Trusting the process — A journey of self-discovery that led Josée to recognize her impact.
"I recommend this event without any hesitation. I would tell people to trust the process and to dare to do it."
Industry: IT / Telecom
Job title: Scrum Master
Here is what Josée had to share after her experience participating in a Surdek retreat.
The main challenge I addressed
I was looking for tools and ways for not letting my leadership be controlled by my emotions. I wanted to take control of my thoughts and my actions.
It is an experience which brings self-discovery and a better understanding of ourselves and others. The journey is very specific to each participant while being combined with constant sharing with the group. It is special and hard to describe, you have to experience it!
How my mindset changed
I think that what had the biggest effect on me was to share this experience with a group of people. The human experience is what changed me more than anything. I had not realized how much my leadership was part of all aspects of my life. I thought it was mainly part of my professional life.
Going through this experience with other people of different origins and experiences greatly enriched our discussions. It is a fairly simple realization but it changed the perception that I had of others and of myself. Furthermore, we find ourselves with a group of people who, like us, have a goal of improving and becoming better leaders. The conditions could not be any better.
What I learned
“Intentions”, “Impact” and “would I choose to follow myself?” I give myself the goal of starting the day by keeping these three things in mind. I end each day by circling back and reflecting on these points to close the loop.
Focusing on these three things allows me to realize right away if I am acting in a conscious way or if my emotions are about to take over. Questioning myself every day on my impact and the type of leader that I am allows me to make corrections which I did not do in a consistent way in the past.
When going into an experience such as this, there is always a bit of apprehension on what we will say or what other people will think. Steffan really succeeds in giving us the safe space necessary to participate in this kind of event.
My experience at the retreat
The fact this retreat is at a location such as Auberge West Brome is, I believe, one of the details that made my experience so rich. The introspection bubble that we shared would not have been the same in different conditions. Thanks to Steffan and his team for the attention to detail that allowed us to experience this retreat in such a wonderful way.
My three key moments
- I would say that my experience was a key moment that came through as a crescendo of reflections, sharing and realizations. The journey and the topics are well thought out and are presented in a logical order. It allows us to do a gradual introspection which is very effective.
- The reflections that I had got clearer and richer from one activity to the next. In particular, we did a “word map” on my perceptions of the word conflict. This helped me understand that I was categorizing my impact as negative each time things were more difficult. In the exercise, I realized that what I could see as negative could be transformed into something positive if I clarified my intentions in the conversations.
- The moment before returning to our respective lives and telling each other goodbye was another moment which will remain engraved in me.
