Self-Leadership: Strengthening Leadership Effectiveness from the Inside Out

Self-leadership is essential to personal wellbeing and leadership effectiveness - whether you are called to be a responsive leader in your workplace, community, or family. At the Bakken Center, we describe self-leadership as an intentional alignment between your values and your daily actions and behaviors that can lead to enhanced personal wellbeing and effectiveness in all areas of life. At its core, it involves increasing our capacity for self-awareness, self-care, emotional resilience, and self-efficacy. It also acknowledges the powerful ripple effect that self-leadership and good self-care can have on our relationships with others, whether at work, at home, or in our larger communities.

In this four-part online series, designed for those in either informal or formal leadership roles or aspiring leaders, you will learn practical and proven approaches for building your resilience and self-leadership competencies, from the inside out. Each interactive session will include informative presentations, experiential exercises, personal reflections, and easy-to-apply tips designed to increase your skills and confidence as you support and lead others. 

Workshop 1: Self-Leadership Essentials: Caring for Yourself as You Care for and Lead Others

Workshop 2: Cultivating Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Resilience

Workshop 3: Enhancing Relationships and Teamwork through Mindful Communication

Workshop 4: Effectively Navigating Conflict and Collaboration

Self-Leadership Essentials: Caring for Yourself as You Care for and Lead Others

This session will include a deep dive into the concept of self-leadership and building your personal wellbeing, resilience and self-leadership competencies, from the inside out. The Bakken Center’s Wellbeing Model will be explored, especially as it pertains to the everyday stressors and gifts unique to leadership.

Prior to the session, you will be encouraged to complete a short wellbeing assessment. During the session, time will be allocated for you to reflect on what wellbeing and self-leadership means to you, and to establish 2-3 key priorities to focus on for the remainder of the series.

Cultivating Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Resilience

Much has been written about the significant role emotional intelligence (EQ) plays in effective leadership. This session will review Daniel Goleman’s emotional intelligence competencies and focus on self-awareness and self-management as building blocks for self-leadership and our capacity for emotional resilience.

You will be supported in learning and practicing new methods for being with difficult emotions with greater equanimity and understanding. We will also explore the important function positive emotions play in cultivating balance and perspective. You will leave the session with practical tips and approaches for increasing your EQ and emotional resilience. 

Enhancing Relationships and Teamwork Through Mindful Communication 

In this session, we will bring self-leadership to our relationships by exploring a communication framework and specific skills that support strong connections and effective teamwork. You will learn the Bakken Center’s mindful communication method, a practice that embodies and promotes mindful presence and relational and team wellbeing. We will explore strategies and tips for building skills and confidence in putting mindful communication into daily practice. 

Navigating Conflict, Collaboratively 

Even under the best of circumstances, differences and conflicts are bound to occur in our daily lives, including in our workplaces. Many of us find conflicts stressful. We try to avoid them or may react in ways that we later regret. The good news is we can learn to handle conflicts more wisely and productively, and improve our relationships along the way.

This session will present an overview of conflict styles, with a focus on strategies that promote collaborative methods for preventing and resolving conflicts. Prior to the session, you will be invited to complete a confidential conflict style assessment to privately and periodically review during the session.