By Mary Kay DuChene.
So: How are you doing, really?
These days I find myself frequently asking others that question, “How are you doing, really?” It’s interesting that adding the little word “really” to the question causes people to pause, somehow sensing that it’s not just a simple offhand greeting I’m offering, but a real question, borne out of curiosity and compassion, inviting the receiver to reflect and offer a real answer.
It’s with that in mind that I think about the power and importance of reflective spaces. LeaderWise provides a variety of those spaces, including therapy, coaching, spiritual direction, and reflective supervision. These 1:1 accompaniment spaces are key to leading and living well, but what do you do when you’re not in these spaces?
Enter the reflective leadership model.
The Centre for Creative Supervision, a partnership between LeaderWise and Wesley House in Cambridge UK, has been reflecting on what it means to lead well in these times, and we’ve developed a model of reflective leadership. And, we are developing a year-long course to teach reflective leadership (more about that below)!
What is Reflective Leadership?
In the 21st century, social and cultural change is happening at a rate that’s difficult to keep pace with (the whirlwind), especially affecting institutions like congregations and morally centered organizations. Holding onto foundational values and core purposes in times of change involves making adaptive changes; the old ways of doing things will not lead us where we need to go. Effective leaders need to take time away to reflect, strategize, and restore their soul, mind, and body; and then re-enter their space to lead in ways that can build community and sustain change. Without this type of leadership, we risk burnout, or being whipped around by the whims of a too-fast pace with too little consideration for the next most faithful step. As a matter of fact, one respondent to a recent survey said, “Leading in 2025 is like leading in a snowstorm. I know there is a road there, and I think I’m on it, but it’s hard to see and I’m being pelted with wind and snow, and the visibility is terrible .”
Reflective Leadership is about the leader getting grounded and practicing regular time away to reflect. We call this regular time away “balcony time,” in adaptive leadership parlance, and on the balcony we reflect on questions like: What are my values? How am I showing up? Where are my blind spots? How am I attending to my sense of purpose? How are my own needs being met? What are my next steps? Reflective leadership helps leaders gain wisdom; restore their sense of wholeness, purpose, and call; increase their emotional intelligence; understand their system, think and discover without interruption; all so that they can go back into their contexts to create environments built around the reflective leadership model; that is, environments having the resilience to sustain healthy lasting change or find their way through systemic issues that hold them back.
Reflective Leadership draws on foundational leadership theories, wisdom traditions, and on the ethos and tools of reflective pastoral supervision (a covenanted, companioned space where peers use a specific process and creative tools to help a colleague see their work from the balcony). Five convictions shape our reflective leadership model:
Leaders develop themselves first, their people and systems second. Self-awareness comes before changing the system.
Trust makes change possible. Without a holding environment of trust and shared values, adaptive change cannot happen.
Purpose sustains us. A deep sense of call carries leaders through the ups and downs.
Wisdom is shared. Reflection works best in a regular, companioned community, using creative methods that engage body, heart, mind and soul.
Unseen assumptions steer us. Our mental models shape what we do, and what we cannot see we cannot change.
With this in mind, the Centre for Creative Supervision is excited to announce a new year-long course in Reflective Leadership. The course, which will be hosted for the first time August 2-6, 2027, will offer you:
A new model of leadership. Through a 5-day in-person intensive you’ll begin to learn a new leadership framework and build a network of colleagues who speak the same leadership language.
A reflective community. During and after the intensive, meet regularly in a facilitated, covenanted group that offers a safe place to bring live leadership issues, experience a holding environment, and gain a balcony perspective.
A creative toolkit. Learn methods for building trust, shaping ethos and setting direction with teams and communities.
Deeper self-awareness. Notice how you show up in groups, adjust your interventions, and understand your own place in the system.
Clearer purpose. Explore what anchors your sense of vocation, through practices such as spiritual attention, discernment and attending to the body and to metaphor.
Skill in creating environments that have the resilience to sustain change. Put your learning into practice in your context, and use your reflective community to reflect back on your learning, your actions, and their impact.
You will practice all of this in your own work and finish with a postgraduate-level certificate, a toolkit for ongoing reflection, and a community for the journey.
If you’re curious about this course, want a copy of the brochure, please contact us. Sign up here to be notified when registration opens in January. Your leadership deserves, and really demands, a new reflective way of being. Please join us!
