Feb 28, 2018
We’re delighted to be bringing you the news that the next cohort of She Leads Change will be starting in April and applications are now open!
The programme is a mixture of coaching and community, building confidence and connection through a structured peer learning and mentoring programme. Find out more about how it works →.
So what change are you making in the world? And what’s holding you back? Join the April She Leads Change cohort to find your purpose, build your courage and unleash your potential.
Apply today
Not intending to apply this time? Help us spread the word
We’d love you to help us get the word out far and wide to the women you know She Leads Change would be perfect for. Here are some sample lines to help:
Calling all ladies wanting to make a difference in the world! @SheLeadsChange applications open for April 2018 cohort. Meet like-minded amazing women using peer-learning to build confidence, resilience and reach their potential. Please sign up now and share with others! www.sheleadschange.org 
[Tweet this]
Feeling a bit stale? Things holding you back? Supercharge your career with the wonderful @nicolamillson and @SheLeadsChange peer-mentoring programme: a collection of inspiring women making change in the world. Secure your place for the April cohort here: www.sheleadschange.org [Tweet this]
For LinkedIn:
She Leads Change is a six month peer-mentoring programme where purpose-driven women become more confident, build resilience and form powerful connections. By supporting and connecting change-makers, the team amplifies and accelerates the positive social impact women are making in the world. April cohort now open. Sign up here: www.sheleadschange.org @SheLeadsChange
Women from all sectors are coming together to explore their power to make a difference. A new peer mentoring programme called @SheLeadsChange is making waves in the social sector, breaking down barriers and helping women be the best they can be. Unleash your potential. Application for the April cohort now open: www.sheleadschange.org
For Facebook:
Want to share an amazing programme called @SheLeadsChange. Met some inspiring women who are helping me to remove the blocks to my potential! This is an essential path for women looking to make change in the world, but that may have lost their way! They’re taking applications for the April cohort now. Check it out here: www.sheleadschange.org
We’re incredibly excited about growing our community to include this new cohort. Thank you for your support!
Photo by Bruce Mars from Pexels
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
