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Leading from Love: putting love at the heart of your leadership
A bold and imaginative programme exploring love in the context of your leadership

As we go about the business of creating and encouraging change, what might happen if we put love at the heart of our practice? When many organisations have some pretty dehumanising management practices, how can we counter those? In leadership and in organisational development, we often ask ‘what’s the difference that could make the difference?’ Could love – whatever that might look like – be the difference? Personally, I know that it can and does and I want to explore this more widely for organisations and leadership.

Could love play a part in your leadership practice?

We often think of love as something deeply personal, something for outside of work, but love and being loving is relevant for our organisations now more than ever. My 2018 research into love in organisations showed that 94% of people felt love really mattered in the workplace.

• Does it feel like these shifting times are offering you an opportunity to bring something new to your leadership?
• Do you want to develop your team or your organisational culture to be a highly relational place of psychological safety and innovative practice?
• Are you ready to extend and deepen your leadership practice by putting love at the heart of how you live and work?
• Are you curious to know what difference love might make to you personally as well as in your leadership?

If so, then you’re in the right place.

I’ve developed this programme to look closely at what we mean by love and offer some radical and provocative angles to make love a robust and useful dimension to leadership. We also explore leadership and discover some new dimensions that are essential for the world we are creating  – and need to create – today.

Who is the Leading from Love programme for?

The programme is for anyone who sees their role as being about leadership – whether in a formal role or not, in an organisation or elsewhere. You might be a senior leader in an organisation, or a first time team leader. You might have people report to you but know that you want your team to work differently. Perhaps you’re not in an organisation at all but developing a community-based movement, or someone leading a project, or a response to adapting the new and emerging world we now find ourselves.

There are three very common responses when I explore love and leadership with people in organisations. One is ‘I really get this, and I want to develop a workplace with more love in it’. And then this is often followed a second reaction of ‘but I don’t really know how to go about doing that’. And a third is that ‘love doesn’t belong in the workplace’.

This programme will address those three things directly. It will build on your interest and commitment to developing a more loving and progressive culture around you. It will also help you identify clearly what that means in practice. And it will also allow you to connect with love at a personal level.

What people have said

Cohort 1 had 11 participants, with leaders from a global consulting firm, a housing association, the NHS and the Civil Service, an HR consultancy practice as well as coaches and independent consultants.  They said:

• a deeply thought-provoking examination of what it means to be a leader and the mission to bring more love (and thus humanity) into the way we lead and organise our teams.  
• I can honestly say that this programme has changed my life! Those few short hours have made me think about topics I have never considered – or never considered in relation to organisations before.  
• a deeply rewarding, challenging, inspirational and soulful programme
• this is most thought provoking and action oriented course I have ever attended and I can see the impact in my organisation already after just a few short weeks
• Leading from Love is the single most profound self-learning experience I’ve ever been a part of.

This programme is made up of 6 x 2 hour modules and together we will:

• Get to know your own personal social history through the lens of love to see what that has taught you about love, and how it shows up in your life and leadership today.
• Explore different ways of defining love – and demystifying it – to determine what is a meaningful definition for you to work with in your teams and organisational context.
• Take a fresh look at leadership and see what’s required of modern leaders
• Understand what the conditions are that need to be present for love to arise – as well as what blocks love – in both your own life and in your organisation or team.
• Bring this together in a vision and a practical plan for leading with love tailored to your unique way of being and leading.

Overview

Each week will explore one theme:
Week 1: The story of your leadership, through the lens of love. What has your personal social history taught you about love and what it is, and how does it show up for you today?
Week 2: Why does love matter – and why does it matter now, in our organisations and for your teams? Do we need a business case for love and what might that be?
Week 3: In what ways is it tricky or problematic to bring love into the workplace? And why? What blocks or enables love in you, and in your organisation?
Week 4: What do we mean by love? What does it mean for you personally, for the team you lead or are part of, and for your organisation?
Week 5: How might we create the conditions for love in the workplace? What would a ‘field guide’ for love in leadership contain?
Week 6: Actions and Experiments: Explore what this inquiry has raised in you and what you might do next. What ‘acts of leadership’ might this inquiry lead to?

Each session will be a mix of input, paired and small group conversations and whole group discussion plus some experiential activity.  There will be plenty of additional resources and supplementary material provided.

The group

Working with other leaders from different sectors and organisations, there will be:

• A rich and stimulating mix of perspectives almost certainly unlike your own.
• Learning from other leaders about what works and what doesn’t and where the ‘edges of love’ might be in their leadership and organisations.
• Support, challenge and inspiration from your peers.
• A sense of belonging to a tribe and a community of like-minded people.
• A chance to explore a rarely discussed topic.

Programme requirements

• Private space, uninterrupted allocation of time for all sessions.
  Facility to use Zoom.
  Commitment to attend all sessions.
  Undertake a short piece of preparation for each session.
  An open and curious heart.
  A degree of courage, because love is a tricky thing to explore in the context of organisations.

Programme schedule

We meet each week on a Friday between 0900 and 1100 GMT for 6 weeks, on Zoom.  New dates for 2022 coming soon – and email me if you’d like to be added to the list of those interested.

Programme cost

The price for the entire programme is: £900.00 ex VAT,  and £600.00 ex VAT for people self funding, and for non-profits.    For those people whose organisation is paying for a place at the full price, you can also apply to purchase a second place at a nominal fee for a small charity whose work you are supporting – please contact me for more details about this arrangement.

The programme can also be run as an in-house organisational programme, perhaps for an intact team.

To book onto the programme please using helena@helenaclayton.co.uk to express your interest or call me on 07771 358881 if you have any questions or queries.