The Zen of Leadership
      By: Wendy Lubell & Cristina Naughton

Corporate leaders have been responding to recent turbulent market conditions by teaming up to revamp synergy, downsizing to maintain profitability, bringing in consultants to evaluate systems, merging to control a wider market, etc. While these actions may bring about temporary change, real change occurs only when the leader can shift his way of communicating and moving about within the organization.

The shift occurs when the leader blends his body, mind and emotional energy in a way that inspires and creates new possibilities for his team. Nine tenths of communication is conveyed by non-verbal language, only 10% by actual verbal dialogue. Imagine the power of focusing on the 90% we normally leave out.

Many forward-looking corporate and other organizational leaders are turning to qualified professional coaches to open up avenues to these greater dimensions of internal and external communication.

Non-verbal language consists of gestures, postures, sounds and any other communication that doesn’t involve verbal language. By exploring unfamiliar territories of human performance, a leader will learn how the body manifests itself in the work environment, how emotions manifest in the body, and how these integrated dimensions influence his performance as a leader.

We have found that non-verbal communication falls into three categories: Solidity, Fluidity and Zen. Each has a distinctive energy and a dominant body disposition.

How does Solidity play out in the leader’s communication style? Solidity is represented through the body posture. Standing or sitting, the posture reinforces or diminishes the speaker’s effectiveness in conveying strength, determination or grounding. Solidity in posture means standing with the weight equally forward/backward and side to side. We cannot be pushed over yet we bend with the flow. If we put too much weight on the front of our bodies we may convey over excitement, doing without thinking through, following our gut instinct, and not being grounded in our decisions. If we stand with too much weight on our heels we suggest that we hesitate to make decisions, revert to old patterns, and see things in outmoded ways.

What does Fluidity bring to the leader’s communication style? Fluidity is the ability to move freely and with ease, the body able to move in many directions without loosing its grounding. The leader who is fluid in posture and movement shows that he can see new ideas and is open to listening, discussing and creating.

How does the leader reach the Zen disposition? By blending all these energy dimensions. The Zen body is solid, flexible and centered. The body stands with invigorating posture, is physically flexible and the breathing stems from the diaphragm. Breathing from the diaphragm enables the body to be less stressed and the mind to be more creative. When the Zen leader breathes, he is able to visual goals, maintain a keen sense of awareness and tap into his intuition.

Practice and reflection --the coaching way-- can create change in the way the body moves. The body becomes the sounding board for intentions and a subtle alignment is created between body and action.

These dimensions offer leaders new territory to explore. What genuinely matters in organizations today is how open leaders are to reinvent themselves and carry their teams to new levels of performance. Business as before is not an option. As many top leaders are discovering, qualified professional coaches can equip leaders with tools and tactics they need to thrive.