Leadership Conversations

Participants in future Conversations

Here is an up-to-date list of participants in our Leadership Conversations and Breakthroughs + Dinner from June to November 2019.

Details of Fellows joining us are available on the Agenda page for each Conversation.

 

Themes for Conversations through to May 2020

Below we set out the dates and themes of our Leadership Conversations through to May 2020.

As you will see, Background Papers and Agendas are available for Conversations through to November 2019.

Some Conversations are marked “Fellows only” because attendance is restricted to Leadership Fellows. Others are marked “Fellows+” because we are very happy to welcome Fellows’ nominees, such as a member of their top team or a key business partner.

 

Leadership Conversation
34
Being decisive AND fair: managing the challenge
From 6.00pm on Thursday 20th June 2019 until 3.30pm on Friday 21st
At this Conversation we hope to break new ground in engaging with one of the greatest challenges facing many leaders: managing the tension between our desire to be fair AND decisive. The Background Paper tells the tale of a mythical CEO to bring to life the issues that we will engage with on June 20/21. We will ask how much our desire to be fair to close colleagues mean that we avoid difficult conversations and end up compromising our integrity as a leader, by not always “speaking our truth”. Should we be more decisive in challenging under-performance, even if this results in us being called unfair and ruthless? If the answer is a tentative yes, what is the best way of establishing our case? The Background Paper suggests some key principles. Fellows +
One-night Leadership Conversation fee: £745
See the Agenda
Leadership Conversation
35
Goodbye Workaholism!
From 6.00pm on Thursday 11th July 2019 until 3.30pm on Friday 12th
Follows up our 2018 Conversation on Rebalancing our lives as leaders, which was regarded by pretty well all of us involved as a truly life-changing experience (Nurturing Wisdom, Volume 3, Chapter 6). We will explore the balance between the time that we give to our leadership roles at work and the time that we commit to our families, friends - and ourselves. How can we ensure that we are “ fully present” in all of our lives and leave behind those workaholic feelings of guilt when we’re not working? We will support each other in developing practical strategies for rebalancing our lives, drawing on the “safe space” of the House to enable us to discuss with each other some of those tricky issues that many of us are reluctant to discuss with ourselves. Fellows +
One-night Leadership Conversation fee: £745
See the Agenda
Leadership Conversation
36
Strategic ideas-building: Facilitation Masterclass
From 10.30am until 4.30pm on Wednesday July 31st 2019
Designed for Leadership Fellows who occasionally facilitate key strategic events where you know that outstanding leadership on your part can have a major impact on what you achieve together. What is the best way to “tee up” the session in the first few minutes? Should you create your own version of the Guiding Principles that we use for our Leadership Conversations? How can you best engage the group so that they feel they are shaping the key strategic choices with you? How should you handle the potential snipers, hijackers and blockers that could so easily trip you up unless you are ahead of the game? This will be practical, challenging and cutting edge. Fellows Only
One-day Leadership Conversation fee: £400
See the Agenda
Leadership Conversation
37
Disruptive leadership - YOUR way
From 6.00pm on Thursday 12th September 2019 until 3.30pm on Friday 13th
This Conversation will build on the insights arising from February’s Conversation on disruptive leadership: “ Taking on the Dementors”. We will ask what your personal strategy is for avoiding burnout when you encounter resistance in the face of disruptions that you favour as necessary to your own organisation becoming that much more customer-centric. How should you marshal the arguments in favour of disruption, to maximise support and enable teams to see the positive objectives that the disruption will enable you to achieve. When you find yourself facing opposition from blockers, how do you avoid mirroring their negativity and draw on your “inner Patronus” to keep yourself focused forward, whilst reassuring the doubters that you will be mindful of their anxieties and concerns as you follow through the change process? Fellows +
One-day Leadership Conversation fee: £745
See the Agenda
Leadership Conversation
38
Leading an all-star top team
From 6.00pm on Monday 23rd September 2019 until 3.30pm on Tuesday 24th
