Essentialist Leadership: Cultivating a mindset of effortless simplicity

Overview

Overwhelmed by back-to-back Teams meetings and demands on your time? Frustrated by being unable to create space to think creatively and without feeling constantly under pressure?

This workshop is a must for senior leaders, directors and CEOs to take a step back from “the urgent and busy” and apply some critical thinking to how and where you should be focusing your valuable time and effort.

You will gain clarity around your own values and how these align with those of the organisation. You will learn to distinguish between “the trivial many and the vital few” so that your efforts deliver maximum impact.

We will use up-to-date thinking and methodologies from leadership experts such as Brené Brown, Carol Dweck, Nancy Kline and others – no outdated stock leadership models here!

At the end of the workshop, you will feel energised and inspired as to how you can be more inspirational and effective leaders. You will have a clear action plan as to how to put into practice the ideas you have learnt. Our aim is that you head back to office life feeling clear, calm and in flow.

What you'll learn

Session 1 – Introduction and Overview
- Introduction to the day/learning objectives/workshop structure

Session 2 – Creating Time to Think
- Seeking clarity – strategically for your organisation
- The 10 Components of a Thinking Environment
- Simple tweaks to enhance the quality, output and enjoyment of your meetings

Session 3 – Clarity around Your Values
- Learning from Brené Brown’s work on leaders and values
- Uncovering your core values

Session 4 – Becoming an Essentialist
- The core mindset
- Explore, Eliminate, Execute – a practical 3-step approach to Essentialism

Session 5 – Assuming a growth mindset
- The importance of a growth mindset for leadership

Session 6 – Putting it all together
- Group exercise

Session 7 – Wrap Up
Action Points

Who is it for?

This is an opportunity to take a day away from your organisation, rather than working in it, to gain that helicopter perspective and to return to the office with renewed clarity and strategic insight.

This is for you if:

You find yourself buried in the intense “busyness” of your role – back-to-back Teams meetings or face-to-face conversations and no time to catch your breath or think strategically
Meetings take up a significant part of your working day, with often too little progress made
You are spending too much time involved in the operational side of the business, getting lost in the weeds, rather than focusing on strategy and leadership
You haven’t spent time thinking about your own values and leadership style in some time
You need to get your team/organisation back on track
You want some straightforward and impactful ideas on how to lead your organisation in the right direction
You want to check your strategic ladder is up against the right wall!

Your facilitator

Sarah Hobbs

Sarah is the co-founder of Vondel Professional Development, and is an engaging and highly qualified business and training consultant who specialises in making finance easily comprehensible for non-financial professionals. She has worked with a variety of clients across both the private and public sector including HMRC, Ince & Co, Wolseley, United Biscuits, PwC, Knight Frank, Mothercare, Nabarro, Norton Rose, BMJ Publishing and Barclays Bank.