What is the aim of the exercise?

The goal of this exercise is to gain awareness about your reason for being and the contribution you would like to make to the world.

In what context is this exercise useful?

This exercise is tailored to individuals that wishes to be more conscious about his/her deeper self, aspirations and what is driving you in life.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Online / Onsite: Both

Workshop time: 1 hour

Ideal group size: Can easily accommodate up to 50 people

Contact of Workshop Developer:

Leuridan Vladimir Leuridan.vladimi@gmail.com

Equipment and tools needed:

• Paper

• Pen

• Music

• Board or slides/miro/chat to expose instructions

• Facilitator needs this guide

• Online or Onsite Room to run the session

Activity & Format

Time

Instructions

Facilitation Notes

Check-in and Session Introduction

10 min

• Introduction of facilitators and participants if needed

• Present today’s topic and agenda

• Check-in on participants mood, expectations, or other. You can suggest a check-in question as “In one sentence, how are you arriving today?”

Start with answering the check-in question by yourself and then hand the word over to someone else, allowing everyone to share. Nice start for hearing all the voices in the room.

Topic introduction

5 min

• Start creating the space for the reflections and conversations of today: you can highlight that many people are not necessarily used to creating space for reflection and personal development. Ask the audience to think when was the last time you took time to reflect about your life? Comment about the importance of these reflections for leadership, happiness and to create a positive impact in the world.

• Introduce the topic of Why statement: explain that the topic was developed by Simon Sinek who is a recognized coach among the community and brought up the theory of the Golden Circle.

• Make the point that starting with your why is a very powerful way of inducing movement in your life and act upon purpose.

• Explain that today we will use one exercise to find your personal why statement.

Check Simon Sinek and his Theory of the Golden Circle.

Learn about Why Statements.

Explaining the exercise instructions

5min

• Ask them to get a paper and a pen.

• Present 2 suggestions of how a why statement is written with examples:

Suggestion 1 - I want to {your contribution} so that {impact statement}

o Example: to empower and educate everyone so that they can improve their lives and achieve their goals.

o To inspire people to do the things that inspire them so that, together, we can change our world.

Suggestion 2 - I am the {metaphor} so that people {impact statement}

o Example: I am the magician/ lighthouse/ dynamite/ alarm clock that...

o Example:I am the lighthouse that guides people to their dreams; I am the dynamite that transforms people’s lives.

oThe metaphor can also be an action: I wake people up/ I explode the lies/ I uncover the inner truth/ I call people home

• Tell them this can also take the shape of a piece of music... Call their creativity!

• Explain the attention points of the why statement. Those are the last important notes before giving them the necessary space to embark in their personal reflection:

o Remind them they are only about to start this journey into their why statement, therefore they won’t necessarily find the exact wording in the given amount of time.

o The idea is only to find something on which they can start working with for the next months, not a final statement.

o The why statement should be as specific as to differentiate whether they are on purpose or not when making a decision – apply for a job, choose between different holidays etc.

o A why statement can be flowery, grandiose, corny – they are only there to help! - It can be something that won’t necessarily be achieved in a lifetime! It should only give you the motivation and power to act in the next few years.

Ask if they have any doubts before starting their individual reflections.

Invite participants to take a space in the room where they feel comfortable.

Better to do the exercise in silence so they can understand what the facilitator is saying.

You can write the 2 suggestions in a board (if onsite) or in a slide/miro/chat (if online) for a better visualization while you explain. Make it beautiful!

Individual reflection time

20 min

• Instruct them to reflect and do the exercise individually in silence. Remember to share the time they have for doing it.

Better to do the exercise in silence and have soft, instrumental and inspirational music playing in the background.

This step can last from 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the facilitator. You can ask how the group is doing after some time and ask if they need more time. To me the longer the better as it is a very privileged moment to be with oneself and it generally takes a bit of time to get into the right mood.

Break

5 min

• Give them a break to have water, stretch, go to the bathroom and to prepare for the group discussion or presentations (if you chosen this facilitation option).

Group debrief/Plenary discussion

10 min

• Gather participants back, and facilitate the discussion into the feeling/ sharing/ impression of the participant journey.

• You can first ask them how they feel about their reflection time; what were the insights and then ask people who feel comfortable to share their why statements.

• Don’t forget at the end to ask what were the key take-aways from the session.

Another option if the group is small or if you have time enough is to ask everyone to share their why statements in front of the group. This can be a powerful activity of ownership of your why. Make sure to share during the instructions that they will have to share with the group at the end. So they are prepared.

Check-out

5 min

• Provide logistical info about next planned workshop (if any) or any necessary announcement

• Check-out suggestion if small group: Get each person to say what they are leaving with from this session.

• Thanking people for joining and closing the session.

You can provide a document or in your preferred way the opportunity for them to provide feedback from this session.

