In this interview series, I speak to experienced Agile practitioners about a specific training they took to find out what it was about, what they took out of it, and how they apply the material when working with the clients and organisations they serve.
Erin Randal
Erin Randall is a veteran organizational, agile, and coactive coach. She listens for what is emerging in people and systems, helping to make change bearable, sustainable, and even enjoyable. But mostly, she is all about happy people doing great work. You can find her at Ad Meliora Coaching.
Can you give me an introduction to the training you took?
I took the Strozzi Embodied Transformation training (which was called Embodied Leadership back then) in Spain in 2022. It consisted of two four-day trainings, a couple of months apart.
What is 'embodied leadership' exactly? What kind of exercises did you do?
It was first about understanding my own somatic awareness, including my physical reactions to a stressor or outside data. How can I work with that to respond and not to react? It also revolves around the topics of ‘what do I want to say yes to’ and ‘what do I want to say no to’. It is the physical practice of this work, so you know how it feels in your body and then they start putting you in situations so you can start practicing it there too. They have really good exercises and drills around this.
They also have you also have you do a lot of work with a ‘jo’ (a big wooden staff), which is a weapon from martial arts practice. The instructors told us that ‘how you show up with the jo is how you show up in life.’ If you have something going on in your mind or out in the world, it will affect how you practice with the jo. So the physical embodiment of working with the staff will help you take it back into the real world.
One of the most powerful exercises we ran was at the end of the second training, called ‘randori’: there are twenty people in a circle and you are in the middle. People will come at you in different waves. To some, you want to say ‘yes’, to some you want to say ‘no’, to some you say ‘maybe’. I thought my default setting was to say ‘no’ to most things, but actually, I ended up saying ‘yes’ to practically everyone. That was enlightening and a bit shocking.
You get to practice it, so the next time we did this exercise I was able to be much more mindful and thoughtful, so I could ‘yes’ to one thing and ‘no’ to something else. I said ‘no’ a lot more the second time.
Another example was called ‘The Grab’: you would stand there, arms out, palms up, eyes closed and someone would come up and grab you. You know it is coming, but it is still disconcerting. I was pretty sure I knew what my reaction would be: to fight and I was right. When we work with people, we can also experience a ‘grab’ emotionally. So you learn to control that initial reaction so you can give the response you want instead of being at the mercy of your body’s reflex.
How do you use what you learned in this training?
I use so much of what I learned there a lot when I am coaching executives, department heads, or anyone frankly because I ask the question ‘To what do you want to say yes and to what do you want to say no’.
More in general, I use their foundational work because I am mindful of my own triggers and what happens when I am stressed. I am better able to serve others in those moments because I am able to see it. I am more grounded and mindful in those moments.
Yesterday I was working with a client and I could see the physical manifestation of how the system was impacting one individual. As coaches, we sometimes feel a bit about what our client is experiencing at that moment because we pick it up in those moments. This program has helped me to be more able to coach people through the physical side of what they are experiencing. I am now comfortable and do not get triggered by what I am seeing, I can be empathetic without taking all of that on myself. It also gave me a language around being of service in that moment.
The Strozzi Leadership Transformation material is not something I pick up as a tool, but it impacts everything I do. I am very clear about how I want to be in a situation and I know what triggers me.
Believe it or not, this work even influences how I hike!
To whom/when would you recommend this training?
I would recommend this to very experienced coaches and high-level managers, consultants, directors, etc. who want to broaden their practice and want to find different ways to serve their systems. It is not a separate tool as I said, so it is really something for experienced practitioners. The kind of people that have ‘been there and done that’ and know there is more out there.
Do you need a lot of coaching training or experience before you do this program?
I do not think you need a lot of coaching experience per se, but I think you need a lot of self-awareness because it is so physical.
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