The Dream of Wholeness
“That sounds like their dream of wholeness.”~Esther Perel
Many people come to me in search of something.
➡ In search of what’s next for them.
➡ In search of skills to add to their range of leadership.
➡ In search of the answers to questions gnawing at them.
➡ In search of something that feels like it is missing.
➡ In search of something more meaningful for them.
The list goes on.
When we go deeper beyond the first things they are in search of (i.e. wanting), we often find that there is an experience of life and leadership that they crave.
➡ Some want to experience alignment in their work and life.
➡ Some want to experience trust in their skills.
➡ Some want to experience more connection with the people around them.
➡ Some want to experience more kindness with themselves.
➡ Some want to experience being really seen and heard and known.
And I think that is part of wholeness.
To have an experience with ourselves and the people and the world around us where we truly feel known and understood.
Not all of the time. We’re humans.
But to have the experience in our workplaces, with our leaders, with our teams, with our loved ones, with our communities, with the greater world as it applies to the identities we carry.
Now to be clear - we can not make people feel whole. That is an inside job.
(That for some of us requires years of coaching and therapy and allllll the things)
However, we can create the conditions that allow people to trust and feel safe enough to bring who they are to the spaces we are responsible for.
We can create the conditions where people’s humanity is prioritized over how much they produce.
(This list could go on too).
The point is that while as leaders we can not make people have the experiences they deeply want, we can be intentional about understanding what matters to them, really getting to know them, and knowing when our own conditioning is making assumptions or expectations that squashes who someone is.
Humanizing leadership means we see the nuances in what makes people who they are and allow for the expression of that.