Check beforehand Simon Sinek’s Theory of the Golden Circle.

In my view it is not necessary to take more than 5minutes to go around the theory nor to show the multitude of videos that explain the theory – check out Youtube – because videos available focus on the corporate aspect – vs the individual aspect - of the Why statement. It can of course be wise to watch them for yourself as some examples may be used to display during the session.

Keep in mind it might be the 1st time participants think about their purpose in life and that it is already an advanced exercise. Prepare yourself beforehand by for example meditating and being ready to give all your love & empathy. Focus on the present moment, speak slowly and clearly, breathe a lot and smile.

Also try to make it personal and explain how it helped you down the road!

https://simonsinek.com/find-your-why/

There is the website startwithwhy.com that gives you some material. Personally I watched the video on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA&t=656s. Half the video is enough to remind you.

What is the aim of the exercise?

This exercise is about the beliefs about us and the world that we first received.

In what context is this exercise useful?

Improving understanding of our beliefs, that shape our values, our thinking, emotions, behaviours and results.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Online / Onsite: Both

Workshop time: 1 hour

Ideal group size: Can easily accommodate up to 50 people

Contact of Workshop Developer: mathieu.shanks@gmail.com

Equipment and tools needed:

• Paper

• Pen

• Facilitator needs this guide

Activity & Format

Time

Instructions

Facilitation Notes

Check-In...

10 min

• Introduction of facilitators

• Present agenda

• If a small group, check-in on participants mood, expectations, or other.

Start with answering the check-in question by yourself and let everyone share and then hand the word over to someone else.

Topic introduction and instructions

5 min

• What are beliefs

• Why are they important - how they influence our actions and life

• Explain about values exercise (give link to participants)

Check the behavioural iceberg for inspiration. Talk about the link between beliefs and values if you have not done before the values exercise with this audience.

Exploring beliefs - Part one

12 min

• On their paper, they need to draw a line in the middle to split the paper in two columns.

• It is going to be regular questions to different items – what was the first message you recall receiving in your life? It may have been explicit or implicit. It may have been in the atmosphere where you were growing. It doesn't matter how you got it, but what was the first message that you received on the different topics.

• In the beginning it may seem a bit weird to you, but you will find the exercise when you will have heard 1 or 2 of the words.

• It is going to be fast, because I want you to react intuitively, spontaneously; don't overthink it, just write down the first things that come to your mind.

We are going to start with one example, so you know what is going to happen. You start with the first column on the left.

Questions to ask participants and first example:

1. What was the first interpretation, the first message that you received early in life about family? What was the message that you received about what it is to be a family? Please explore that for a little while. Take a few notes before I give you other topics.

What was the first interpretation, the first message that you received early in life about…

1. ...what your gender is?

2. …what work is?

3. Education?

4. Success?

5. Emotions?

6. Money?

7. Leadership?

8. Failure

9. culture

10. Sustainability

11. Criticism

12. Responsibility

13. Obligation

14. Self confidence

15. friends/relationships

16. Pride

17. Health of the body

18. Reason of existence

Invite participants to take a space in the room where they feel comfortable.

Better to do the exercise in silence so they can understand what the facilitator is saying.

For each question, you should give about 30 seconds after phrasing.

Exploring beliefs - Part two

12 min

Now I want you to think about today and how you would interpret these words from today's perspective. So I will go through every word with you again.

Go through the words of part one again…

1. What is your current interpretation of family?

2. On your gender?

3. And so on...

Better to do the exercise in silence so they can understand what the facilitator is saying.

For each question, you should give about 30 seconds after phrasing.

Individual reflection time

5 min

Now that participants have written down their beliefs about the various words, allow them some time to reflect on what they wrote.

Some questions to guide this process:

• Can you notice some differences between your two columns? Have they changed? How?

• Are these beliefs connected to your values? How?

Group discussion

12 min

Group participants in groups of 3 people and ask them to share about the following:

• Discuss how your beliefs changed, what you noticed during the exercise, what caught your attention about those messages?

• When you think about your first interpretations, where did they come from?

• Was there anything that got revealed for you doing this exercise?

Check-out

4 min

• Provide logistical info about next planned workshop (if any)

• Check-out suggestion if small group: Get each person to say how they feel in one word after this workshop

• Thank people for joining

You can also have a final debrief with the whole plenary (around 15 min) before the check-out to hear from the smaller groups their main takeaways.

Iceberg Model: https://files.ascd.org/staticfiles/ascd/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el200910_kohm_iceberg.pdf

What is the aim of the exercise?

To further one’s understanding of his or her values. This allows a better understanding of one’s self, thus facilitating alignment, life decisions and providing strong fundamental values to grow as a leader.

In what context is this exercise useful?

​This is useful both for individuals and groups.

