We’re delighted to be presenting at the upcoming AC/IoC Leadership & Coaching Conference on 24th June. If you’d like to join us follow this link

During our conference session we’ll explore three things every CEO should know about equipping their leaders for transformation and growth rather than simply survival.

1) Leading in complexity

This requires different capacities to the past. When things are Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) a shift from Heroic to Post Heroic Leadership matters. This involves moving beyond more traditional styles of leadership to something that better catalyses the collective intelligence around the leader. We draw on the Leadership Agility 360 and Leadership Development Profile to identify and develop later stage leaders with the capacities to transform organisational systems rather than simply maintain and optimize existing ones.

2) Psychological safety

30 years of research from Harvard’s Professor Amy Edmondson points to a number of outer leadership practices that increase the psychological safety required for superior levels of collaboration, innovation, performance and growth.  Google’s Project Aristotle also found that this sat at the heart of their highest performing teams. We help leaders and organisations measure and track this using the Psychological Safety Index (PSI).  We also help shift the dial by teaching practices in situational humility, inquiry based leadership, generative listening and appreciation.

3) Neurophysiology of the leader

Like Google, SAP, Mercedes F1 and other progressive organisations, we also train leaders in the inner practices of psychological safety. Neuroscience now shows the impact of regular mindfulness practice on attention, working memory capacity, the autonomic nervous system, as well as empathic connection and collaboration. Leaders who meditate regularly develop a capacity to listen more deeply to those around them, become more open to diverse ideas and better able to integrate these into robust, adaptive solutions to today’s wicked problems. When team members feel safe to open up cognitive diversity is leveraged and teams become more generative.

If you’d like a short 90 second insight into the session follow this link

Here’s also a more in depth podcast interview.

Developed at Google and based on the latest in neuroscience research, Search Inside Yourself (SIY) teaches attention and mindfulness training that build the core emotional intelligence skills needed for effective leadership in today’s VUCA world.

What began as a mindful leadership initiative within Google has spread to over 50 countries and 150 cities around the world.

Give us your attention for a few days, and we’ll show you how to focus it for the rest of your life.

We can help you increase your focus, manage stress and resilience, and harness your creativity, innovation and collaboration skills. Through the program you will gain greater self-awareness, communication and leadership skills so you can thrive in your personal and professional life.

Surveys of participants reveal that following the program:

• 89% felt a better ability to reduce stress
• 85% reported better clarity of mind
• 85% noticed enhanced connection to others

Mark is a senior meditation teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has taught there since 2000. He has studied mindfulness practices for three decades and has taught mindfulness workshops and meditation retreats in six continents for the past twenty years.  Mark holds a MA in Clinical Psychology and draws on his extensive experience in working with people as a therapist and coach.

Spaces are limited, so for further details and to book your place please follow this link.

Mark McMordie

CEO

Session Synopsis

There’s a paradox about organisational flourishing in a VUCA world. When things are Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous it’s unlikely that leaders will experience their operating environment as particularly safe. Ironically, research shows that psychological safety is the very thing that enables others to access the higher brain structures that lead to market breakthroughs. This experiential session will explore the neurophysiology of psychological safety and how mindfulness practice can deepen it in coaching.

By the end of the session participants will:

1. Understand how psychological safety impacts innovation and team performance
2. Understand about the neuroception of safety and its neurophysiological basis
3. Have experienced a mindfulness practice proven to increase vagal tone and positive emotions, and how this impacts the coaching relationship and outcomes.

Session Format: Presentation and interactive workshop with Q&A

Looking forward to seeing you at Reimagining Coaching on the 7th May at County Hall, London.