Louise Kemps on Leadership Embodiment

"Leadership Embodiment is a whole box, or even a suitcase, full of tools that are easy to use and easy to remember.”

Louise Kemps is a co-founder of Stach. We focus on leadership development, organizational development, and team development. We provide services such as individual coaching, team coaching, and various interventions and tools. Louise participated in the Leadership Embodiment training program and will discuss what had the biggest impact on her.

How do you apply Leadership Embodiment in your daily life?

There are two aspects: my personal daily life and my business daily life. In my personal life, I have incorporated routines in the morning and evening. Some of these include meditation, journaling, and practicing Chi Neng Qigong for the past twelve years. Leadership Embodiment has offered me simple and highly effective exercises that help me focus. I have incorporated them into my personal life, every morning.

It has provided me with practical tools and exercises to work with clients, both individuals and teams, helping them to focus. People get triggered frequently, including myself. You could be triggered by someone giving a strange look, a colleague making a remark, or even just sighing. These exercises are simple, short, and assist in regaining personal power and occupying space. When triggered, one tends to become a diminished version of oneself, with a tendency to either fight or flee, but it's not the best version of oneself.

Leadership Embodiment is a comprehensive toolbox, even a suitcase, filled with easy-to-use and easy-to-remember tools.

What within this training made the biggest impact?

The training's biggest impact lies in its simplicity and profound framework. For me, it connected the dots of what I had learned before, encompassing physical exercises, meditation, mindfulness, self-focus, other-focus, and how to effectively and constructively relate the two. Initially, I didn't expect much from the training since I needed CCEU points for my ICF accreditation, assuming it wouldn't bring anything new. However, the training's structure is simple, well-organized, and provides a great framework that allows for deeper exploration, although it's not obligatory.

People experience triggers constantly in their daily lives, whether it's remarks from colleagues, visual expressions like eye-rolling, or even their own assumptions of being judged by others. Leadership Embodiment offers tools for teaching, learning, and adopting practices that help individuals center themselves in their core and potential. It covers the entire spectrum, allowing one to reconnect with others from that place. It's about connecting with others and the world, occupying physical space, and using that space to relate to oneself and others in a straightforward manner.

What part of the training did you find most inspiring?

Coaching and organization development often heavily rely on intellectual engagement. What was truly inspiring about this course was the focus on bodily exercises throughout the day, sensing various sensations and working with them. Leading oneself and others through bodily awareness is essential because it serves as our instrument. It's what we use every day, all the time, in all our interactions with everyone. This aspect was not only simple and easy to adopt but also enjoyable to engage in.

Would you recommend this training?

Well, that's quite obvious; otherwise, I wouldn't be here if I weren't enthusiastic about this training. In fact, I have already signed up for the next round.

For anyone working with individuals or teams seeking tools, insights, and techniques to address resistance and patterns, this training is perfect and straightforward. In just two days, it provides numerous tools to work with, reflect on, and reuse. It is highly effective. So, yes, I'm a fan.