Preparation time: unknown for facilitator, about 15 minutes for participants (filling values test) Workshop time: 90 mins (one hour and a half) Ideal group size: about 12, but scaleable for more Contact of Workshop Developer: mathieu.shanks@gmail.com

Equipment and tools needed: If digital, Zoom with breakout rooms. If physical, you need a room, pen and paper. Some way to play focus music.

Activity & Format

Time

Instructions

Facilitation Notes

Intro & check-In

10 min

• Introduction of facilitators

• Present agenda

• Check-in on participants mood, expectations, or other.

Start with answering the check-in question by yourself and let everyone share and then hand the word over to someone else

Topic introduction and instructions

5 min

• What are values

• Why are they important

• Explain about values exercise (give link to participants)

Values exercise

10 minutes

• Invite participants to do the value tree exercise

• Once done, they can start thinking about their values

If possible, ask participants to do this exercise before meeting. I added the task here, as there’s often at least one person that didn’t do it…

While people work individually, I suggest you play some background music. Ideally some ‘focus’ music.

Elaborating on values

20 minutes

• Ask each participant to reflect upon their results and select their ‘top 5’ values that came out of the test (no specific order required)

For each of the 5, ask participants to reflect deeper about these values, following questions can help:

• Why is this value important to me?

• How does each value concretise itself in my life?

• Linking to an important life decision they made, how do such values express themselves? Optimally, participants should think about a decision they are satisfied with and one that they are dissatisfied with.

• Time allowing: comparing the two important life decisions, or an important life decision to come, how do such values ‘score’ according to this decision (e.g., score on 10) and why?

Before allowing them to dive deeper in this task, ask if there are any questions and if the task is well understood.

To help guide participants, the facilitator(s) should do the exercise before the workshop and prepare answers to the suggested questions. The aim is to provide an example / ideas for the participants when they proceed with the exercise.

While people work individually, I suggest you play some background music. Ideally some ‘focus’ music.

BREAK

10 mins

Invite people to move, get some water, toilet, etc.

Can be used as extra time for participants to reflect further individually

Discussing values in small groups / small circles

20 mins

• Divide participants in groups of 2 people

• Invite participants to discuss about their values and the elaboration part they reflected upon

The following questions can help participants to discuss:

• What values did the test come up with?

• Do you agree with such results, what do you feel about them?

• How do you live such values in your life? Provide an example for at least one of them.

Before allowing them to dive deeper in this task, ask if there are any questions and if the task is well understood.

Facilitators should hover around the different groups, entering their breakout room or circle to make sure everything is okay. Answer unforseen questions.

Discussing values all together in the main room / circle.

10 mins

• Invite each groups to share their key takeaways from their discussion (ideally one person per group speaks up, and others can jump in if they want to add something)

To break the ice if no one is jumping in, you can make an observation that you perceived from visiting the group during breakouts.

Check-out

5 mins

• Debrief the exercise, recall of importance of values

• Provide logistical info about next planned workshop (if any)

• Check-out suggestion: Get each person to say how they feel in one word after this workshop

• Thank people for joining

• SelfLeaders Exercise: https://app.selfleaders.com/

• For inspiration and advanced value use: https://scottjeffrey.com/personal-core-values/

What is the aim of the exercise?

This exercise aims to allow participants to take some time to review their own life and create a timeline for it. As they proceed through the exercise and share, participants reflect on the ‘most important’ events of their life and how these impacted their journey thereby connecting the dots.

In what context is this exercise useful?

This exercise can be useful to improve one’s understanding of how her/his life impacts the decisions made, it can help to understand behavioral patterns, improving understanding how things connect together and enhance storytelling abilities. Importantly, it can be highly beneficial to understand other’s, create a strong bonding situation, enhance collaboration and team performance.

Preparation time: +/- 1-1h30 hour (all)

Workshop time: 10 min + (20 min / participant)

Ideal group size: 3-6 people

Contact of Workshop Developer:

mathieu.shanks@gmail.com

This workshop was developed by multiple LEAP advanced coaches and formatted in this template by Mathieu.

Equipment and tools needed:

• Papers

• Pens

• Thinking / focus music

• Something to play music (e.g., speakers, laptop)

Activity & Format

Time

Instructions

Facilitation Notes

*Can be done before workshop starts by all participants*

Lifelining: Introduction

20 min

Introduction: Steve Jobs speech https://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die

Every person has story:

• What is your story and how you connect the dots until now?

• In this session we want to get insights on defining moments in your life.

• We want to create understanding about where you come from and where you are now.

Steve Job says:

• you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

Today will try to look backwards at our lives and experiences and try to connect the dots.

This exercise is a creative process for you to capture the key moments in your life. This self-reflection exercise can be useful to review your personal history and reflect upon where you have been and where you might be going. This Lifeline Exercise can help you capture significant events in your life and may enable you to create a more integrated view of your life journey.

