Shadow, Agency, and Growth

Overview

This is a story of facing our shadows, overcoming setbacks, and navigating these challenges through agency and growth. In this interactive group simulation, you will explore the challenges faced by Patricia, a newly hired project manager in a male-dominated tech company, as she works to establish her professional identity and find her voice amidst subtle yet powerful obstacles. Led by your skilled facilitators, Gloria Song and Carol Gorelick, you will learn how to build leadership and agency through Patricia's journey toward professional flourishing, despite the adversities she faces in her work environment.

Purpose

This simulation offers a unique opportunity to develop your inner capacity to sense situations, catch your reactions, and turn them into opportunities for growth and exercising your agency. Gloria and Carol will guide reflections through Gloria’s leadership model called “Circle of Flourishing Leadership,” which consists of Inner Capacity, Performance Capacity, and Relational Capacity. The course is designed to expand your inner capacity, ultimately amplifying your performance and relational impact.

Key Concepts in the Simulation:

Identity and Its Impact on Building Inner Capacities

Participants will explore how Patricia’s emerging professional identity intersects with her cultural background, workplace expectations, and personal values. The simulation invites you to delve into the complexity of embracing both personal and corporate identities.

Facing the Shadow and Self-Critics and Overcoming Them

As Patricia encounters obstacles in the workplace, participants will experience firsthand how these setbacks impact them and explore ways to navigate them in an empowering manner. Facilitators will share how coaching can support individuals in identifying self-criticism and turning it into an opportunity for growth.

Recognizing Your Power and Agency

Participants will learn how exercising choice and agency aids in healing and personal and professional growth. Through Patricia’s growth, you will discover how strengthening your agency expands core inner capacity, performance, and relational capacity within the framework of “Flourishing Leadership.”