Building on the outcomes of a previous Conversation on Leading a Winning Team (Nurturing Wisdom, Volume 1, Chapter 9). This time we ask each Fellow joining us to identify those aspects of your top team that most hold you back from becoming exceptional. We compare notes and then support each other in tackling those key behaviours that detract from team performance. In the second part of the Conversation we focus on our own roles as team leaders, and what we should be doing to help transform our team into an all-star top team. Fellows +
One-night Leadership Conversation fee: £745
See the Agenda
Leadership Conversation
39
High performing leaders: going for the stretch
From 6.00pm on Sunday 13th October 2019 until 11.15am on Wednesday 16th
This is our second three-night residential for high performing leaders who are really committed to building your sense of confidence and purpose to be able to step forward as top performing leaders. Inspired by our first 3-nighter in March, that was our most exciting and stretching Conversation until then, we set our discussions with the framework of our new three-stage model that is designed to build trust and momentum as we go through the three days together. Please click on the agenda for an explanation of how we expect the three days to develop. You will see that we build up to “personal leadership walks” on the morning of October 16th. These draw on the life-changing moments that a group of us experienced on the final morning of our two-night Conversation in May 2019. Fellows +
Three-night Leadership Conversation fee: £1325
See the Agenda
Leadership Conversation
40
As a leader, do I "tone myself down" too much?
From 10.30am until 4.30pm on Tuesday October 29th 2019
At a previous Conversation (Nurturing Wisdom, Volume 3, Chapter 3) we agreed that we should challenge ourselves more often about whether we are “toning ourselves down” too much and in the process limiting our offer as leaders. Hence this one-day Conversation to support you in thinking through what you might do differently in those situations where you tone yourself down too much, as well as those situations where you might be toning yourself UP too much! How should we aim to become more consistent across our lives as leaders - and could there be such a thing as a self-balancing model of leadership? This looks set to be a really fascinating Conversation, as you will see if you click on the Agenda below.
Fellows +
One-day Leadership Conversation fee: £400
See the Agenda
Leadership Conversation
41
Leading with humility
From 6.00pm on Sunday 10th November 2019 until 11.15am on Tuesday 12th
Many of us like the idea of demonstrating greater humility as leaders. Yet various fears hold us back. Will some interpret humility as weakness? Can we really be humble AND firm at those times we need to be? What do we see as the main characteristics of a humble leader, and how can we apply them to ourselves so that we can truly empower others more and model the ways we want them to behave? By the end of this Conversation we hope that everyone joining us will have your own personal strategy for embracing humility as part of your wider style as a leader, with greater clarity about how this should enable you to increase your impact – and enrich your legacy – as a leader. Fellows +
Two-night Leadership Conversation fee: £995
See the Agenda
Leadership Conversation
42
From good to great: creating your own fast track
From 6.00pm on Monday 25th November 2019 until 3.30pm on Tuesday 26th
Draws on previous Conversations supporting Fellows in developing your personal strategy for moving from good/ v good to great as a leader. We assess ourselves against the 11 key qualities of exceptional leaders identified in Chapter 3 of Volume 3 of Nurturing Wisdom. Give that moving from good to exceptional is “a constant state of movement rather than a state of being”, how can we each best move forward more quickly? We support each other in identifying three key aspects of our leadership styles that could enable us to move forward with pace and “maintain our courage to reach for the stars” (building on our May 2019 Conversation). We hope that every Fellow joining us will end up with your own personalised strategy for fast-tracking your leadership from good/ very good to great. Fellows only
One-night Leadership Conversation fee: £745
Leadership Conversation
43
Achieving your top priorities in 2020
From 10.30am until 4.30pm on Tuesday December 10th 2019
The same Conversation this time last year was fully booked within 3 days of the agenda being posted on the site in July. This one offers you a great chance to compare notes with other Fellows about which key strengths of yours as a leader you most want to bring to the fore to help you nail your top priorities for 2020. Once as many of us as possible have sharpened them up, we will ask what it is about ourselves as leaders that can get in our own way. How can we ensure that next year we really do let go of these self-limiting behaviours? And how can we create a more effective informal support group around ourselves to help us in stepping forward more confidently as leaders? Fellows only
