Bowen Island Intensive
Bowen Island, British Columbia
June 4th to 7th, 2020

Join us on beautiful Bowen Island, BC, June 4th to 7th, 2020 for 4 days of deep learning and applied practice for working effectively with the complexity of ourselves (inside) and the challenges we face in work and life (outside).

Over the past 25 years, our work has become more and more focused on helping clients work with the complexity that surrounds them. Leaders in organizations of all kinds tell us repeatedly that they are working with more uncertainty and are overwhelmed with information and options while being increasingly constrained by limited time and resources.

Working and learning globally for the last 2+ decades we have assembled a body of work that has proved to be profoundly helpful in helping people make sense of this complexity and act in intelligent ways together.  We have drawn on:

• Complexity theory and practice from the work of David Snowden, Dee Hock, Cynthia Kurtz and Glenda Eoyang.
• Dialogic and participatory leadership practice from the Art of Hosting community and the dialogic organizational development world.
• Personal leadership work based on the inquiry practices of The Work (of Byron Katie) and informed by neuroscience, complexity theory and mindfulness practice.

We have learned that it is possible to both understand complexity and function within it, leading teams and organizations in a direction, doing good work, and navigating uncertain and dynamic contexts.  This is done through the use of participatory approaches and through a rigorous personal practice that helps to develop resilience and resourcefulness, and to understand and shift limiting patterns of thinking and action.

Working in complexity requires us to work from the inside out. The more we can increase our personal capacity for diversity, emergence, creative thinking and uncertainty, the more capable we are of leading and hosting groups of people in the same contexts. Shifting patterns inside our own system as well as in the systems we are working with both require rigorous, complexity informed practice.

This retreat is the first time we have offered all of our theory, practice and tools this way, and all in one place. It represents an opportunity to come and learn an eclectic and effective approach to leadership development. These tools are useful for anyone working with complexity and uncertainty, at all levels of organization or community life. Whether you have a formal leadership role in a system or you show up to help others, there will be something in this for you.

We believe these tools are not simply exceptional ways of navigating complexity, but that they help us do so in a way that builds relationships across and among differences and helps people and organizations strengthen their resilience in the face of sometimes crushing social dynamics. These are tools of sustainability: sustainability of effort, of wellness, and life.