| Saturday January 24th | 3:30PM - 4:45PM EST |
How are we and our clients supposed to find space to rest and reflect when every day seems to bring more bad news and disruptive change?
In a world defined by the pressure of competing priorities, upsetting world events, and seemingly constant disruptive change, staying centered can feel impossible. But for us as coaches, staying grounded in the midst of chaos isn’t a luxury, and it’s not just about self-care. It’s essential to our ability to support and partner effectively with our clients.
In this session, we’ll explore how we can get more deeply grounded, prioritize rest and reflection, and support our clients in doing the same. We’ll focus our conversation around 4 key areas:
Stepping Away: We’ll discuss how we can challenge the pervasive expectations of an "always-on" culture by treating downtime as a necessity. This includes actively shutting down input and getting comfortable with stillness, in order to clear the cognitive space for creativity and insight.
Letting Go: We’ll explore research that demonstrates the importance of emptiness and “non-doing,” along with useful practices such as mindfulness and intentional mind-wandering. We know that breakthrough ideas rarely come while forcing a solution; they surface when the mind is allowed to pause its active processing. This deliberate stillness is essential for generating fresh insights and non-obvious solutions.
Getting Grounded: We’ll look at how to integrate centering practices into our busy reality. You’ll have a chance to refresh your personal toolkit of practices that work for you, such as meditation, mindful movement or focused breaks. These practices can serve as helpful anchors even in the midst of a storm.
Cultivating Insight: Ultimately, reflection is not just about letting go – it’s about developing a deeper sense of wisdom, direction, and self-awareness. We’ll dig into research and practices for engaging in reflection in a more intentional way, and we’ll talk about how to partner with our clients to engage in reflective practices in ways that honor their agency and personal context.
Even as coaches who know the value of rest and reflection, it can be easy for us to get distracted or frustrated, and forget or neglect to get grounded. You’ll walk away from this workshop with renewed inspiration and ideas for stepping away, staying centered, and partnering with your clients to navigate the current environment of change and chaos with equanimity and strength.
Nick Duggan (he/him) has been developing people and organizations for more than 25 years. As the founder of Deeper Work, Nick specializes in deep-growth leadership development, helping leaders get grounded and drive impact in the midst of constant change.
Nick has led L&D, DEI, and employee communications at companies including AppFolio, GoTo, and DaVita. He has a BA in Communication, an MA in Organizational Psychology, and multiple graduate certificates in Depth Psychology. He completed coach training through Coach U and holds an ACC from ICF.
Nick lives in Santa Barbara, on the unceded territory of the Barbareño Chumash.