Workshops with Host Leadership

Practical steps to engagement, performance and results in your organisations

We can offer workshops ranging from half a day to a full day or even longer. Read on…

It’s time to refresh your leadership style! Perhaps you are one of the many leaders around the world who would like to:

Engage your team and organisation – so they do more and you don’t get burnt out
Draw people together effectively – both from inside and outside your organisation
See your role as making the most of all the talent – not just telling it what to do next
Navigate the continually changing business environment to take account of new opportunities and learnings, not just make a plan and hope for the best.

The metaphor of leading as a host, as opposed to a hero or a servant, is currently creating new waves on the leadership and agile scene. Much current leadership thinking seems to put the focus on the leader. We think this is a mistake. Leading is about a relationship – between the leader and the others. The word ‘followers’ is not a great term for those people. It takes two to have a relationship – but the leader is only one person, one end of a relationship. This is particularly important in the flat and project-based organisational forms appearing today.

“An inspiring course with a good mixture of practice and guidance.” Susanne Hedlund, IT-Huset

Host Leadership is about building relationships – at work, in the community, in society, at home – to engage others. This engagement is the key ingredient that leads to increased performance and results. The art of hosting is as ancient as humanity itself – and it can also provide a rich and inspiring framework for many practical leadership skills and ideas – particularly where you need to use influence rather than hard power.

“Thank you for leading such a brilliant, inspiring, thought provoking and deeply practical workshop. I loved it and it resonated so much with both my working and non working journey and stage of life. Just Brilliant.” Matthew Currey, Campaigns Officer, Tearfund

In our one-day programmes we explore the landscape of host leadership together. This will be thought-provoking, it will be involving, it will be about real challenges and situations as much as new tools and frameworks. The content will be based on Mark and Helen’s new book Host: Six new rules roles of engagement for teams, organisations, communities and movements (Solutions Books, 2014), which introduced the six roles and four positions for a Host Leader. The book is a rich resource – but when added to Mark and Helen’s trademark lively, positive and interactive style, it all comes to life in a new and life-enhancing way. This programme will help you at work – and also at home, in your relationships, in your life.

“I find the concept of leader as host presented in this book to be a very practical and balanced way to think about leadership. Host is very helpful in breaking down daunting situations into manageable parts, which then reveals constructive next steps. Indeed, there were a couple of times while reading it where I stopped to perform a small step or send an invitation inspired by the insight gained from the book.” Daniel McCoy, Pixar Inc.

During the workshop you will:

Take a look at the challenges facing leaders – at all levels – in organisations and teams today
See a spectrum of leadership styles – from directive to supportive – to connect with your own natural leadership thinking
Meet the metaphor of leading as a host – a new yet ancient way of thinking, relevant across cultures and societies
Discover the rich ‘hostory’ – the background to hosting and the host/guest relationship
Connect with our six ‘roles of engagement’ – ways for a host leader to step forward
Stand in the four positions of a host leader – different viewpoints for success
Connect all of this with the challenges and tough situations you may be facing right now – at work, and in your life
Meet other like-minded people who are keen to adopt a more post-heroic leadership style

Other Workshop options

We offer one, two or three day programmes with Host authors Dr Mark McKergow and Helen Bailey. These can be taken all together, or in two or even three chunks to consolidate and expand your learning. Together, we will explore the landscape of host leadership. This will be thought-provoking, it will be involving, it will be about real challenges and situations as much as new tools and frameworks. The host leadership framework sits very well alongside Solution Focused (SF) methods and ideas, and so this workshop will be particularly interesting to those with some SF experience – though this is not at all necessary.

“The dynamic format was exciting and interesting. You were very perceptive and met our needs as a group by adding sessions and discussions when we needed them.” Thomas Björdell, IT-Huset

The content will in part be based on Mark and Helen’s book Host: Six new rules roles of engagement for teams, organisations, communities and movements (Solutions Books, 2014), which introduced the six roles and four positions for a Host Leader. The book is a rich resource – but when added to Mark and Helen’s trademark lively, positive and interactive style, it all comes to life in a new and life-enhancing way. This programme will help you at work – and also at home, in your relationships, in your life.

What’s included in each workshop option?

We always connect everything to the experience and questions of those who join us on the day – so if you are interested in bringing a new team together, re-energising an existing group, working with remote and virtual teams, working across cultures, then come along and join the dialogue!All our workshops can be individually tailored to your situation, so please get in touch to discuss options and how we can best help you and your organisation.

“Increasingly modern life leaves people feeling disconnected and distant. When you use the lessons in Host to be the most warm, gracious, and effective host your board, team, or clients have ever experienced, the effect will be all the more powerful.” Paul Wicks PhD, TED Fellow and VP of Innovation, PatientsLikeMe