SPIRAL Journeys through SPHERES 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.

In early December, I had an insight to help me visualize "Spiral Paths of Learning."

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.

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

In each successive spiral, sometimes 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.

Here is my initial draft of transforming Course 1 to become Sphere 1 with three defined spirals:

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

Part 1: FOUNDATIONS

• How am I Showing Up as a Leader

  • Enhancing Self-Awareness & Self-Responsibility

  • Foundational skills of Needs-Based Communication

• FOCUS on the Needs of the "I"; Introduction to the Needs of the "You"

• Goals of the first three spirals of Sphere 1: 

  • Skills and capacity to begin to engage in real-time connected conversations

  • Awareness and skills to begin to own your reactions, feelings, needs and choices

• Spirals within Sphere 1 based on Course 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

Summary of the first three spirals of Sphere 1

SPIRAL 1: Basic understanding of the key concepts, framework and structure of NBC (Course 1)

• 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 (Course 1)

• 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 (Course 1)

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

And here is an outline of Part 2 of Sphere 1, still part of learning the Language of Conscious Leadership:

Part 2: CONSCIOUS CONVERSATIONS

• Engaging in the conversations that matter

• FOCUS on the Needs of the “I” and the “You”; Introduction to the Needs of the “We”

• GOALS:

  • Increasing ease to engage in the real-time dance of connected conversations, including the willingness to engage in intense or uncomfortable conversations

  • Confidence in being an empathic listener

  • Deepening self-awareness and self-responsibility

SPIRAL 4: Moving Beyond Rewards & Punishment: Valuing What Matters .. Your People & the Collective Whole (Course 2)

SPIRAL 5: Catalyzing Connection in Challenging Situations (Course 3)

Finally, here is the outline of Sphere 2 which focuses on cultural and structural transformations typically within workplace settings:

Sphere 2: Building the Conscious Team and Conscious Organization

• Structures and processes that enable and enliven Conscious Groups, Teams & Organizations

• FOCUS on the Needs of the “We”

SPIRAL 1: Conscious Leadership Structures: Building Conscious Teams (Course 4)

SPIRAL 2: Conscious Organizational Structure: Introducing & Activating Teams into the Sociocratic Circle Method (SCM) (Course 5)

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