Patterns may emerge that help you understand yourself better. The lifeline exercise is a tool for exploring who you are, what you’ve done and how you got to where you are today

*Can be done before workshop starts by all participants*

Lifelining: Who am I – Individual Reflection

60 min (or more)

Start by getting a sheet of paper and creating a list of key moments, events, accomplishments, obstacles, and celebrations that are important. As you detail your timeline, don’t hesitate to add other important events that come up (not everything listed needs to be lifechanging events).

Make a timeline that begins with birth and ends today. Note the events on your timeline with a brief description. You determine if the events get added to your sheet above the timeline, on the timeline or below the timeline depending on whether the event was happy, neutral, or challenging for you.

Every participant takes 45 minutes to write/represent their story. And about 15 minutes to reflect on the following questions:

• Step back and look at the entire picture of your life.

• Are there patterns that you observed as you review your lifeline?

• What do you notice about your lifeline and the events that are significant for you?

• What these events have in common?

• How are they different?

• What are the successes (above the line) and challenges (bellow the line)?

To be shared: This exercise is done individually, this means “done by yourself”

Reflection is not just thinking… it is head, heart, gut, and body.

Find your own spot and take your time.

Think back on defining moments of your life, moments of joy and fun, but also painful and emotional moments.

Write the highs and lows in your journal.

Make a graph of your life moments and connect the dots.

Horizontal line = time

Vertical line = happiness/fulfillment.

Start of workshop with participants

This is where the sharing among participants starts.

Check-In...

5 min

• Introduction of facilitators

• Present agenda

• If a small group, check-in on participants mood, expectations, or other.

• Get people to ‘arrive’ in the space. This will be a highly introspective session and participants will need full presence. Ask them to get comfortable, turn off any distractions. Take 3 deep breaths.

Start with answering the check-in question by yourself and let everyone share and then hand the word over to someone else.

Suggestion: in a few words, did you find the individual exercise easy, moderate, or difficult?

Lifelining: Who am I – Sharing/Personal Illustration

20 min

The facilitator shares its own story, create an atmosphere of trust.

• Create the right atmosphere

• Create an environment of trust

Lifelining: Who am I – Sharing Participants

20 min / participant

Each participants share their lifeline. Meanwhile others listen without interrupting.

Some ground rules:

• Make it personal: speak from yourself and from the self (I think… I feel and etc.)

• Share what you wish to share

• Be present

• Listen

• Do not judge

• Do not compare lifelines. Simply appreciate peers for sharing their stories.

• No discussion (Questions only for clarification)

• What’s being shared here stays here

• Silence is part of sharing

Ideally do outside if possible.

Allow participants to share their lifeline when they are ready to share.

Tell participants that there is no right or wrong. That every life story is unique. Therefore, the are no good, better or bad lifelines. Only different people with different stories.

Check-out

5 min

• Debrief activity, ask them if they enjoyed it, gather quick feedback.

• Provide logistical info about next planned workshop (if any)

• Check-out suggestion if small group: Get each person to say how they feel in one word after this workshop.

• Thank people for joining. Invite people to retry this exercise at home and see if they get different results.

General facilitation note : This exercise can be done partially by participants alone at home, or all together. If the latter is selected, you will need a beamer, video player (e.g., laptop) and sound system to play the Steve Jobs intro video. The advantage of doing it at home is that it allows participants to take more time to reflect. Alternatively, maybe some won’t take as much time.

• Steve Jobs speech https://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die

What is the aim of the exercise?

Discovering what we fundamentally, really love. This is part of the Ikigai and will be a useful component to explore in its completion.

In what context is this exercise useful?

By understanding better what we love, we can adapt our activities accordingly and find the sweet spot of the Ikigai.

Preparation time: 15 min, if only reading all content of workshop and preparing for it. Alternatively, about 90 minutes, as ideally, facilitator should do this exercise before workshop to provide examples.

Workshop time: 90 minutes

Ideal group size: Mostly individual exercises, size does not matter so much. Maybe keep it relatively small.

Contact of Workshop Developer: mathieu.shanks@gmail.com

Equipment and tools needed:

• Papers

• Pens

• Thinking / focus music

• Something to play music (e.g., speakers, laptop)

Activity & Format

Time

Instructions

Facilitation Notes

Check-In

5 min

• Introduction of facilitators

• Present agenda

• If a small group, check-in on participants mood, expectations, or other.

• Get people to ‘arrive’ in the space. This will be a highly introspective session and participants will need full presence. Ask them to get comfortable, turn off any distractions. Take 3 deep breaths.

Start with answering the check-in question by yourself and let everyone share and then hand the word over to someone else.

