Leadership During Wild Times: Exploring Nature, Wicked Challenges, and Wildness Within

Session Submission Type: Pre-conference Workshop

Detailed Abstract

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
Anyone interested in exploring the power of nature-based leadership practice or feeling a longing to reconnect with self, nature, and community.

WHAT WILL ATTENDEES GAIN?
Attendees will:
*Understand and discuss the importance and power of connecting to nature while in an urban environment.
*Set an intention and experience a solo nature walk in solitude, and then have an opportunity to reflect upon its meaning and discuss within a community.
*Gain a better understanding of the connection between nature, complexity, wisdom, and leadership.
*Explore how to be alone in community and in inquiry with nature.

DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS

We must go far beyond any transformation of contemporary culture. We must go back to the genetic imperative from which human cultures emerge originally and from which they can never be separated without losing their integrity and their survival capacity. None of our existing cultures can deal with this situation out of its own resources. We must invent, or reinvent, a sustainable human culture by a descent into our pre-rational, our instinctive resources. (Berry, 1988, pp. 207-208)

The world is rapidly changing and is becoming more complex and uncertain than ever before. For many, this time of change and challenge evokes fear about what lies ahead. Leading eco-psychologists and spiritual thought leaders refer to this time as necessary to help shift our global consciousness. Whereby, this great turning (Macy, 2013) offers an opportunity to shift away from the patriarchal egocentric societies that exist towards more eco-centric, inclusive, and just societies (Goldman Schuyler, Wheatley, Scharmer, Schein, Quinn, & Senge, 2016; Macy, 2013; Plotkin, 2003, 2008; Scharmer & Kaufer, 2013). The turbulent times are a call for our deeper work in leadership, and the natural world is our ultimate mirror and container for doing such work. At a time when many feel disconnected from nature and wildness, how do we bring effective, nature-based learning, leadership and transformation to our families, communities and organizations?

Conceptions of leadership in this rapidly changing, turbulent world, are varied. Many people are pushed into survival mode, when we most need to hear the call to deeply connect with the nature or wildness of who we are--our genetic imperative (Berry, 1998, p. 207)--and share our unique gifts of leadership. In the words of poet David Whyte (1997), it is a time to bring “your own truth / at the centre of the image / you were born with” (p. 24). “In our moment of history, perhaps the most sweeping and radical transformation ever to occur on earth is under way” (Plotkin, 2008, p. 2). Now is the time to engage in deep and grounding work in support of the change we wish to bring to the world.

In this pre-conference workshop we will begin at the conference center with some nature-based poetry to set an intention for our day together and our time together at the ILA conference. We will begin with personal introductions and an invitation to share more about why participants were called to participate in this workshop. Next we will explore the Four Directions/Medicine Wheel, an ancient framework for understanding human development and leadership. As Susanna Maida (2003) described the ancient framework, it “recognizes that the four facets of human existence - the physical, the psychological, the rational, and the spiritual - correspond to the four seasons of the earth, which represent time, and to the four cardinal directions, which represent space” (p. 84). These four facets are integral to support holistic leadership development in service of more life-sustaining action in the world today. We will then head to a nearby park for our experiential session. Once we arrive, we will begin with an acknowledge the ancestral lands and share a guided meditation to help us connect with our bodies, hearts and the earth. We will then co-create our leadership council and discuss our basic intentions for our “solo” time (our internal time to reflect, ponder, and see the world anew), followed by an exploration of what nature or the natural world can offer us as leaders today to help us exercise more effective leadership. Thereafter, participants will set their own personal intentions, calling in our biggest challenges, and will spend time on the local land seeking wisdom from the natural world within them and around them. This will be followed by storytelling and sharing of participants experiences and a broader conversation about the role of such practices in leadership education and practice. The day will then conclude with a closing ceremony/ritual, where participants honour self, others, the natural world, and the deep connections and sense of knowing that lives within all of us.

Detailed Agenda
We expect to begin at the conference center, to handle these first two pieces of the agenda, before walking to the park.

09:30-10:00 Opening, Introductions and Overview [30 minutes]
Poem, Introductions, Logistics, Gratitude
10:00 - 12:00 Learning Council [120 minutes]
* The Four Directions/Four Shields
* Council Process
* Connecting Four Directions to Leadership/Human Development
* Setting Intentions and walk to Warandeparc
* Getting Oriented, Staying Safe, Buddy System
* Storytelling and Mirroring

12:00 - 12:30 Arriving at Park/Lunch [30 minutes]
12:30 - 13:15 Smudging and Vision Walk [30 minutes]
13:15 - 14:00 Welcome Back/Storytelling and Mirroring [60 minutes]
14:00 - 14:15 Break [15 minutes]
14:15 - 15:00 Group Discussion/Incorporation and Personal Commitment with Buddy [45 minutes]
15:00 - 15:30 Closing Ceremony and Return to SQUARE Brussels Meeting Centre [30 minutes]

Sub Unit

• Leadership Development

Presenters

• Cheryl Getz, University of San Diego

• Cheryl Heykoop, Royal Roads University

• Doug E. Paxton, St. Mary's College of California