Written by Rehan Badar, Office of the Auditor General | Khadija Leadership Network
It was to my surprise that it had been over three weeks since I got back from our opening retreat “System and Self”, and the magic was still well and truly alive.
When I reached the beautiful St. Francis Retreat Centre on a fine Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland morning it was a strange feeling, as I am not used to be among so many people that I know nothing about and would have to spend next 3-4 days with. As the retreat progressed, I realised that it was a deliberate master stroke from the lovely Leadership New Zealand team to not share too much about the cohort and let us all meet each other without any prejudice.
In the beginning, we explored the power of checking-in and shared how we arrived and what we wanted out of the day with the cohort. This was a simple but effective way of engaging with the audience at the start of our korero, and I have been practicing it with my teams since the retreat. We also discussed the importance of listening and explored differences between listening to respond and listening to understand.
The sessions with guest speakers were insightful and relatable. I realised how important and empowering it is to think about the future that may seem impossible and believe in it. The speakers also laid some challenges for our cohort to work through during this programme. The challenges that resonated with me the most are how I am going to lead with people who are different, and how I am going to have the ability to change the leadership matrix and let people make decisions with people about people. For me, the retreat was about picking up nuggets of wisdom irrespective of where they come from.
I feel quite privileged and thankful for the opportunity to be on this amazing journey with the “New Zealand Leadership Programme” as I don’t often get time to reflect on the most important person in my busy life, i.e. myself. Can’t wait to continue this journey. Bring it on!