Spheres & Spirals of Learning within the Conscious Leader Program

I have struggled to find a metaphor that reflects the intended journey of development within the Conscious Leader Program. 

Unlike many leader development programs, it is non-linear. The core of the program is about using Needs-Based Communication (NBC/NVC) to move beyond our prior conditioning, to awaken new awarenesses, and to activate our somatic being — none of which are prescriptive or even directly teachable. You cannot be taught what you do not see. I know. I have tried. You can, however, create an environment including activities where new awarenesses are likely to reveal themselves. That is the intention of the Conscious Leader Program.

Rather than being a linear march through the content (e.g. course 1, course 2, etc.), it is an exploration of the content from an ever deepening consciousness. The content itself is often simple, but the effective understanding and application of the content requires a shift in consciousness.

For instance, without a shift in consciousness, NBC/NVC may be mechanical and lifeless. There becomes a right and a wrong way to do it. It becomes a tool to get my own needs met, or to try to get other people to show up the way I want them to. Without a shift in consciousness, “empathy” can be used as a tool of manipulation, e.g. to get people to buy the product you want to sell them.

An insight in the middle of the night

In early December, I had a couple of experiences that led to a vivid insight that helped me visualize this unique journey within the CLP. I captured these experiences in my personal journal on Dec 4:

I had a middle-of-the-night email conversation that led to an amazing clarity about how to hold and communicate the spirals of learning within the Conscious Leader Program. Nithya from India has enrolled in the Winter Cohort to take Course 4. Her assumption was that since Course 1 is being taught in the Winter Cohort, then Course 4 must be happening some months into the future. She assumed that the program involved Course 1 being taught, then Course 2, etc.  Which is, in fact, the way that most programs work.  But not the Conscious Leader Program. I have been hesitant to use words like “Course” or “Program” — especially the numbering of courses, e.g. Course 1, Course 2 — because of the implications and baggage of those terms. But I hadn’t come up with anything better, except to talk about “spirals of learning.” In Nithya’s example, somehow the words I used within the cohort description and on the web site were either not read or not understood in the way I had intended. Another prior event was likely also a factor in this new insight. Yesterday during the Opening Session of the Winter Cohort, I described that we would have Course 1 and Course 4 happening concurrently, meeting together as much as feasible, but also moving into separate break out rooms when necessary. The intention of the multi-level learning is that it supports the learning for everyone involved to be in the space where it is all happening together. Liz, who is doing another spiral of Course 1, asked if she could also get Course 4 so that she would better understand what was going on.  That stimulated an “ah-ha” for me, and I committed to sharing both Course 1 and Course 4 with all participants of the Winter Cohort. And I was struck by a “YES!” That is it, let’s swim in a space where the participants have full access to the learning that is going on around them.  This is what started the shift. After I interacted with Nithya last night, my body began to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction as I was sitting up in bed. As I “let come” what was emerging in me, I realized it was a vortex of consciousness that starts as a single point that begins to swirl around that point with whatever one is focused on and engaging with. Consciousness expands both through the infinite “orbits” within a single spherical shell and through the expansion of the sphere into an infinite set of spheres each having an infinite set of “orbits.” In the Conscious Leader journey, the expanding sphere reflects the expanding consciousness of needs, from the “I” ... to the multitudes of “YOU”s ... to the multitude of “WE”s. The expanding orbits within a sphere reflect the CONCEPTS, SOMATIC EXPERIENCES, PRACTICE, and COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT within that sphere. All of this expansion represents the intended SPIRALS of LEARNING. Then what emerged in me was a flow that resembled the sign for infinity: a counter-clockwise flow in a circle on the left flowing into a clockwise flow in the circle on the right. I realized that these two circles are the yin/yang of reality. In the Conscious Leader journey, I sensed them as FIERCE connectedness in the COUNTER-CLOCKWISE CIRCLE on the left, and GENTLE connectedness in the CLOCKWISE CIRCLE on the right. Sometimes spiraling within a circle and sometimes spiraling between circles. But always a dynamic, living flow. And the metaphor expanded from circles to spheres.  The way into this pool of consciousness is through CONNECTION. Connection to NEEDS of Life. NEEDS of human beings. Connection to the needs of the “I”, the multitude of “YOU”s and the multitude of “WE”s. Connection to our somatic experience, which is where NEEDS live, along with FEELINGS and BODY SENSATIONS. Connection to the SYSTEMIC NATURE of Life. Holding Life as Whole.  A conscious leader thrives in uncertainty, entering the space through CONNECTION. In the fullness of connection, there is an EMERGENT CLARITY that was not visible to anyone before the connection. And in that clarity is the way forward. The “work” is in creating the depth of connection. The way forward simply emerges.

