3 Things I Learned in a Yurt about… Leadership
This weekend, the A
pril 2014 cohort embarked on a time-honored On Purpose tradition; a weekend of leadership development at Embercombe.
Embercombe is a social enterprise and charity providing leadership, educational and transformative programmes for individuals, groups, and organisations. Community-run and situated in the idyllic hills bordering Dartmoor National Park, the facility is maintained by staff and volunteers, who grow their own crops, cook all of their own food, and work together to clean and maintain the grounds.
For three days the gracious community of Embercombe allowed the On Purpose tribe to descend upon them for a weekend of forest-roaming, group bonding, and reflecting on ourselves and our capacities as leaders in the social enterprise space.
…All while living in a yurt village.
…Which brings us back to this blog’s unusual title:
3 Things I Learned in a Yurt about… Leadership
- Leadership is a collaborative exercise.
Many of us feel unsure of ourselves in the face of stepping up into a leadership role. This, at least in my case, comes in part from a narrow view of what leadership looks like. So when I volunteered for a leadership role for our team-building exercise at Embercombe, it was with a fair amount of trepidation. Especially when it turned out that the activity revolved around accomplishing something I’d never even heard of- if I didn’t even know what it was, how could I manage the assembly and delivery of three of them in a day?
The ‘how’, it turns out, was engaging with my cohort. As I learned throughout the weekend, leadership doesn’t mean always being the boss of everything. In the wise words of the Hopi Nation, “The time of the lone wolf is over, gather yourselves!”
By working together to bolster each other’s strengths, and coordinating efforts when confronted with weaknesses, we can deliver better outputs. In our case, these outputs of the activity were then put to test in a competitive manner. As a member of the winning team, I can tell you that victory tastes sweeter when it comes as a result of a strong team effort. Incidentally, victory also tastes a lot like the scrumpy cider that’s brewed on the Embercombe premises…
- Leading means taking time to think
Did you ever notice how we always want to look ‘busy’ at work? I for one get nervous if my manager walks by and I’m not furiously typing away at something. Many of us are pre-occupied with ‘doing something’ all of the time; throughout the workday, we are constantly emailing, scheduling, sitting in meetings, planning more meetings, and generally making sure that our schedules are packed to the rafters in order to feel productive.
While being busy and ‘doing things’ of course have their value, a disproportionate focus on ‘doing’ leaves little room for the quiet reflection that can allow human creativity to flourish. How can we disrupt and innovate without taking the time to reflect on the social problems we are looking to solve, the norms we are looking to change, or how to improve upon existing solutions?
This weekend, we capitalised on the opportunity to wander through Embercombe’s extensive oak woodlands to have a bit of a think. Taking the time to reflect on my core values helped me to emerge with a clarity that was refreshing and energising, both in my personal life and in my work. Now that I’m back in London, I look forward to recreating this experience in this city’s many green spaces, especially while the sun is shining. However, check in with me once winter comes to see how motivated I am to continue these pensive outdoor strolls…
- Be open to feedback from your peers. They might surprise you.
I don’t know about you, but I often shudder at the mere mention of a feedback session. We’re often our own harshest critics, and we can assume that opening ourselves up to the opinions of our colleagues will lead to a torrent of criticism. Terrifying, right?
However, part of being a leader is being able to constantly challenge our assumptions, including our own assumptions about our leadership qualities. This weekend, we took the time to see ourselves through the eyes of our peers to get a sense of how others might perceive our ability to lead. The results were surprising, empowering, and eye opening. As it turns out, our colleagues are often not as hard on us as we are on ourselves. In fact, our peers might even shine a light on leadership qualities that we didn’t know we had.
I’ll conclude by giving a huge thank you to the Embercombe team for hosting us this weekend, and to On Purpose for giving us this incredible opportunity. In addition, I’ll leave you with some other learnings from this weekend that didn’t quite make the cut:
- Vegan custard is actually pretty delicious
- If someone says that they’ve seen a puma in Devon, they’re probably messing with you
