Hack:
Transformational Leadership Coaching: Empowering people and their organizations to reach full potential

Here are a couple of exercises that can easily be tested out in the board room:

1. Imagine a situation where a leadership team is going back and forth on whether they should launch a new product. There are many different points of view and conflicting data sources that make the decision far from obvious. In this kind of situation it can be very powerful to disengage with the topic on a rational level, take a few deep breaths and experience the challenge at a more intuitive level. One way to do that could be to invite the energy of the customer into the room and to ask it a simple question such as: "Dear customer, in what way will this new product truly benefit you"? Now let the team sit there in complete silence and simply ask them to notice any guidance they are getting without judging it in any way. After being present with this energy for a couple of minutes ask them to de-brief as a team. Guaranteed there will be shifts in perspectives and a new sense of “knowing” will arise. By the way this is also a very powerful exercise to bring a team closer together and closer to the customer

2. Imagine now a situation in which an individual feels they are not being treated fairly. Perhaps their proposal was not given sufficient attention or their colleague received credit that should have gone to them…A typical response to such a circumstance could be to complain (stay in the drama) or try to reverse it (point out the wrong doing and attempt to fix it). This way of dealing with the situation, however, rarely leads to satisfactory outcomes. There is another approach, however, that can be much more effective. When we realize that in every challenge lies a gift, something new to learn, an opportunity to respond from a more soulful place we immediately shift the energy and start seeing the situation from a different point of view. Perhaps we realize that, in the midst of worrying about receiving the reward for our work, we have missed seeing all the good work from the people around us. We recognize that to receive we first need to give.

3. Finally, imagine a situation where an organization feels stuck and can’t see beyond its current reality. The following exercise can be a very powerful way to help with vision setting and create an action plan that flows from the future potential (where everything is possible) rather than from the more limited current reality. For this to work the team needs to be in a quiet, meditative space where they can let go of all the constraints that make up their current reality. The facilitator then takes them through a visualization exercise that transports them into the future (perhaps to a year end celebration event a couple of years down the road). They are then asked to experience this event (where is it, what is happening, who is there, what are they celebrating, what is the most important message in the keynote speech, etc…). All this time they are just noticing how it feels and paying attention to the images and messages they are receiving. The facilitator then downloads all the information that was received and repeats the exercise at a couple other points in time between now and the final celebration. This will give more and more clarity on the greater potential of the organization and the different milestones along the way. Another huge benefit of this approach is that people actually feel they have experienced the future and as a result it becomes more real and there is a shared sense of commitment to it