Introducing “SPHERES of learning” rather than “Courses”

And so I am choosing to use the metaphor of "Spheres of Learning" to restructure the "Courses" within the Conscious Leader Program. Here is my initial draft of transforming Course 1 to become Sphere 1:

Sphere 1: The Language of Conscious Leadership: Needs-Based Communication

• How am I Showing Up as a Leader

• Enhancing Self-Awareness & Self-Responsibility

• Goal of the first three spirals of Sphere 1: 

  • To have the capacity and skills to engage in connecting conversations in real-time using Needs-Based Communication.

• Spirals within Sphere 1

  • Spiral 1: Basic understanding of the key concepts, framework and structure of NBC

  • Spiral 2: Practice and deepening understanding of foundational skill sets

  • Spiral 3: Practice of NBC conversations

Movement through a SPHERE of learning is a series of spirals vs. a simple linear progression.

In each successive spiral, using essentially the same content, there is a new focus, an expanded set of activities, and a new “you” expanded by the previous spiral.

The speed with which you move through the spirals is based on you, e.g. your prior experience and your quality of engagement in the program. Typically, for new students of NBC, each spiral takes at least one 13-week term.

Summary of the first three spirals of Sphere 1

Spiral 1: Basic understanding of the key concepts, framework and structure of NBC

• Primary Focus: self-connection and self-responsibility

• NBC Language Skills focus: 

  • NBC vocabulary (esp. body sensations, feelings, needs)

  • NBC basic sentence structure 

  • Differentiating OFNR: Observations (vs. evaluations), Feelings (vs. thoughts), Needs (vs. strategies), Requests (vs. demands)

  • Self-Empathy process

    • Recognizing reactivity in ourselves

• NBC Key Concepts: 

  • Conceptual understanding of 4 Parts of NBC (OFNR); 4 Core Skills Sets; Conscious Response vs. Unconscious Reaction; Self-Compassion; Self-Responsibility

  • Intention: to connect (vs. to be right) 

    • “Connect First!”

  • Attention: on the present moment (vs. thoughts of past or future)

    • “Human connection only happens in the present moment”

• NBC Framework: 

  • 5 Chairs of Unconscious Reaction and Conscious Response

• Activity Worksheets: 

  • Use as a tool to process personal reactivity and move toward connection with self and others

• Role in Cohort: 

  • Engaged participant

  • Engage with CLP community in discussion forum, etc

Spiral 2: Practice and deepening understanding of foundational skill sets

• Primary Focus: initial steps into connecting conversations using NBC

• NBC Language Skills focus:

  • Creating NBC sentences

    • Authentic Expression process

    • Empathic Listening process

  • Practice in initiating conversations in NBC

  • Ongoing practice of self-empathy process as a precursor to NBC expressions

  • Empathic listening as support

• Activity Worksheets: 

  • Ease in using the full set of worksheets 1-4 to process situations & personal reactivity

• Role in Cohort: 

  • Engaged participant

  • Engage with CLP community in discussion forum, etc

  • Live demo of activity worksheet(s)

  • Live demo of initiating conversations using activity worksheets 1-4 as a guide

Spiral 3: Practice of NBC conversations

Primary Focus: role plays of conversations using NBC

• NBC Language Skills focus:

  • Engaging in NBC conversations

    • Bringing the core skills together

    • Building the muscles and skills of NBC conversations

  • Self-Compassion process

  • Empathic listening as a practice

  • Exploring personal patterns of reactivity and core limiting beliefs

  • Optional new elements:

    • Deficit of the need vs. Beauty of the need

    • Expressing & receiving gratitude

    • Making choices through needs

• Activity Worksheets: 

  • Use as preparation for role plays

• Role in Cohort: 

  • Engaged participant

  • Engage with CLP community in discussion forum, etc

  • Practice empathic listening with cohort members, integration buddy

  • Live demo of activity worksheet(s)

  • Live demo of role play

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I welcome your feedback and comments on this way of understanding the learning journey within Sphere 1 of the Conscious Leader Program …