Introspective discovery of ‘what I love’ – Natural inclinations

30 min

• Explain what are ‘natural inclinations’ with the description provided below

For this exercise, participants will need a pen and paper to write down what’s going through their mind.

They should think about themselves as a child between ages of 4-8 years old. Ask them to close their eyes. They should write their thoughts as they come.

• Imagine your younger self. Where are you? It could be at home, outside, in the school yard...

• What are you doing?

Go through the following, give about 5 minutes between asking the following question:

• What were you naturally drawn to?

• What did you enjoy doing most?

• What did you like most about those things?

• Were there things you liked to do that others didn't like to do as much?

• What made you different?

While people are thinking and writing, I suggest playing some calm focus music.

Introspective discovery of ‘what I love’ – Flow state and peak experiences

25 min

• Explain what the ‘state of flow’ is and ‘peak experiences’.

For this exercise, participants must think about a peak experience they have lived and situations where they experience a ‘state of flow’. Give about 2-3 minutes between each question to allow time for participants to think and write.

Ask them the following (peak experience):

• Think back at what you could describe as one/the best moment in your life.

• Why was this moment so good?

• What did you do to get to that moment / that achievement?

• What did you enjoy most of the process to get there and of the specific moment?

Ask them the following (flow state):

• What do you like doing the most in your free time and at work/studies?

• Think about a moment where you are ‘in the zone’ or in the ‘flow’.

• What characterizes this situation?

• What do you love the most about this situation?

While people are thinking and writing, I suggest playing some calm focus music.

Connecting the dots

15 min

Ask participants to take the following 15 minutes to look back at what they wrote.

• Can they see patterns between the written information?

• What are the main similarities and differences between their younger self, their peak experience, flow state and now?

• Can they group the components of what they love in 5-10 main categories? (e.g., helping people, organizing things, communicating with people, performing a sport or an art, working on a specific task, etc.)

Give about 5 minutes for each question.

While people are thinking and writing, I suggest playing some calm focus music.

Sharing with a peer

10 min

Ask participants to group in pairs and discuss their findings.

• What results did they get?

• What patterns did they find?

• What stands out the most?

Participants have about 5 minutes each to share with the other

Check-out

5 min

• Debrief activity, ask them if they enjoyed it, gather quick feedback.

• Provide logistical info about next planned workshop (if any)

• Check-out suggestion if small group: Get each person to say how they feel in one word after this workshop

• Thank people for joining. Invite people to retry this exercise at home and see if they get different results.

Listen to the inventor of the concept here: https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_flow_the_secret_to_happiness

What is the aim of the exercise?

This exercise aims to generate a better understanding of what are moods and how to navigate them

In what context is this exercise useful?

This exercise can be useful to learn how to change one’s mood. Ideally from a negative one to a positive mood.

Activity & Format

Time

Instructions

Facilitation Notes

Check-In

5 min

• Introduction of facilitators

• Present agenda

• Check-in question: In what mood are you right now?

Start with answering the check-in question. Write down their answers.

Topic introduction and sharing

20 min

Explain difference between emotions and moods.

Emotions are in constant flux, they tend to be lived right here, right now and not necessarily last a long time.

Moods are more medium to long-term. They tend to stick for many days in a row. It can sometimes be difficult to change your mood. Moods are more similar to a mindset.

Breakout group questions:

• Ask participants to share what they think is mood management?

• Why is mood management important?

Split participants in groups of 4 people. Give them 10 minutes to talk.

Then regroup all together for 5-10 minutes and discuss main takeaways from each group.

Exercise: positivity

10 min

Ask participants to take a sheet of paper and a pen.

Task 1: Ask participants to make a list of all the positive things that are happening or that they have in their lives. These should also include relatively basic and granular things, such as having abundance of food, eating something specific that they like, enjoying coffee or tea in the morning, having friends, family, being healthy, etc. They should focus on the positive things that are happening in your life.

Task 2: See the flip side of the coin. Ask participants to think about something that is not going well in their lives (can be something happening currently, or that happened recently).

• What are the negative aspects of this situation or thing?

• What is the flip side of the coin? What may be the positive things relating or coming out of such a situation? These can be subtle, small or seemingly irrelevant. Ask participants to write all of them (even potential or unclear ones).

Allow 5 minutes for each task (list of positive things & flip side of coin)

Play some focus music while participants reflect individually.

Group sharing

10 min

Split participants in groups of 2.

During this sharing session, participants can share between each other about their individual reflection.

What are some of the positive things they wrote about?

What are some of the flip sides of the coin they wrote?

Do they have some in common?

As participants share their input, write down the key elements for group viewing (e.g., on a flipchart or blank slide).

BREAK

5 min

Input: Shifting moods

5 min

BELIEF - BODY - FEELING

As Dan Newby explains, each emotion and moods have a story/belief, a body representation, and a related feeling.

