As a business leader, it is easy to get caught up in what needs to be done right now. Emergencies big and small can distract you from the meaningful reflection you need to make thoughtful, emotionally intelligent decisions for your team and your company. That’s why holding space for reflection is important. Developing Reflective Leaders, offered by Stanislaw Consulting, can help you find the space to gain insight and find the best path forward.
This blog series will help you understand Stanislaw Consulting’s Developing Reflective Leaders program, who it is for, and what sets it apart from other groups you may have attended in the past. The first post, Why Peer Advisory Groups Fail Leaders explains how Developing Reflective Leaders sets itself apart from other peer advisory groups. What Holds Reflective Leaders Back from Self-Improvement discussed the obstacles that business leaders have to overcome to make real, lasting change. This post will help you understand the benefit of a program like this. A future post will help you distinguish between this new offering and our other business coaching services.
What Does “Holding Space” Mean
Often used by psychotherapists and counselors, the term “holding space” means setting aside time to focus on the emotional impact of the moment, without judgment. If you have ever sat with a friend or colleague while they were having a hard time and listened as they told you about it, you were holding space for them. Holding space often means doing some of the emotional heavy lifting for someone else, sharing in the emotional burden so they can process their emotions and understand the context of the event.
But you can hold space for yourself as well. Simply by setting aside time for self-reflection and emotional self-assessment, you can be better prepared to identify, respond to, and address the emotions that arise while you are doing the work of leading your business. Regular practice with this form of mindfulness can give you a useful tool, guiding you toward a more reflective, and emotionally aware understanding of your business, and your personal behavior within it.
Why Holding Space for Reflection is Important
Many business leaders are not skilled in responding to strong emotions. Emotional intelligence generally is not taught in business school. Even if you are an experienced manager with HR experience, you may be more focused on resolving conflict between team members, rather than recognizing your own emotional responses to the situation.
Holding space for reflection gives you the chance to do just that, without distractions or external demands on your time and attention. It isn’t about digging for solutions, at least at first. Instead, it acknowledges that even business leaders are human. You feel emotions, both positive and negative, which impact your decisionmaking and responses to the events around you.
Holding space for reflection is mechanically simple, but it can be difficult for some business leaders to master.
- Center yourself (often by closing your eyes or practicing breathing techniques)
- Focus on the emotions you are feeling
- Name each emotion as specifically as you are able (i.e. sad, frustrated, anxious)
- Examine what circumstances are causing the feelings (i.e. “I am frustrated because my team is missing deadlines”)
- Allow the emotions without judgment or negative self-talk
- Consider how this moment relates to other similar situations you have experienced in the past
- Reflect on how you responded to those past situations, what worked, what didn’t, and why
Taking the time to work though this reflective process provides you an opportunity for self-assessment, so you can better recognize how your emotions are affecting your decision making and interpersonal responses. Holding space for reflection can help you break free from the patterns you have fallen into in your business. Employing these emotional intelligence techniques can improve your interpersonal relations and break free from unhelpful behavioral patterns that hold you and your business back.
Developing Reflective Leaders Makes Space for Mindful Assessment
Developing Reflective Leaders offers participants a safe space to assess, process, and interpret the emotions around important leadership decisions and experiences. You will work with a cohort of committed business leaders, holding space for one another and working together to develop emotionally intelligent responses to one another’s situations. Through collaboration, facilitators David Stanislaw and Karen Shewood, help people gain useful and valuable insight into their interpersonal surroundings. This six-month, twice-monthly commitment helps you set aside time and space, away from distractions, so you can look inward and contextualize your experience. Through improved insight and objective reflection, you can come better understand your own responses to the challenges you face, and find a way forward that is true to your personal and business priorities.
We are offering leaders a 30 min complimentary meeting to discuss and explore a current challenge. We believe this introduction will offer you a taste of the group experience. Contact us to sign up for the Developing Reflective Leaders experience today.
This post was written by a human without the use of AI. Stanislaw Consulting does not consent to the use of its online content to train large language models or other forms of artificial intelligence.
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