Cultivating leadership and identifying future growth

Purpose:

Being and becoming.

This example illustrates how to develop a plan for leadership development in alignment with one’s purpose and values. The map of elements looks at one’s purpose and niche or unique value contribution and how that can be expressed in the world, ie “work.” Home and belonging were important to the original case giver in this context. You may want to substitute these elements for values or aspects in your life that have significant meaning.  Play with the elements and adapt them to suit your needs.

Case background

After a systemic constellation with Collective Transitions earlier this year, Amy’s* life took a turn for the better. The experience provided a new perspective, spaciousness, and an openness that she believes allowed new work opportunities to arise. This positive experience prepared her to lean into new possibilities to grow in her leadership. This inquiry (right) is inspired by Collective Transition’s vision statement “We understand that the future does not lie ahead of us, but exists right here in our current ways of being.” She was committed to cultivating her unique leadership style and deepening her purpose-driven work.

* Name changed for privacy

• Application

  Amy* was worried that she might easily fall into “old patterns” of being logical and driven and therefore miss certain opportunities. She wanted to “be in and sit with” her current questions to experience them more fully so we designed a systems sensing journey to slow down and do just that.

  Leading up to the design of the guiding inquiry, she asked questions like:

  • What's “my (unique) work to do” knowing I have a powerful and unique story?

  • What is my place in the greater ecosystem?

  • What do I want (this work) to feel like?

  • What is home and what does returning to my homeland mean?

  Specifically, she wanted to know “what that looks and feels like.”

  After designing the inquiry and elements, I guided her on a systems-sensing journey where she used her felt senses and ways of knowing to listen deeply to the wisdom of each element. See here for more details about the explorative sensing journey.

• Key learning

  No two journeys are alike. Each individual will gain insights that are unique to them and their situation.

  For Amy* a key insight from each element was the capacity of enjoyment. Namely, shifting from a sense of obligation to a sense of “what do I enjoy? and what would support me to feel centered and energized? This theme showed up in aspects of work and also home and belonging.

• Capacities

  Leadership capacities cultivated:

  • Being present to what is

  • Capacity for discernment and clarity of personal boundaries and actions

  • Capacity to witness one’s self

  • Trust in oneself and life’s unfolding

Guiding question

What are the seeds of the future present in me that are calling for cultivation?

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Elements

• Self

• Purpose

• Home/belonging

• Capacity

• Work

• My niche

• Resource

• Unknown

Tips

• The element “unknown” is yet known or named. Creating a placeholder for something unknown allows space for new information to emerge that we may not have thought of otherwise.

• Similarly, the element “resource” is an unnamed resource or anything in the system that could be a supportive condition towards the guiding question.