Session 5 – Living from Care for the Whole

Our understanding of leadership is simply the orientation to care for the whole, taking full responsibility for it even when others don't. Every part of this kind of living benefits immensely from the integration of NVC principles and practices, which we can apply to our leadership as we engage in facilitation, coaching, design, and the many intangible actions that holding the whole entails.

Here are some elements of experimentation that we can focus on within this area: 

• How far can NVC practice support us and others in shifting deep patterns of disempowerment that are interfering with our capacity to take on leadership?
• When we have access to power and resources, to what extent can we lean on NVC to maintain the rigor of our commitment to using power with others and not over them?
• What supports us in deepening our capacity to hold our limitations with tenderness so we can compensate for them without getting lost in shame or attachment to self-sufficiency?
• To what extent can NVC practices of dialogue support us in engaging with dissent when we facilitate?