the learning from experts can help us shape our next steps and challenge us to integrate the new learning into the new leader-shape that we can grow into.
As a starting point, I invite you to consider what experiences shaped your leadership, what they taught you about leadership, what those approaches make possible in your leadership, and what the cost of those approaches cost you.
If you want to learn more about somatic coaching to embody new leadership practices, let’s talk. Schedule an exploration meeting at Calendly.com/myinnermissioncoaching.
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