You want to train your body and stories to match. You can then connect the body position and the stories that are associated to them. Just thinking differently, is generally not enough.

Could also be, going for a walk, eating something, taking a bath. You want to address the body, and that could help to shift the emotion or mood.

Display the picture or reproduce it on a flipchart to visualize the content.

See picture attached (shifting emotions and moods).

Group exercise: Shifting moods

20 min

Let’s try out the input together.

Conceptualising the bad mood:

Think about and imagine a moment when you were in a bad mood or represent your current bad mood if that’s applicable.

• Write down (4 min): what is the story and belief associated to this negative mood?

• Write down (3 min): how does it feel? Name your feelings.

• Adjust your body position to that feeling and belief. Hold this position for two minutes. Let it sink in.

Conceptualizing the good mood:

Think about and imagine a moment when you were in a good mood or represent your current good mood if that’s applicable.

• Write down (4 min): what is the story and belief associated to this positive mood?

• Write down (3 min): how does it feel? Name your feelings.

• Adjust your body position to that feeling and belief. Hold this position for two minutes. Let it sink in. Focus on trying to switch the story in your mind.

Allow 10 minutes for each mood conceptualization.

Invite participants to spread in the workshop space where they feel comfortable. If online, they can turn off their camera if easier for them.

Guide participants by providing instructions and questions gradually. Allowing time between each instruction for them to write and participate. Indicate them how much time they have for each part.

Sharing debrief

10 min

Ask participants to share about their experience relating to the mood conceptualization.

• How did they go about doing the exercise?

• What are the key takeaways they take from this session?

Write down the key elements for group viewing (e.g., on a flipchart or blank slide).

Check-out

5 min

• Provide logistical info about next planned workshop (if any)

• Check-out suggestion if small group: Get each person to say what is their mood in one word after this workshop.

• Thank people for joining. Invite people to retry this exercise at home and see if they get different results.

What is the aim of the exercise?

The goal of this exercise is to gain awareness about your strengths and to understand how they can support you in your work, life and the contribution you would like to make to the world.

In what context is this exercise useful?

This exercise is tailored to individuals that wish to be more conscious about his/her strengths and how to capitalize on that to improve your life, work, relationships, purpose.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Online / Onsite: Both

Workshop time: 1: 30 hour

Ideal group size: Can easily accommodate up to 50 people

Contact of Workshop Developer:

Roberta Domingues roberta.domingues@oikos-international.org

Equipment and tools needed:

• Strengths assessment website (see at the bottom of the page)

• Pen and paper

• Board or slides/miro/chat to expose instructions

• Phones/computers with internet to access strengths assessment

• Facilitator needs this guide

• Online or Onsite Room to run the session

Activity & Format

Time

Instructions

Facilitation Notes

Check-in and Session Introduction

10 min

• Introduction of facilitators and participants if needed

• Present today’s topic and agenda

• Check-in on participants mood, expectations, or other. You can suggest a check-in question as “In one sentence, how are you arriving today?”

Start with answering the check-in question by yourself and then hand the word over to someone else, allowing everyone to share. Nice start for hearing all the voices in the room.

Topic introduction

5 min

• Start creating the space for the reflections and conversations of today: you can highlight that many people are not necessarily used to creating space for reflection and personal development. Ask the audience to think when was the last time you took time to reflect about your strengths? Comment about the importance of these reflections for leadership, wellbeing and to create a positive impact in the world.

• Introduce the topic of Strengths: explain that strengths help us to develop more self-confidence and self-awareness, as well as a deeper appreciation and value for how each of us is different (the need for diversity). It has also been linked by science to an elevated sense of vitality and motivation, increased probability of achieving goals, and a stronger sense of life direction.

• Make the point that looking at your strengths is a very powerful way to focus your attention and efforts on what you are good at (your natural talents); it makes clear your distinctiveness and helps you to identify how to improve.

• Explain that today we will use one exercise to find your strengths.

Explaining the exercise instructions

5min

• Provide the websites and ask them to access the strengths online assessments and to follow the instructions.

• Show them what the results will look like. The report they receive after taking the assessment.

Ask if they have any doubts before starting taking the assessment.

Check the resources list below for free strengths assessments.

Invite participants to take a space in the room where they feel comfortable.

Better to do the exercise in silence.

You can write the assessment websites in a board (if onsite) or in a slide/miro/chat (if online) for a better visualization while you explain. Make it beautiful!

Time for taking assessment and reading the report with results.

20 min

• Instruct them to do the assessment and to read their results’ report individually in silence. Remember to share the time they have for doing it.

Better to do the exercise in silence and have soft, instrumental and inspirational music playing in the background.

This step can last from 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the facilitator. You can ask how the group is doing after some time and ask if they need more time. To me the longer the better as it is a very privileged moment to be with oneself and it generally takes a bit of time to get into the right mood.

