Going Deeper with The 15 Commitments: How You’ll Know You’re Leading a Conscious Organization

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People often ask us, “What will it look like when we’re really living the 15 commitments of conscious leadership in our organization?” It’s a great question because it takes all the theory and brings it right down to ground level, where leaders and their teams do their work. So here is a list of some of the things we see going on when leaders and teams are actually living the 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership:

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People are saying…

• “I want to take my 100% responsibility for what is happening right now.”
• “Let’s separate facts from stories.”
• “I realize I’m below the line. I’d like to pause for 30 seconds and breathe.”
• “I appreciate you for …… (followed by a simple expression of something someone has done or been).
• “The story I’m making up is ….” And they're holding their stories lightly and checking them out (“I’m making up a story about you and I want to check it out.”).
• “I feel _________ followed by sad, angry, scared, joy or sexual/creative.”
• “What I hear you saying is ____________.  Is that right?”
• “What would a win-for-all solution look like?”
• “I have a withhold I’d like to reveal to you.”

People….

• Make clear agreements; who is going to what by when and writing them down.
• Use the clearing model to clear with each other regularly.
• Choose play and laughter over taking themselves or issues too seriously.
• Check to see if the opposite of their story could be as true or truer than their story.
• Renegotiate agreements they no longer plan to keep before the agreement is broken.
• Are clear and aligned around their zone of genius. This could be as simple as having a card on everyone’s desk that says, “Hi, my name is Jim and my zone of genius includes __________.”
• Practice 4 X 4 breaths. This is simply 4 breaths with a 4 second inhale and a 4 second exhale to shift back into presence.
• Take meditation breaks throughout the day.
• Choose not to gossip.

Business as usual looks like:

• A tissue box in every conference room because we welcome people feeling sad and shedding a tear.
• The victim, villain hero cards are on the floor. People will say, “I’m on the drama triangle around this issue. ” Then they physically get on the triangle and exaggerating the drama for two minutes.
• Meetings (including 1-1s) begin with presencing and a check in. This can look like one minute of stillness and silence followed by reporting a current body sensation, feeling state (sad, angry, scared, joy, sexual/creative) and a thought that is here now.
• Taking naps when tired.
• Holding meetings occasionally during a walk.
• Conference rooms, walls, desks and offices have artifacts (see below example) that remind people to practice.

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