May 16, 2019
The fifth session of our Spring Programme took place on Monday with a focus on resilience. Sophie Lawrence, one of the current participants, sent us this following the session. We couldn’t have asked for more beautiful feedback. Credit to the current cohort of wonderful women changemakers for coming with us on this journey and creating the magic.
An overwhelming sense of lightness.
Those dark knotted alleyways lurking within –
Eased out with grace,
And a knowing, supportive smile.
A female chain of understanding,
Growing stronger by the week.
Power that once faltered
Suddenly lit with intense clarity.
Seeing others around you in a new technicolour of understanding.
The secret of your own personal growth –
For the moment at least can be kept within.
Let us enjoy floating around.
For a while.
And then it can be let out to fly high,
Soaring and swerving.
With new trust and resilience and knowing –
That however much it crushes back down again,
We can pick up the pieces.
And, again if we need.
Painting colourful images that are true to ourself.
A unique space, unlike no other that we’ve entered before,
Held by others –
We lead change.
More information on our Autumn Programme and apply here.
Aug 23, 2018
Don’t live in the basement of your potential! We love this quote. It makes us think of what’s possible when we decide to move out of our basement and into our living area: that space where we can invite others to join us. Where connection happens, where conversation takes place and where collaboration is possible…It’s not always easy to throw open our front door and invite others in…it can feel uncomfortable, it requires bravery, it calls for vulnerability and it takes guts.
But, it opens up possibility, it creates opportunity and it builds community.
This is an open invitation to join us for an informal evening of connection, conversation and collaboration with some like-minded, courageous, purpose-driven change-makers!
Come and meet those involved in She Leads Change – either as a past participant, coach, mentor, advisor, core team member – future participant – or even curious friend! Do spread the word…we’d be delighted to meet you, to understand both what you are looking for and what you could bring!
Come. Join.
Live big. Our door is wide open.
Places are limited, so registration is imperative and please, if your circumstances change and you are unable to join us, let us know so we can open the space for another…
Sign up here: Open Session Registration
Dec 5, 2017
On Tuesday 28th November 2017 20 women came together to meet, explore and experience the idea of ‘She Leads Change’, and shape the programme. We shared a common sense of having or seeking purpose in our work, a variety of challenges as well as hope and excitement around She Leads Change.
Collectively we discussed the proposed format for She Leads Change and start date: find out the full proposed shape of the programme in the ‘About Us’ section. The evening confirmed that we have enough interest to run two groups concurrently!
An experiment in peer mentoring
During last Tuesday’s session, we tried out a peer mentoring and deep listening exercise. Why not give it a go yourself with a friend?
Process
- Choose something that happened recently which left you puzzled or disgruntled
- Take 7 minutes to talk to your friend:
- What was the situation?
- Think about what you are holding onto about it. How is it a pattern? What are deeper underlying issues?
- What advice would you give yourself on how to resolve it and/or do things differently next time?
- Your friend will listen closely as you speak, and at the end of the 7 minutes, should spend no more than 3 minutes reflecting back what they heard you say.
MIT lecturer and co-founder of the Presencing Institute, Otto Scharmer, lays out four levels of listening:
- Downloading – “yeah, I know that already…” re-confirms my views.
- Factual (listening with an open mind) – picks up new information, notices differences
- Empathic (listening with an open heart) – “I know exactly how you feel…” sees something through another person’s eyes
- Generative (listening with an open will) – “I can’t explain what I just experienced…” listening that leads to a shift in sense of self and identity
- As the friend, you have an active role in not giving advice, or responding, but simply ‘holding a mirror up’ to what you’ve heard.
- Notice if you are comparing what you are hearing to your existing knowledge or beliefs (downloading)
- Consciously soften your mind and focus on the other person’s lived experience (factual & empathic listening)
- And if you’re up for it, see if you can sense the space beyond, the future perspective ‘wanting to emerge’ (generative listening)
- At the end of the first 10 minutes, switch places and repeat the exercise
Reflection/What did you notice?
- The exercise forces you to properly listen to yourself, and hear someone else.
- What did it feel like to give yourself advice out loud?
- What did you appreciate most? What did you find most challenging?
- Would you give someone else the same advice if they were in your situation?
- Did you hear anything that surprised you?
- Was there anything that particularly stood out, that you’ll apply going forward?
What are we hoping for with She Leads Change?
We closed the evening by writing down hopes for ourselves, for the future and for She Leads Change. It is our intention that the pilot programme begets offshoots run by the participants in other cities and countries, like a spider plant, if you will.
We each took home another’s hope, and a blooming rose, saving our hopes for She Leads Change – and for the future – to share here:
What are your hopes? Sign up for January 2018, and let us know.
“These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to be climbing.”
– Najwa Zebian
Nov 13, 2017
We want She Leads Change to be an open and collaborative initiative.
Come and join us to meet those involved so far, find out more about She Leads Change and discuss what you could bring to it at our open session from 5:30-8pm on 28 November 2017.
We are looking to:
- Fill up the initial pilot group
- Find mentors (beyond their peers) for each woman involved
- Develop an extra-ordinary and inspiring programme
Register on EventBrite. We look forward to meeting you!
