Be the Course: calling women to lead with water

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“Who will fetch the water?

What will be its course?

Who will call the rain?

I will fetch the water.

I will be the course.

I will call the rain.”

- select lyrics from “The Course” by Ayla Nereo

This offering best serves those who: 

• feel uncertain, inadequate, or ineffective in their ability to lead well at work
• crave a well-defined and highly-supportive space in which to explore power and leadership with courage and curiosity
• are ready to be challenged to further cultivate their inner knowing and resources
• long to embody clarity, integrity and vitality in their professional lives

Be the Course: calling women to lead with water provides professional coaching to emerging and transitional women in leadership so they can embody clarity, integrity, and vitality in their professional lives. 

In Be the Course: calling women to lead with water, Coach and Coachee collaborate to:

• Identify themes, patterns, and behaviors that are sources of stress and strength and map their impact on resources and capacity
• Claim values and clarify a vision for the future 
• Create a holistic restorative action plan 
• Discover, practice, and reflect on new skills and strategies
• Meet and respond to obstacles that emerge along the way
• Celebrate milestones and foster accountability to keep momentum going over time 

What does it mean to “lead with water”?

Leading with water is about moving away from a finite, fear-based, “power over” model of leadership and turning toward more expansive, connection–based, “power with” and “power to” models.[1] To this end, the Be the Course: calling women to lead with water program intentionally utilizes holistic, creative, and restorative practices to give the Coachee the tools and skills needed to orient and root into “power with” and “power to” models. Specifically:

• Our holistic approach invites the Coachee to tap into the entire spectrum of knowledge and experience within themselves and in others – considering physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs and constraints, which can invite greater inclusion, diversity, and integration into projects and decision-making. 
• Creative practices stimulate right-brain thinking and naturally build space for reflection and non-linear processing into project lifecycles, which can increase access to out-of-the-box ideas and reduce experiences of burnout. 
• Lastly, restorative practices build relationships and community and repair harm, which can lead to increased productivity, confidence, trust and engagement within individuals and teams over time.

Process and Timeline

Be the Course, calling women to lead with water is a three or six month program that includes:

• twelve 75-minute video conference and/or in-person meetings, including: deep listening and reflection; assessment, visioning, action-planning and implementation support; guided meditations, visualizations, and grounding practices; and a guided visual arts activity, all materials included
• summary emails following each meeting
• individualized support materials emailed between meetings that may include: recommendations for reading or listening ( i.e., articles, podcasts, books, songs, poems); expressive arts activities (i.e., journaling prompts, meditation/movement practices, visual arts activities)
• handwritten and electronic versions of the restorative action plan
• ad hoc email and/or phone check-ins as needed

Those choosing the three month program have weekly meetings, those choosing the six month program have bi-weekly (every other week) meetings. 

An outline of the full program schedule is detailed below. Note: this schedule may be modified to better meet the specific needs and pacing of each individual client.

Part   I: Assessment

• Meeting 1 - Identify themes, patterns, and   behaviors that are sources of stress and strengthen and choose one to focus   on
• Meeting 2 - Map the theme, pattern or behavior chosen in Meeting 1, telling its story and focusing on how it currently impacts your resources and capacity at work

Part   II: Action Planning

• Meetings 3-6 - Define your current reality, vision for the future, and desired action steps in each of the following areas of your professional life: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual (one meeting   for each area) 
• Meeting 7 - Integrate work from meetings 1-6 with a guided visual arts activity

Part   III: Implementation

• Meetings 8-11 - Implementation support for each of the four areas of your holistic, restorative action plan (one meeting for each area)

Part   IV: Completion

• Meeting 12 - Integrate work from meetings 1-11,  co-designed celebration/closing activity, discussion of next steps

Clients may continue beyond the initial three or six month cycle with additional three or six month program cycles to address more themes, patterns and behaviors, though a two to four week break in between program cycles is recommended.

[1]Brenebrown.com/daretolead