An online and self-paced course on how to take care of ourselves and our relationships in changemaking. This course is created by CoCo Labs, and powered by Ashoka.
This learning journey will help you develop greater resilience: the capacity (how much) and ability (competence or skill) to lead and make change effectively amid pressure, stress and complex circumstances. You will also access tools and techniques to support your wellbeing.
In this journey you will be introduced to the relationship between your inner condition (your mental, emotional and physical states), and the effectiveness of your actions in the world. And, we’ll ask you to think about some specific, concrete ways you can move toward greater wellbeing in your professional and personal life.
Everything we share with you about wellbeing is evidence-based. We draw from different disciplines including neuroscience, philosophy, integral theory, systems change theory, and psychology, among others.
Learning objectives:
Understand the importance of wellbeing towards navigating complexity successfully, practicing effective leadership, and creating healthy systemic change.
Establish the relevance of wellbeing in your own work and life.
Assess your own wellbeing and choose an area you would like to improve.
Gain insight into how the nervous system works and how it affects relationships in the context of work and personal life.
Learn and gain practise with tools that will help you recognise what state your nervous system is in and find ways to settle and regulate it.
Get more deeply grounded in the frame/orientation that all work happens through relationships.
Practice different kinds of listening and understand the impact of each.
Who this is for
This course is open to changemakers from any sector. Whether you are an entrepreneur, activist, nonprofit worker, intermediary, funder, or a change leader from any discipline, this series is designed to share foundational practices that enhance your leadership skills & relationships.
Each module includes a video and a worksheet with a series of exercises and self-reflections to help apply and integrate the learnings into your everyday life and work.
For those interested in doing a deeper dive into the topics, we provide links to additional resources.
Dates:
This is a self-paced course, and is always available upon registration.
Commitment:
Self-paced learning. We recommend blocking time to complete one module a week (90 minutes). We also advise finding a peer or team member to go through the course content with. Or creating a small circle of peer learners to support each other and hold each other accountable for the learning and application of the course.
This is a self-paced course, so learners can work on the modules at their own rhythm. While it’s possible to view each module as "stand-alone," our experience as leadership coaches strongly recommends completing all four modules in the sequence we describe below to make the most of the content for your own leadership.
Modules
Module 0 – Introducing the Course
An introduction to the course, themes, learning objectives and structure.
Module 1 – Wellbeing, Complexity & Systems Change
By the end of this module, you will have a clearer understanding of the importance of wellbeing for systemic change, and an understanding of your current wellbeing status, including any challenges that you would like to address.
Module 2 – Resilience and the Nervous System
By the end of this module, you will understand the role the nervous system plays in effective leadership, the importance of working with your nervous system, and practice how to identify and regulate the state of your nervous system.
All of this supports your cultivating greater resilience - the capacity and skill to stay grounded and centered in the midst of complex circumstances, to collaborate more effectively, and to recover from setbacks and challenges - so that you can create the impact you are dedicated to making.
Module 3 – Relationship and Conversation
By the end of this module, you will recognize that relationship is a core foundation of leadership, and gain tools to enhance the quality and effectiveness of those relationships. you will gain tools to enhance the quality and effectiveness of those relationships. You will also understand and gain some practice in the kind of listening that supports cultivating trust, the key to working together effectively.
Support our work
This learning journey is offered free of cost thanks to the generosity of our community. To help us develop new content and make sure it is accessible to more changemakers please donate to Ashoka today! Any contribution is deeply appreciated.
The Wellbeing lab has been a gamechanger for me as an Ashoka Fellow. I've enjoyed learning new tools that I can practice in my work, and connecting to other Fellows to share experiences, tips and laughter.
Wellbeing for Changemakers participant
You created a wonderful container and facilitated the engagement so gracefully. What a great sense of solidarity to be in this conversation with others across the world. Yet, at the same time it felt like an intimate and "close in" space to me.
Luzette works on social ecosystem activation and system change through the design and facilitation of transformational learning processes. She works in the areas of human development, being-well, and awareness-based leadership development for Changemakers.
For two decades she has focused on social entrepreneurship through different roles at Ashoka, including launching Ashoka’s Learning & Development to deepen an organizational learning culture in support of their vision of accelerating the emergence of an “Everyone a Changemaker” world.
Luzette is the founder of Alive & Thriving, LLC, a human development incubator for individuals and groups, and co-founder of Consciousness Coalition (CoCo Labs), a collaboration initiative to integrate human development into community development. Luzette is adjunct faculty at George Washington University Center for Public Leadership’s e-co Leadership Coaching Program. She holds a BA in Finance & Intl Rel, a MSc in Holistic Science (whole and complex systems). Professional Certified Coach PCC, Theory U facilitator, Being-well coach and mindfulness practitioner.
Michela helps co-ordinate and implement programs within the Globalizer Team, across various partnerships within Ashoka. She is part of a team that works to engage social and business entrepreneurs in a process that challenges traditional notions of scaling social impact.
Before joining Ashoka she worked as a corporate lawyer in Malta and was involved in local human rights, environment and social business initiatives.
She studied International Environment Law and Corporate Law at Cambridge University and is finishing a part-time MSc in Sustainability.
