2020: The Year of Essential Conversations. Heartful Leadership in the Heart of COVID-19 or Love in Action.

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In March, CPL launched a new conversation series, to explore this question: “What is a positive response in times of extreme disruption?“

Essential Conversations:
Purposeful Leadership through Disruptive Times

A weekly Zoom gathering to set your purpose and intention as a leader in these times
(use the link at the right to join a future session)

We’ve had some remarkable sessions these past 10 weeks (list below), exploring ideas and intentional action that support being a leader who brings purpose, intention and presence.

Monday, May 18 marked the 10th week of meeting. Art of Convening graduate Kiron Dawkins & the Team of WestCOP SSVF spoke to “Heartful Leadership in the Heart of COVID-19.” Love in action best describes this team of servant-leaders.

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This Essential Conversation was inspired by hearing from Kiron as a Conversation Starter on 4/27. Kiron leads the SSVF Program which helps veteran households that are currently homeless or at risk of losing their housing. It provides temporary financial assistance and many other services that create stability.

It is estimated that between 130,000 and 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. One out of every three homeless men who is sleeping in a doorway, alley or box in our cities and rural communities has put on a uniform and served this country.

The power of hearing from Kiron was to dig deep into what is a dangerous and poignant setting in the midst of massive, unplanned disruption. We barely got started and wanted to offer more listening for Kiron and the team.

45 of us gathered to hear from some of the WestCOP team. What we witnessed on 5/18 was the rawness, the honesty, the grief and vulnerability of his team. This is a group who has become a family. They willingly steps up and forward every day to serve; the selflessness and courage exhibited was humbling. The stories were profound, as they spoke of being witnesses and in service in the midst of great suffering. 

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Each story was unique and yet the thread of commitment, respect and compassion was clear.  The session recording lasts another 20+ minutes as we stayed on to hear as much as we could, offering the best we could offer, our compassionate listening. Some of the team were able to stay on at the end to tell us more. We wished we had another hour or three to just witness, letting them know they are being heard and honored.

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If you comment here, we will pass your comments on to the team.

Past and Future Conversation Starters

6/1: Ren Wei, Purposeful Leadership: the power of re-discovering your purpose
5/25: Open Space: Patricia & Craig will hold the space for heartful conversation
5/18: Kiron Dawkins & Team of WestCOP, Heartful Leadership in the Heart of COVID-19
5/11: Pamela Meade, Whole Person Leadership in the Time of COVID in the Navajo Nation
5/4: Kimberly Kristenson-Lee, Labyrinth Leadership
4/27: Kiron Dawkins, Heartful Leadership in the Heart of COVID-19
4/20: Joe Davis, SHOW UP
4/13: Claudia Eisinger, The Heart of Belonging
4/6: Tom McSteen, Compassionate Listening
3/30: Mary Elaine Kiener, Doing Church: Evolving a New Normal
3/23: Terry Chapman, Living, Loving, Leading in Disruptive Times
3/16: Launch

Here are three practices that support presence and gratitude:

1. Listening
We listen to each other’s stories with curiosity, wonder and attention. A natural respect for all voices emerges when we listen with respect for everyone’s voice without fixing, problem-solving or advice-giving.

The practice: next time you are with someone, listen as if your life depended upon it.

2. Speaking from the Heart
Take a chance to speak about what has meaning and purpose for you. It will most likely be meaningful for the person you are with. Speaking honestly and simply from the heart is compelling and authentic.

The practice: Pause, take a deep breath, put your hand on your heart. Ask yourself, “what has meaning and purpose for me, right now, at this moment.”

3. Slow Down the Conversation
Being interested rather than interesting allows for space and new thinking. Be curious. The tendency to have a quick response, or talk over someone with excitement, isn’t the same as deep listening.

The practice: Allow pauses between the speakers, for connection to occur and to allow something new to emerge.

#purpose #artofconvening #convening #listening #leadership #practice #authenticengagement