International Leadership Association (ILA) 2012 Pre-Conference Workshops Related to Followership

August 23, 2012

I’m excited to tell you about two pre-conference workshops that have been scheduled for the International Leadership Association (ILA) 14th Annual Global Conference.

I am co-leading one of them, Teamwork Tango: Bridging the Divide Between Leaders and Followers, with Yael Schy, of Dramatic Strides Consulting

As you may know, I produced a video on the tango as a means of visually demonstrating the partnership in dynamic leader-follower relationships. Our workshop continues in this spirit by giving leaders the experience of what followers need from them and enabling followers to better understand the challenges and needs of the leader.

Through movement exercises, each participant will experience both leading and following and the need to gracefully change in synch with changes in the environment.

Yale Schy, MSW, is a coach and organization consultant who draws heavily from her background in dance and improvisational theater. She will be the real leader in this workshop, and I will enjoy being a courageous follower!

The other pre-conference workshop I am enthusiastic about is Dynamic Governance: Combining the Creative Power of Hierarchical and Horizontal Organization.

Dynamic Governance was developed in the Netherlands where it is known as “sociocracy”. It emphasizes consent-based decision making among individuals, reducing the power differential in traditional leader-follower relationships. It will give participants the best tools and structure for achieving this that I have seen.

The tools include circle structures to improve feedback, double-linking between levels of groups to “hard wire” servant leadership and courageous followership, and “many-mind” decision-making for resolution of policy issues. The workshop will include representatives from organizations in the Denver area that use Dynamic Governance.

The workshop presenters are Sheella Mierson from The Sociocracy Consulting Group, John Buck and Gregory Rouillard from Storm Integrated Solutions. John Buck co-authored We the People, Consenting to a Deeper Democracy: A Guide to Sociocratic Principles and Methods, a book which explains and draws heavily upon the original ideas and models of Gerard Endenburg.

If you are not already an ILA member this is a very good time to consider joining. Yearly dues are modest and membership gives you access to a wide range of benefits worth far more than the dues. You will also receive a significant discount on conference fees. I hope to see you at the conference! Look for the Followership Learning Community welcome table.

Service	Duration
KEYNOTE SPEECH	45 MINUTES – 1.5 HOURS
PANEL PARTICIPATION	1.5 HOURS
SEMINAR OR WEBINAR	1 – 2.5 HOURS
HALF DAY WORKSHOP	3 – 3.5 HOURS
FULL DAY WORKSHOP	6.5 – 7.5 HOURS
TWO DAY WORKSHOP	6.5 – 7.5 HOURS PER DAY
CUSTOMIZED PROGRAMS	MIX AND MATCH MANAGERS AND STAFF 1.5 – 2 DAYS
TRAIN THE TRAINER	3 DAYS + SUPPORT
EXECUTIVE COACHING	3 – 6 MONTHS