One-day Leadership Conversation fee: £400
Leadership Conversation
44
Managing conflict in teams
From 6.00pm on Thursday 23rd January 2020 until 3.30pm on Friday 24th
This Conversation will build on our July Masterclass on Strategic Ideas-building as well as last November’s Conversation on Creative Conflict (report on the Leadership Insights page, in Volume 4 of Nurturing Wisdom from April). Your role in handling conflict within your team is key to you achieving really high levels of trust AND candour. How can you manage conflict in ways that are real and open, so that you reassure conflict averse team members without diluting the “raw edges” to conflict that are essential to achieving creative outcomes? How can you avoid conflict becoming too personal without depersonalising it in ways that cover up the personal dimension to conflict that is nearly always there? And what groundrules are essential to you managing conflict as well as possible? This Conversation is especially designed for those Fellows whose instinct is to AVOID conflict whenever possible! It will be challenging and edgy - and there might even be a little conflict! With smiles on our faces ... Fellows +
One-night Leadership Conversation fee: £745
Leadership Conversation
45
The persuasive challenger
From 10.30am until 4.30pm on Tuesday February 4th 2020
In a world where many leaders are either too challenging or not challenging enough, we will ask what sort of challenger you most want to be. We will assess the range of options, with the indignant challenger at one end of the spectrum and the light-hearted teasing challenger at the other. In-between we will assess the merits of the barrister challenger who is always after “the truth”, the calmly assertive challenger who never gets riled (there aren’t enough of them around!) and the parodying challenger who makes people laugh whilst also making a serious point. Whether your challenges are too heavy or too light, too quick or too slow, we will create new options with you. Throughout the day we will support each other in becoming more versatile and less predictable as challengers - and always persuasive! Fellows Only
One-day Leadership Conversation fee: £450
Leadership Conversation
46
Becoming more courageous as leaders
From 6.00pm on Monday 24th February 2020 until 3.30pm on Tuesday 25th
At just about every Leadership Conversation we discuss the importance of courage in leadership. Most of us say that we need more of it, to influence our ways of leading on a day-to-day basis. How should we develop our mindset as leaders, so that we constantly replenish our inner reserves of courage and feel more confident drawing on them? What are the most common moments when we let ourselves down and need to make sure that we step forward more confidently? How can we best engage with our closest confidantes and invite them to tell us if and when they feel we have let an opportunity pass and failed to show the courage required of us? What might we do to reciprocate and support them in finding their courage in moments when they would like to step up more? When they show courage, should we acknowledge this openly - and if so, how? Personal courage, team courage and organisational courage: these will all come to the fore as we assess the challenges we should set ourselves if we are to become more courageous as leaders.
Fellows +
One-night Leadership Conversation fee: £745
Leadership Conversation
47
Crafting your story as a leader
From 10.30am until 4.30pm on Thursday March 12th 2020
Summary details to follow
One-day Leadership Conversation fee: £450
Leadership Conversation
48
High trust leadership: driving up performance
From 6.00pm on Sunday 22nd March 2020 until 11.15am on Tuesday 24th
Summary details to follow
Two-night Leadership Conversation fee: £995
Leadership Conversation
49
Strategic Ideas-Building: Facilitation Masterclass
From 6.00pm on Thursday 30th April 2020 until 3.30pm on Friday 1st May
Summary details to follow
One-night Leadership Conversation fee: £745
Leadership Conversation
50
At No 50: top challenges facing top leaders
From 6.00pm on Sunday 17th May 2020 until 11.15am on Wednesday 20th
Summary details to follow
Three-night Leadership Conversation fee: £1325
Leadership Conversation
51
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From 10.30am until 4.30pm on Tuesday June 2nd 2020
Summary details to follow
One-day Leadership Conversation fee: £450
Leadership Conversation
52
Title to follow
From 6.00pm on Thursday 18th June 2020 until 3.30pm on Friday 19th
Summary details to follow
One-night Leadership Conversation fee: £745
Leadership Conversation
53
Title to follow
From 6.00pm on Thursday 9th July 2020 until 3.30pm on Friday 10th
Summary details to follow
One-night Leadership Conversation fee: £745
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