evolutionary leadership: the surprising impact of the structure of the workshop

although i know it was intentional, the structure of the two days at evolutionary leadership was both surprising and awesome. in the moment it felt strange and a little jarring, but in hindsight it was so perfect.

the first half of the workshop was a lot about internal exploration, development, and growth. this happened in individual and collective dimensions. the second half of the workshop was about our projects and visions. we worked on clarifying and refining the visions for our projects as well as doing some concrete group coaching to help each person define next steps.

now, the reason it felt surprising and even a little jarring was because i’m not used to such a clear shift from internal to external in spaces like this. so often mountain top experiences like this don’t support people’s re-entry into their normal lives. for example, in the church camp setting, there’s a ton of internal, spiritual work that happens. but it’s all building towards the last night where the people break down and “get saved” (or whatever). maybe the last small group or something is focused on thinking about how to re-enter the world, but generally speaking, there’s very little attention paid to how the work done during the experience will translate to the real world.

however, switching in the middle did two things. first, it allowed the external work to be shaped directly and explicitly by the internal work that is still fresh. second, it also gave me/us more time to think concretely about how to be different in the world.

so in hindsight, i so appreciate the way gibrán structured the five days. the internal work directly supported the external work. and the drive towards external work helped solidify the internal progress made.

+1. will be thinking about how to incorporate the same type of thinking into my work (maybe even as soon as the upcoming storytelling for social change workshop i’m teaching in august)…