Grab the future by the wrist

Martial art practitioner Mark Bradford has researched a leadership development framework inspired by Eastern philosophies, which incorporates both mental and physical communication skills.

B illions of dollars each year is invested by organisations in leadership development and for any leadership development process to be effective people must be able to not only reflect on their learning experiences, but also transfer that learning to their day-to-day reality in the workplace.

Many leadership development approaches still reinforce more individualistic notions of ‘heroic’ leadership which focus on people thinking well together – leadership primarily positioned as a cognitive process.

In my opinion leadership is also embodied within social processes, and in response I researched a leadership development framework inspired by Eastern philosophies, which incorporated both mental and physical communication skills.

As well as being a lecturer and designer, I train in the Japanese martial art of Aikidō. I first had the idea for my PhD thesis while watching a physical demonstration of a multiple attack situation at a Wellington Aikidō dojo. I realised that Aikidō practices – where practitioners defend themselves while protecting their attacker from injury – suggested a collaborative way of working with others, which could potentially be used in a design process and within social innovation projects.

Aikidō involves: • Techniques of harmony, rather than contention, where notions of leadership transcend the individual: rather, it is a collective capacity generated in the relationships and interactions among people. • As a designer, Aikidō also offered creative inspiration. Creativity in Aikidō is an emerging event which involves constantly reassessing one’s situation and priorities by managing the relational interactions among people to lead collaborative opportunities.

Aikidō is about relating to people, and moving through the world in a good, helpful way. When we train, we embrace leadership as a joint process: it’s a 50/50 relationship that transcends an individual’s ego. What I found in my research was that leadership in Aikidō is embedded in social interactions.

By applying Aikidō principles, I designed BeWeDō – a unique co-creation experience innovation which activates both the body and mind through physical movement to help people work creatively together.

Co-creation is an act of creativity shared by two or more people where ideas and experiences are exchanged to come up with new perspectives and solutions. It is an

event that is created intentionally with the idea that you don’t know in advance what is going to emerge.

BeWeDō uses one specific Aikidō movement exercise – tai no henko – which offers participants a motion-led experience where they can develop relational leadership skills required for co-creation.

Tai no henko begins when you offer your hand and your partner grabs your wrist. It teaches how to move your body to a more desirable position. Movement is the key: you have no choice but to physically move and engage with others, and that moves you mentally as well. BeWeDō is less about ‘me first,’ and more focused around communicating with movement – ‘let’s go together.’

Since 2014, I have delivered papers and facilitated BeWeDō sessions in Slovenia, England, the USA and New Zealand.

People really enjoy thinking while moving and have positively compared the BeWeDō framework to ‘walking meetings’ and the ‘talking stick’ technique where one person listens, one person speaks, and there’s no interrupting. When people do a session, one of the things that nearly everybody responds to positively is that the movement practices are a fun way to acknowledge each other, hear different perspectives, and put everyone participating on an even playing field. One participant said he also “felt more heard” than in an ordinary conversation, because the person he was doing the session with ended up ‘standing in his shoes’ when they ended up literally, as well as mentally, facing in the same direction.

In this age of digital distractions and interruptions, people found magic in the experience of physically connecting. A session is the opposite of sitting ‘pinned’ around a table or trapped passively listening to a Powerpoint presentation.

THINKING ON OUR FEET

The BeWeDō movement practices activate conversations in which participants create ideas together. For one participant:“I think movement really helps the brain to think – rather like walking – but tai no henko helps with the connection/conversing/give and take aspect.”

The process gives all participants the power to be heard. Another participant said: “I was amazed at how easy the conversation flowed. We had an awesome conversation. I was like, okay, let me come onto your side and think about it from there. Have you tried this? And let me take you around and think about this problem together.”

When you physically move an idea around the room with your partner it puts “you into a different mindset than having a chat over a cup of coffee or sitting at your desk having a conversation. It allows the conversations to go and happen in a different way. Your comment is going to take the discussion somewhere.” The movement practices eliminate hierarchies and empower people to move another person in any direction they want, which means they can move the conversation in any direction they want.

I have comments from more than 75 people who have attended sessions with me. A participant commented: “it’s good to see people being patient and listening to instructions, taking turns which I think is really important. It’s something you don’t see in everyday life – people try to talk over each other, they’re not really listening to the other person, they’re just waiting for their moment to chuck in their five cents. It’s inclusive, it’s welcoming – you don’t feel you can’t say this or you can’t say that.”

For another participant it “encourages team work, team feelings, getting on the same page, while still communicating different perspectives in a respectful way.”

Building relationships and workplaces where people feel free and safe to co-create possibilities with each other is essential in today’s economy. We need to explore better ways of working together because there is no choice.