It was the final event of the year, and what an inspiring session it was with our two terrifically experienced practitioners, Sabine Simmonds and Lily Cubrilo!
Is power a dirty word? – a topic that we don’t talk about enough but what we all have at the back of our minds, led to some great conversations.
We grapple with power dynamics in our various roles in life – as a parent, a spouse, at work, as a coach or a mentor, and so on; and as Sabine reminded us, we need to be more increasingly mindful of the power that comes with our position and the rank that we hold. There are times that we use our power well and there are times that we don’t; and when we don’t, we need to look back and learn to navigate the continuum of power more gracefully and consciously.
Lily asked us to think about how we feel when we hear the word “power”? Do we feel empowered, or do we feel its lack?
During the session, we learned:
- to build a common language and a common understanding of what power is,
- explored how power is present in our everyday working lives,
- unpacked some common misconceptions about power, and
- understood how power impacts the deliverables that leaders are most interested in
We were led through a guided meditation by Sabine to give us a personal reference point as to what power has meant in our lived experience. Then, we had some interactive conversations in the breakout rooms exploring:
- What makes holding power so difficult?
- What are the barriers to using power for the greater good?
- How can we affect change around power?
We learned about lenses of power in leadership, rank and privilege, and the common misconceptions of power. As the session came to a close, we were asked to think about:
- Whether our relationship with power affects how we work with our leaders and teams?
- How can we reframe our own relationship to power?
- How do we stand more in our power and love to work in new ways?
- What possibilities do we see if we were to use power, privilege and rank more intentionally?
All in all, it was a power-packed session that we ended the year with!
Note: Members can log in and watch the video of the session here.
Not a member? Sign up!