Break

5 min

• Give them a break to have water, stretch, go to the bathroom and to prepare for the group discussion.

Pairs discussion

20 min (10 for each to share)

• Gather participants back, and ask them to find a pair to share about their strengths.

• Suggest some questions for their conversation as:

-How was it for you to see the results (do you agree/is it surprising, etc.)?

-How do you see these strengths taking place in different areas and relationships of your life and for your purpose in life?

-What do these strengths tell you about who you are?

-How would you like to improve areas of your life using these strengths?

You can offer less questions or allow them to focus on the ones they wanna speak about. They can take the other questions for further reflection at home.

You can write the questions on a board (if onsite) or in a slide/miro/chat (if online) for a better visualization while you explain. Make it beautiful!

This step can last from 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the facilitator’s wish. You can ask how the group is doing after some time and ask if they need more time.

Another option is to allow personal reflection time (around 10 min) to think and journal on these questions before gathering in pairs, if you have enough time.

Group debrief/Plenary discussion

15 min

• Gather participants back in a circle, and facilitate the discussion into the feelings/ sharing/ impressions of the participants.

• You can ask them how was their reflection and sharing time; what stood out for them, what were the insights, what they have learned about themselves and about others.

• Don’t forget at the end to ask what were the key take-aways from the session.

Check-out

10 min

• Provide logistical info about the next planned workshop (if any) or any necessary announcement.

• Check-out question: For example, get each person to say what they are leaving with from this session.

• Thanking people for joining and closing the session.

You can provide a document or in your preferred way the opportunity for them to provide feedback from this session.

You can do the strengths assessment and practice the exercise yourself with someone before facilitating the session.

Keep in mind it might be the 1st time participants think about their strengths in life. Prepare yourself beforehand by for example meditating and being ready to give all your attention & empathy. Focus on the present moment, speak slowly and clearly, breathe a lot and smile.

Also try to make it personal and share with your audience how it helped you down the road!

Choose a strengths assessment to work with your audience:

Free resources:

https://high5test.com/strengthsfinder-free/

https://www.viacharacter.org/

Payed resource:

https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/home.aspx

Preparation time: 15 min

Workshop time: 90 min

Ideal group size: 12+ people (will do groups of 4)

Contact of Workshop Developer:

mathieu.shanks@gmail.com

Equipment and tools needed:

• Papers

• Pens

• Thinking / focus music

• Something to play music (e.g., speakers, laptop)

• Beamer or flipchart for this image:

What is the aim of the exercise?

This session aims at familiarizing the participants with listening levels and skills and the power it can have. By exploring different types of listening and collectively brainstorming non-verbal and verbal aspects of active listening we prepare for a listening exercise that aims at making participants aware that their listening style and dedication has considerable effects on a conversation and their conversation partner.

In what context is this exercise useful?

This exercise is useful to support individuals and teams to understand the importance of listening skills and it can be connected as a preparation for the powerful questions exercise, once active listening is required for that exercise.

Preparation time: 20 min

Online / Onsite: Both

Workshop time: 1h 20 min

Ideal group size: 16/20 (groups of 4)

Contact of Workshop Developer: leonie.kummer@student.unisg.ch

Equipment and tools needed:

• Flip Chart if onsite or if online use slides/miro/google doc to:

• expose model levels of listening

• to collect brainstorm aspects of active listening

• expose exercise instructions

• Online or Onsite Room to run the session

• Post-it’s & pens (if onsite)

• Markers (if onsite)

• Paper with listening instructions

Activity & Format

Time

Instructions

Facilitation Notes

Check-in and Session Introduction

10 min

• Introduction of facilitators and participants if needed

• Present today’s topic and agenda

• Check-in on participants mood, expectations, or other. You can suggest a check-in question as “In one sentence, how are you arriving today?”

Start with answering the check-in question by yourself and then hand the word over to someone else, allowing everyone to share. Nice start for hearing all the voices in the room.

Topic introduction

10 min

• Start creating the space for the reflections and conversations of today: you can ask the audience if they are paying attention to the ways they have been listening.

• Then highlight that listening is a super underrated leadership skill. However, it is a super important skill, because the way we listen and pay attention in a conversation can profoundly shift the quality and depth of that conversation, and the quality of relationship we are able to build to one another.

• By listening deeply and actively, we are able to connect and make sense of each other, it helps us gain a deeper understanding of different perspectives, allowing individuals and groups to connect to each other in a way that is more inclusive, open and respecting potential differences. Changing the way we listen changes the way we experience and build relationships.

• Comment that improving our listening takes practice and that we will try that later, but first it is important to look at interesting inputs on listening levels before we collectively brainstorm what active listening is composed of.

