ICF annual conference 7 May
More than 80 coaches took time out for guided mindfulness practice to connect more deeply with themselves and other participants in Mark McMordie’s session on The Power of Feeling Safe: Leaders in a VUCA World at the UK ICF conference.
With the recent publication of Amy Edmondson’s The Fearless Organisation and increasing awareness of the importance of trust and psychological safety in successful teams, thanks to Google’s two-year Project Aristotle, psychological safety is on the agenda of most progressive organisations. McMordie’s own book, Mindfulness for Coaches, co-authored with Michael Chaskalson, is the first in the field to link mindfulness to ICF standards of coaching mastery.
“The book was always intended to start a dialogue within the coaching profession. This session brought the dialogue off the page and into the room. It was never intended to be abstract and theoretical, but to provide an indepth experience for participants,” McMordie told Coaching at Work.
One participant at the session, Bernice Hewson, service director at Computacenter, said, “What better way to understand psychological safety than to experience it in a room full of strangers? The guided meditation did just that for me. I experienced a surge of positive emotions, a much deeper connection to my partner and as a result I accessed a very personal challenge to explore.” Another, Jane Adshead Grant, said, “Mark’s session created space for us to connect deeply with one another…giving us the tools to practise giving attention, followed by a guided meditation for us to connect with ourselves, others in the room and more globally expanded our thinking and capacity to be present. And then the magic happened. You could feel the sparks, see the lightbulbs go on, hear the warmth of connection. New relationships were made. New possibilities emerged. New opportunities created. All from being present in the now.”
- Read McMordie’s article, Be Safe, Be Free, on pages 26-31