TY - JOUR

T1 - Moving Leaders: What insights do experienced leaders develop by training the language of the body through a combination of dance and phenomenological-inspired leadership stories?

AU - Winther, Helle

AU - Højlund Larsen, Michael

N1 - CURIS 2022 NEXS 169

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Our bodies sense and communicate throughout our daily lives, and research shows there is a clear connection between embodiment and leadership. This project was carried out in a publicly approved course in leadership education through an innovative collaboration between a leadership philosopher and a dance researcher. We investigated what insights experienced leaders developed by training the language of the body through a combination of dance and phenomenological-inspired leadership stories, which were both written during the movement sessions and in situations from their daily leadership practice. Twenty-nine leaders from two different groups participated in the project that included expressive and improvisatory dance teaching, which mirrored communication dynamics in the leaders' everyday practice. This article portrays the development processes of these leaders, who went through a challenging and touching journey. They became more conscious of their own feelings, physicality and sensuality, and learned how the combination of dance, leadership stories and an increased awareness of the language of the body could nourish their embodied leadership competence.Even though learning from a course is in no way as complex as learning that takes place in everyday leadership experience, this project can contribute to the innovative research streams on movement, art and aesthetic practices as well as to understanding of the important role of experiential learning in the development of leadership. Organizational Aesthetics, 11(1), 159-179. Retrieved from https://oa.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/oa/article/view/271

AB - Our bodies sense and communicate throughout our daily lives, and research shows there is a clear connection between embodiment and leadership. This project was carried out in a publicly approved course in leadership education through an innovative collaboration between a leadership philosopher and a dance researcher. We investigated what insights experienced leaders developed by training the language of the body through a combination of dance and phenomenological-inspired leadership stories, which were both written during the movement sessions and in situations from their daily leadership practice. Twenty-nine leaders from two different groups participated in the project that included expressive and improvisatory dance teaching, which mirrored communication dynamics in the leaders' everyday practice. This article portrays the development processes of these leaders, who went through a challenging and touching journey. They became more conscious of their own feelings, physicality and sensuality, and learned how the combination of dance, leadership stories and an increased awareness of the language of the body could nourish their embodied leadership competence.Even though learning from a course is in no way as complex as learning that takes place in everyday leadership experience, this project can contribute to the innovative research streams on movement, art and aesthetic practices as well as to understanding of the important role of experiential learning in the development of leadership. Organizational Aesthetics, 11(1), 159-179. Retrieved from https://oa.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/oa/article/view/271

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - Body language

KW - Embodiment

KW - Emotions

KW - Movement

KW - Feelings

KW - Fear

KW - Joy

KW - Anger

KW - Sorrow

KW - Love

KW - Phenomenology

KW - Aesthetic practices

KW - Artistic

KW - Embodied leadership competence

M3 - Journal article

VL - 11

SP - 159

EP - 179

JO - Organizational Aesthetics

JF - Organizational Aesthetics

SN - 2168-8575

IS - 1

ER -