The Power of Pause: Thinking together to navigate complexity

leadership development workshop

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📆 One-day workshop

The Power of Pause: Thinking together to navigate complexity

Navigating VUCA in workplaces: Experiential learning for greater insight and practical knowledge

Learn by Doing: Transforming insight into impactful action for navigating complexity in organisations

Choose the acronym that best captures your workplace experience: VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous), RUPT (rapid unpredictable, paradoxical and tangled, BANI (brittle, anxious, non-linear, incomprehensible). Modern work can be overwhelming and difficult to navigate. In an era of constant change and connectivity, the importance of reflective practices has never been more apparent for navigating complexity. The turbulence of technical and economic, social, and political dynamics pushes modern workplace endeavors into unpredictable territory. In this environment, pausing to recalibrate emerges as both a sanctuary for sanity and a profoundly effective strategy. ‘The Power of Pause: Thinking together to navigate complexity’ is an immersive workshop where we practice creating the space to consider ‘what is really going on – ‘thoughtful inaction’’. This insight generating experience helps you clarify what is needed next.

At the completion of this full-day workshop you will:

• Understand the value of strategically pausing, creating space for thoughtful consideration of complex workplace challenges and opportunities.
• Recognise the range of settings in which pausing to reflect can be effective in recalibrating, and informing effective decision-making in complex situations
• Be skilled in diverse reflective practices, including somatic awareness, role drawing, active listening, and free association,
• Have a strategy for applying the power of pausing in workplace routines.

‘We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience.’

John Dewey, American pragmatist philosopher

What’s included in this full-day workshop?

➣ The workshop includes a series of experiential learning exercises for participants to experience the ‘power of pause’, at the levels of the individual, in pairs, and groups and to consider wider contextual issues. This is a chance to practice using different approaches including somatic awareness, role drawing, active listening and free association to help make sense both of the ‘here and now’ experiences of the workshop, and apply them to ‘real life’ workplace dilemmas.

➣ A short seminar on the ‘Transforming Experience Framework’ (developed by the Grubb Institute, Long, 2016) is a useful reference point for considering different domains of influence on organisational roles and associated dynamics. We spend time reviewing how the practices can be built into back-at-work routines, so participants leave with strategies for navigating complexity using powerful pauses.

Who should attend this immersive workshop?

Leaders who aspire to navigate complexity with more ease

‘The Power of Pause’ is for leaders and managers who aspire to thoughtfully navigate the complexity of the modern workplace, those who seek a deeper understanding of unfolding situations, enabling informed responses rather than impulsive reactions. Join us for an immersive day of learning to support your leadership development, exploring strategic approaches to combatting overwhelm and skillfully navigating complexity.

References

Long, S. (2016) The Transforming Experience Framework, Karnac, London

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📆  DATE

Available between July – December 2025 (inclusive)

⏰ SESSION TIME

9.30 am – 4.30 pm

💷  For only

AUD $970

$825 per person (minimum of six) limited-time offer until June 30!

Email Helen to find out more about our custom-designed packages tailored to your organisation’s needs.

👩🏻‍💻 LOCATION

All workshops are available for on-site delivery, and the potential for a hybrid format can be discussed.

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The Power of Pause: Thinking together to navigate complexity

leadership development workshop with the following:

Helen McKelvie

Helen has had over 25 years of working in organisations to inform her approach to helping others gain insights into how they take up roles and how to achieve greater alignment with individual, team and organisational purpose. Her own roles as internal planning consultant, policy and project manager, and lawyer in workplaces in both the public and private sectors have provided her with first-hand experience of the complexity and challenges of organisational life.

Helen is an alumnus and now teaches in the Master’s program at the National Institute of Organisation Dynamics Australia (NIODA). She also has a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne. In addition to her academic qualifications, Helen is an accredited practitioner of PRISM Brain Mapping, an online, neuroscience-based behaviour mapping instrument, and is a registered Analytic-Network Coach. Helen also has training and experience in workplace mediation and yoga teaching qualifications.

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