Leading with care and compassion for self & others through an increased awareness of our whole selves in communication.

Abstract

Embodied communication and leadership are, in essence about leading from our whole selves, finding presence in mind and body. Peter Hamill tells us in his book, Embodied Leadership ‘engagement with others requires entering fully into the relationship without knowing where it might go.’ (2013:151) Much of the information we need to support us in holding safe, inclusive, non-hierarchical, positive spaces and taking a person-centred approach to leadership is held in the sensing, feeling, intuiting parts of ourselves, in our ‘thinking bodies’. How do we learn to access that connection to body that supports us to lead from our whole selves? How can we nurture bodily awareness beyond the moments where our bodies tell us something is wrong, what does listening to our bodies look and feel like? This presentation will explore the Self/Other duality when building professional relationships with an emphasis on balance between resourcing oneself through a greater bodily awareness while remaining present to the movement qualities of others to inform our leadership choices. ‘ As we recognize energy within ourselves, we can also notice patterns in others and make choices about interaction,’ (Olsen, 2022: 119) Like a dance a positive rapport is built through back and forth, through deep listening and articulation and just like a piece of choreography phrasing forms the container of those interactions – beginnings, middles and ends go a long way but what happens on a micro scale in each moment if interaction and how can our physicality support that? Drawing on her practice as a Somatic Movement Educator, Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, Community Dance Artist and Lecturer, Nicholson proposes it is the greater connection and presence to Self that supports our capacity to be more present for others.
Introducing somatic and Laban-Bartenieff movement theory through themes of duality for wholeness, the component parts of human movement, our propensity to think our way through things and the application of embodied choice within professional contexts, she will draw out the transformative nature of kinaesthetic empathy, understanding ourselves and others through our movement patterns; recognising and becoming attuned to what serves us and perhaps what doesn’t, advocating for experiencing a fuller movement palette to access parts of ourselves we may rarely experience and as a consequence rarely share with others.
With an extensive background in dance, facilitation and educational leadership specifically in challenging contexts such as the criminal justice and recovery systems, Nicholson emphasises it is the phenomenological nature of the moving body that supports us in our ‘in the moment’ decision making and interaction, as improvising movers (whether dancers or not) ‘you have to feel fully and exclusively responsive to what is taking place, here and now.’ (Preston – Dunlop,1998:55)
As useful as this practice is in supporting everyday leadership choices, it is in moments of high stress, anxiety, escalating or challenging behaviour or the unexpected where techniques that support us to ground, breath, connect and align bring self and co- regulation of the nervous system as well as feeling more equipped to hold a safe space for others experiencing dysregulation. Nicholson advocates for leadership from the body, listening to self and listening to others on a deeper, more profound, more authentic level, developing a leadership approach that values the individual nature of each person we interact with at a micro level while building capacity to hold the macro picture through greater self-awareness.
As a movement researcher with UCLanDance on their Choreographies of Care project and co-author of Facilitating in the Moment: Being Ready For Change, Nicholson will focus on the benefit to present moment awareness to support our decision making, making the embodied choice for what actually happens before us as opposed to what was expected cognitively and using our somatic awareness to remain agile and adaptable to change, taking care of ourselves, to be able to take care of others. ‘The ability to connect to the instinctual, non-verbal aspects of building relationship and to be more present for others in the moment of delivery sits at the heart of our approach.’ (Nicholson et al, 2024) Referring to this chapter in The Artistry of Teaching in Higher Education, the presentation will unpick the practice of presence, the notion of repeating something to embody it and this practice supporting an approach that is rooted in care, compassion and empathy.
The presentation will include an invitation to connect body and mind, an introduction to the theory and practice of embodiment and an application of this work within a leadership context; delegates will be introduced to immediately applicable techniques that can be used to serve them during the conference and beyond.

References

Bartenieff, I. (1980) Body Movement: Coping with the Environment, London: Gordon & Breach Science Publishers.
Hamill, P. (2013) Embodied Leadership, London: Kogan Page Ltd.
Nicholson, L, Spencer, R & Wellhofer, K. (2024) ‘Facilitating in the Moment; Being Ready For Change’, in H. King (ed) The Artistry of Teaching in Higher Education, Abingdon: Routledge
Olsen, A. (2022) Moving Between Worlds, Middletown: Wesleyan Press.
Preston – Dunlop, V. (2010) Dance and the Performative, Alton: Dance Books Ltd.
Reynolds, D & Reason, M. (2012) Kinaesthetic Empathy in Creative and Cultural Practices, Bristol: Intellect.
Studd, K & Cox, L. (2020) Everybody is a Body, Outskirts Press