The Alchemy of Leadership: Developing the Artful Leader

How do you transform the ordinary into the extraordinary? Alchemy is the art of transforming leaden thinking into the gold of wisdom.

Some of the greatest difficulties leaders face today revolve around the need to instill passion, mobilize teams toward achieving a common vision, and motivate change in employees.

The mark of authentic artful leaders in any organization is how well they are able to continually nurture the creative relationships and conversations between all stakeholders; in order to produce successful immediate value and long term viability.

Artists and business leaders have many parallels. Both involve having a guiding vision, a potent point of view, formulating an ideal, navigating chaos and the unknown, and finally, producing a new creation.

Since all great art pushes boundaries beyond established norms, it can teach us about leadership, change, ambiguity, chaos, change, courage, and creativity. The arts (painting, poetry, improvisation and storytelling) take us on adventures in creative expression that help us safely explore unknown territory, overcome fear, and take risks.

The arts take us on adventures in creative expression that help us safely explore unknown territory, overcome fear, and take risks. We can transfer these learning experiences to the workplace. Art-making has an alchemical effect on the imagination. Art takes people out of the realm of analytical thinking and into the realm of silence, reverie, and heightened awareness.

Exercises designed to effect shifts in perception, help people break out of traditional mind sets. Activities involving drawing, or painting, and de-coding images, awaken the senses, sharpen insights and allow exciting possibilities for taking creative risks—both personally and professionally.

Visualizing information helps us see patterns, make connections, think metaphorically, decipher complexity, discern emerging futures and create shared visions amongst different people in different departments.

This workshop explores the arts as a metadisciplinary catalyst for transformation in culture, creativity, identity, and your own personal development as a leader.

Workshop Design:

• Provide a theoretical framework for leadership, creativity, and collaboration.
• Provide examples of principles and practices from business, art and science, which apply to leadership in organizations.
• Introduce whole-brain thinking and design-thinking models as a strategic tool to improve communications, teamwork, creativity, and the ability to influence others to turn ideas into action.
• Engage participants in experiential activities to learn about leadership, and fostering a culture that encourages creativity, collaboration, and employee engagement in order to facilitate change and transformation. Each activity is tied to an organizational objective/challenge and serves as a catalyst for meaningful conversation and new insights.

Learning Outcomes:

• Learn techniques and methodologies you can start using immediately to instill passion and mobilize teams toward achieving a common vision, and motivate change in employees.
• Learn leadership “best practices” and practical techniques that have been successfully used by large organizations to enhance the skill sets of their leaders
• Build longitudinal capacity for creativity, communication and collaborative leadership
  

Time frame: 1 or 2 days