STAND-UP FOR LEADERSHIP:
complexity, compassion, and comedy
How do you lead when you don’t know where the world is going? This highly interactive three-day workshop is for people who want the practical skills, tools, and experience to find out.
We will approach complexity through the lens of comedy and compassion to gain a new understanding. You will develop concepts, tools, and skills to supercharge your leadership in complex and unpredictable times, and you will gain new and useful insights into your wicked issues by developing a mini-set of stand-up comedy material which you will perform on the last day of the course.
This course is for leaders with no stand up comedy experience who want to make progress on an important intractable issue through a shift in mindset, communication, and action.
Day 1
Compassionate comedy for leaders
Actively finding 'the funny' helps us to more deeply notice and examine a pattern, especially a pattern which creates tension. And what we notice can often unlock our fixed, "just get it done" mindset and shift us to a mindset which is more filled with creativity and possibility.
Day 2
Complexity
for leaders
Our linear thinking and command & control behaviour is not well suited to the complex, dynamic world. Trying to operate in that way is frustrating and sometimes funny, but not effective. We analyse our patterns and learn new options as we refine our jokes about our wicked issues.
Day 3
Compassion, comedy and complexity for leaders
Compassion creates a regenerative, productive ecology of action. We lean in to deepen our thinking and doing, about the patterns we live and work in, and we share our discoveries with each other in our own Stand-Up show.
ABOUT THE COURSE
BACKGROUND
Photo Maffick
Navigating complexity means focusing on patterns, not problems. It helps us engage with ourselves, as well as the colleagues and environments we cannot predict or control. It inspires and enables us to see, understand, and influence change as it happens, even in the most chaotic of times. As a leader, it helps you know when to flex and when to hold firm.
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Comedy helps you notice and articulate patterns of experiences that most people take for granted. Through the lens of comedy, you can understand how those patterns may change as they expand and emerge across time and space. When you are laughing, you see new things and see old things in new ways. Laughter inspires new energy and helps you lead toward emerging possibilities.
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And doing both comedy and navigating complexity with compassion leads us to a different quality of communication, thought, and action for people, power and possibility. So we’re going to put compassion at the heart of this course.
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As a participant, you are invited to bring one of your wicked issues. One for which you feel stuck. An issue that if you could find a way forward, would be deeply meaningful to you and your organisation.
KEY CONTENT
Photo CoCreation School
Day 1: Compassionate comedy for Leaders
“Compassionate comedy expands our minds, stretches our hearts, and heals our communities." – Belina Raffy
Actively finding 'the funny' helps us to more deeply notice and examine a pattern, especially a pattern which creates tension. And what we notice can often unlock our fixed, "just get it done" mindset and shift us to a mindset which is more filled with creativity and possibility.
On our first day, we:
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Discover the expansion in our perception of possibilities when we separate "serious" and "solemn".
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Notice what areas of our serious work need more joy, motivation, lift and expansive creativity.
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Explore what is silly and sublime about the patterns in our organisations and the world.
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Workshop our first jokes related to our wicked issue.
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Day 2: Complexity for Leaders
You only embrace complexity when you begin to think differently.” – Glenda Eoyang
Our linear thinking is not well suited to the complex, dynamic world that we belong in. Trying to operate in that way is frustrating and sometimes funny, but not effective.
On the second day we:
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Find new options for action when we shift problems to patterns.
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Learn new models (to see) and methods (to influence) change in complex human systems.
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Practice analysing patterns to see simplicity in complexity, to find energy in difference, and to identify possibilities for powerful leadership action.
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Refine and deepen our insights into our wicked issues through refining our jokes.
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Day 3: Compassion, Comedy and Complexity for Leaders
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​​​"Compassion creates a regenerative, productive ecology of action." – Belina and Glenda.
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On our third day, we:
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Lean in to deepening the compassion of our thinking and speaking around the patterns we live and work in, and the bigger picture.
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Engage with the sometimes challenging constraints of reality to see how our capacity for comedy, complexity and compassion help create a new imagined future.
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Have our own mini-comedy show where you share insights into your wicked issues, the patterns, and starring you and your fellow participants.
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Consider what it will mean to share what we have experienced with those we love and lead.
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Photo Maffick.
TAKEAWAYS
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Concepts, tools, and skills to supercharge your leadership in complex and unpredictable times.
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Inspiring new insights on how to move forward on some intractable issue that is important to you.
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New and powerful ways to unlock potential for yourself and your teams.
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Tools and tricks to find hope in uncertainty.
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Deep understanding of the dynamics of complex change and how to lead through it.
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A narrative – imagined, created and performed – that transforms concern into opportunity around your wicked issue.
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Leadership behaviours that enlighten and inspire everyone you know.
SUITABLE FOR
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This course is for leaders with no comedy experience who want to make the world a better place through a shift in communication, mindset and action
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As a participant, you are invited to bring one of your wicked issues. One for which you feel stuck. An issue that if you could find a way forward, would be deeply meaningful to you and your organisation.
Photo by Chad Stembridge on Unsplash
REQUIREMENTS
No special experience is needed.
If you have physical challenges, please let us know before the course. We will make sure the course fits your needs.
LANGUAGE
English, with German assistance available. Let us know if you need any language assistance.
SIZE OF CLASS
Maximum number of participants: 16
Minimum number of participants: 8​
INTRODUCTORY PRICE
€990 including lunches, snacks, materials.
UPCOMING DATES
11-13 December 2024 in beautiful Nuremberg, Germany.
Nuremberg (or Nürnberg) is a historic city which is easy to reach by rail, road and air, with direct flights to Amsterdam, Paris, London and more, and a subway which connects both airport and railway station directly to our neighbourhood.
"Compassionate comedy expands our minds, stretches our hearts, and heals our communities.”
Belina Raffy, Faculty
YOUR FACULTY
Glenda Eoyang
Glenda is a master of helping us make useful actions in complex adaptive systems. She is a world-renowned expert on complexity as well as a very funny and wise person.
See more of her work with leaders and organisations, books she’s written, and resources.
Belina Raffy
Belina’s superpower is helping us to co-create in dynamic systems, and to support us bringing compassionate humour to tricky issues in ways which inspire fresh insights and behaviour. She giggles a lot because she loves her work. To see more of what she does with organisations and individuals, check out her company and the origins of this course.
Assisted by: Adam Lawrence
Well known for his books and the Global Service Jam, Adam connects the worlds of business and showbusiness. For years he has worked in large organisations, using his experience of theater, film and comedy to help people work together better. ​Adam is lead facilitator at the CoCreation School, co-founder of WorkPlayExperience, Adjunct Professor of Service Design Thinking at IE Business School, and co-author of This is Service Design Doing.
Refund and cancellation policy for online courses
We will refund your ticket fee in full if you cancel your participation up to 28 days before the course start date. If you have to cancel your participation between 27 and 14 days before the course start date, we can refund 50 %. From 13 days, we will not be able to refund your ticket. However, you may pass on your ticket to at any time another person for the same course at the same date.
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Payment and invoice
Payments and invoices are handled by our Co-Creation School partners WorkPlayExperience Gbr (Germany) or Sparks Sàrl. (Switzerland) , who will communicate with you about these matters. All ticket fees are expressed in EUROS. VAT will be charged when appropriate.
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Additional terms & conditions
All materials provided and shared during and after the online course are free of use, however they are under copyright and are owned by the faculty or by WorkPlayExperience and Sparks Sàrl, partners of The Co-Creation School. Alumni do not acquire ownership rights in any of these materials and agree not to reproduce, modify or distribute any of the materials received from or provided. If you would like to receive copying rights, please reach out to us. We’ll figure something out!