Welcome to Slow Leadership!
We’re excited to introduce the blog portion of the Slow Leadership website, where we’ll periodically share news, upcoming events, publications, and things we’re thinking about.
For this inaugural post, we each share brief insights about how our backgrounds or interests inform Slow Leadership and how we are using Slow Leadership tools in our classrooms, workplaces, family lives, and social settings.
Christine
Recently, I’ve used Dr. Kristin Neff’s concept of self-compassion to inform my pedagogy and leadership-focused research. Self-Compassion is a theory that can guide us through life’s dips, curveballs, and disappointments. When we face feelings of overwhelm, failure, shame, or self-blame, we can use self-compassion to respond to ourselves with warmth, encouragement, connection, and support. We can do this by acknowledging our feelings of discomfort, by recognizing that our imperfections connect us to others and make us human, and by treating ourselves with care and understanding instead of harsh judgment.
A growing body of research demonstrates that self-compassion has powerful benefits for improving the human condition. Using self-compassion can help us:
● manage stress
● improve motivation
● reduce anxiety and depression
● develop healthier relationships
● increase resilience
● decrease perfectionist tendencies
● improve physical health
I deeply value self-compassion because I have witnessed its transformative power in my students' lives, in my colleagues' experiences, and on my own personal journey. Teaching self-compassion as a leadership tool is crucial because it fundamentally alters our perception of failure. With self-compassion, we can redefine failure not as a paralyzing setback, but as an opportunity for growth and transformation. This perspective shift empowers us to embrace challenges, learn from setbacks, and continue moving forward with resilience and kindness toward ourselves and others.
Sheryl
Most recently, I attended the National Collaborative for Health Equity conference, which convened team leaders of Truth Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers.
TRHT is a framework steeped in values based on restorative justice. The breakout session that I enjoyed the most was on mindfulness practice, taught by Michelle Chatman, a Professor, Crime, Justice, and Security Studies & Founding Director, Mindful & Courageous Action (MICA) Lab at University of District of Columbia. She says: “Mindfulness has been proven to support emotional wellbeing by reducing stress and anxiety while enhancing our empathy and mood.
Culturally responsive practices such as storytelling, music, nature, ancestral reverence, and BE-ing are equally powerful in supporting our resilience and expansion.” The time in the breakout space was especially transformative because we were truly able to unburden ourselves from the rigors of the conference (travel, being away from home, brain fog, etc.) and also the rigors of life (work, school, health, etc.). She provided participants with fluffy white towels, yoga mats, and had us move chairs around to hold up our feet for optimal comfort.
Of course, we focused on our breathing, as she beckoned us to remain in the present moment as much as possible. We were cautioned not to think about the future or the past, understanding how easy it is to miss a moment.
The most fascinating part of our time together in the session was when Michelle offered a series of affirmations:
● I am here
● I am safe
● I am worthy
● I am enough
Unpacking each of these statements proved to be very liberating for the group. So many wise and insightful comments came from everyone in the room. At the end of the session, everyone lingered to continue the conversation.
Mindfulness is a key element of Slow Leadership and embracing it gives us the mindset to lean into slow. Mindfulness produces an intentionality to focus on what is happening in the present moment when we enter a decision-making process. In your own mindfulness practice, I hope that you will take the time to note why you are here, confirm that you are safe (as you can be), know that you are worthy, and, most importantly, that you are enough.
Rachel
In my own field of visual arts, my current research focuses on listening as a method in contemporary art, and I’m a certified practitioner in Pauline Oliveros’s methods of Deep Listening. I explore different ways that artists enact listening or facilitate situations for other participants to enter into listening experiences, specifically with the aim of cultivating connections, whether between humans or with the natural world. Listening is certainly not a method exclusive to artists, however, and a key piece of Slow Leadership is about building our capacities to pay attention, with intention—listening more carefully to ourselves and to those around us.
Over the past year, I’ve been trying out a series of listening inquiries in my studio art classrooms, to build those capacities in my students as well. On the first day of one class last fall, I paired up students and sent them to go on a short walk together and interview each other.
There were just a few questions they needed to ask, but they had to pay close attention so that they could introduce their walking partner to the class upon their return. This included repeating details and making sure that they could pronounce their partner’s name correctly. Doing this activity on the first day of class set the stage for a relational classroom dynamic that continued to unfold throughout the semester.
We are grateful that you took the time to engage with us. Looking forward to reconnecting with you soon!