- Explain that you will show today “The 4 levels of listening”. This model is part of the Theory U process, developed by Otto Scharmer from the Presencing Institute at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). According to Otto Scharmer , “Listening is probably the most underrated leadership capacity today, but listening is really at the source of all great leadership. When we see leadership failures, and today we have many opportunities to see that, very often at the source of these failures is a lack of listening. A lack of connection to what is really going on in reality right now.

- Explain the model:

• The 1st Level of listening is called Downloading.

This first level of listening is characterized by when we listen from our habits, from what we already know. We are just reconfirming what we already know, nothing new can come to us, because we just stay in our bubble, not focused or interested on what other people have to say, but maybe more interested on what we will say next. So basically we “download” and project our assumptions into the present situation, hence we also listen to what we already know.The result of this kind of listening is that we only reconfirm our existing opinions and judgements. Now in some situations this can be a very helpful way of attending to the world outside. If we think for instance of an apple, we know from experience that it is a healthy and tasty item to eat, so it saves us time if we can use our previous assumptions about apples so that we don't need to reevaluate every single time if an apple is healthy or potentially poisonous. Nevertheless in human interaction this level of listening blocks us from understanding other perspectives and opening our mind to new possibilities, and makes dialogue and collaboration impossible.

• The 2nd Level of listening is called Factual.

When listening from level two we are starting to open our mind.

We notice disconfirming information/data, what the other says start to penetrate our own bubble. We actually focus on what the other person says, that is, we start to pay attention to what is different from how we thought it is. This level of listening is embedded in our scientific paradigm, all good science teaches to pay attention to disconfirming data as it is the source of innovation. The main driver of this kind of listening is curiosity.

• The 3rd Level of listening is called Empathic.

Empathic listening is where we start to see the world through another person's eyes. It is only from this level of listening that our center of attention starts to move “outside of us” or beyond what we know. When I engage in downloading, my center of attention is within me, not noticing what is going on outside. Level two is still centered within me, but I am starting to pay attention to what is going on outside and I notice the differences to what I assumed to be true from my own experience. At this level, we see situations through the eyes of others, turning to the other person’s point of view. When practicing empathic listening with an open heart, the center of attention is focused on the experience of the other person(s). In fact, this allows us to gather much more information about the situation than what we might think. When seeing a situation from another person's perspective and experience we may experience feelings and thoughts we would otherwise not have connected with. It is through experiencing those feelings and perspectives that a deeper connection can unfold as the other person will start to feel heard, understood and seen as who he/she is.

- The 4th Level of listening is called Generative.

This fourth level of listening is something we don’t usually experience on a daily basis in our interactions with others. The key difference here is that there is something happening with the center of attention. It is no longer located in one specific person, rather the center, or source, from where the listening happens has no specific perspective anymore. It is somewhat “between '' people. It is in these moments when something really new can emerge, as we let go of our own sense of Self and together engage in a conversation where we let come what we don’t yet know, together. It holds space for something new to be born, listening with openness to what is unknown and what wants to emerge. Here we open our will to be changed by the conversation. We start to see reality with fresh eyes, and welcome yet unknown aspects. In generative listening we connect with one another and with an emerging future potential.

• Comment that great leaders are able to sense what type of listening is needed at the moment and can adjust the quality of listening to the situation.

• Explain that this model helps us to gain an idea about how diverse and complex listening can be. Maybe in future conversations, you can gain the awareness about what type of listening you are engaging in at the moment and what type of listening would be appropriate.

• You can raise these questions for people to reflect and comment to the group (if you have enough time): Do these match? In general, where do you spend most of your own listening time? Can you actively try to practice the appropriate type of listening? How does your conversation change by doing so?

Check the resources list below for learning more and prepare yourself to explain the Levels of Listening Model.

Make sure you have prepared the flipcharts if onsite and if online the slides/miro/google

doc to:

• expose the model levels of listening

• to collect brainstorm aspects of active listening

• expose exercise instructions

Collective Brainstorm

10 min

• Now you can move your audience to a second moment of the session.

• First, we have talked about internal attitude towards listening and what type of listening we engage in, and now we will collect the external signs of active listening, these can be verbal or non-verbal.

• Ask people to answer: What comes to your mind? What do we need to be mindful of while listening?

• Gather their answers and add the ones below in case people don’t mention it:

• Eye contact

• Posture and body language

• Facial Expression (eg. smile, frown, …)

• Lack of distractions(eg. phones, fidgeting, …)

• Physical setup (eg. side by side, across, walking, …)

• To show verbal reinforcement (eg. hmm, ah, …)

• Paraphrasing (summarizing what the person has said).

• Asking clarification questions

• Asking reflection questions that support the person to reflect further.

• Ok now that we have this whole list of things that play into active listening, we will practice it with the next exercise.

• Gather their answers (if onsite in a flipchart or if online, share your screen and use a document/slide/

miroboard).