Calling all oikees, active & alumni to the next AGORA – our virtual community space!
oikos Graz will explain what chapter LEAP is and what they are doing within this initiative and show the strong cooperation they have with oikos International.
The aim for this AGORA is to empower and inspire other chapters to run “chapter LEAP” also at their chapters. We would also love to provide a space for sharing in which other chapters can share their experience with it and hear testimonials from participants and alumni from the original program.
Everyone interested in the LEAP culture is warmly welcome to attend!
For the first time ever participants of the LEAP YOUth 2022 which took place from February until December 2022 put into practice what they have learned during the LEAP and share their knowledge with the outside world with the: LEAP YOUth Summit 2023. They are going to introduce you to the five Inner Development Goals (IDGs) – Being, Thinking, Relating, Collaborating and Acting – through different workshops. The Inner Development Goals The workshops are going to take place online from Feb, 18th to Feb, 25th 2023.
What is the LEAP YOUth? It’s a 10-month transformational leadership programme organized by oikos International focusing on building capacity in theoikos communitywith the necessary competencies, qualities, practices, tools and global network to become conscious leaders in the co-creation of thriving and sustainable societies using the Inner Development Goals (IDGs) framework as main content.
There are going to be 5 separate but strongly interconnected workshops (each about 2h) based on the 5 IDGs. All the workshops offered in the LEAP YOUth Summit are free of charge. Since we want to continue offering the program to future students for free we encourage you with the following link: Donations for LEAP YOUth Summit – Global Giving to donate in this program. The workshops will always take place online (via Zoom). Once registered, you’ll get the invitation links for ALL WORKSHOPS. Not mandatory, but we encourage participation in each of these as the journey is organized and designed interrelatedly:
OPENING & BEING MODULE Saturday, 18th February 2PM-5PM
THINKING MODULE Sunday, 19th February 5PM-7PM
RELATING MODULE Tuesday, 21st February 5PM-7PM
COLLABORATING MODULE Thursday, 23rd February 5PM-7PM
ACTING MODULE & CLOSING Saturday, 25th February 5PM-7PM
During the 10-month journey, participants at LEAP YOUth experience the Inner Development Goals framework in 5 modules to explore the main dimensions of conscious leadership: Being – Relationship to Self; Thinking – Cognitive Skills; Relating – Caring for others and the world; Collaborating – social skills and Acting – driving change. Besides input webinars and workshops, they are supported by 1-1 coaching sessions, peer groups, are invited to engage in personal reflections and can enjoy 2 main onsite meetings.
Continuing our LEAP journey, from July to August participants went through the RELATING MODULE – caring for others and the world. In this module they explored how to relate from a sense of appreciation, humility, connectedness and empathy.
During these 2 months they developed interpersonal skills learning tools and/or frameworks that would offer reflection and inspiration to how to relate to self-others-nature with fundamental qualities and caring.
The first webinar was held by David Sibbet, with the focus on fostering relational intelligence with The Four Flows Model. The model provided an archetypal way of thinking about the four ways we humans relate to things – through awareness/attention; energy/emotions; information/identity/map and through matter/mechanisms/operations.
In ancient times these levels might have been called “spirit,” “soul,” “mind,” and “body.” These flows also resonate with what Carl Jung called intuition, feeling, thinking, and sensing. To fully engage with the model, participants connected those 4 levels to the 4 skills of the Relating model and learned different mindfulness practices for embodying relatedness.
For the RELATING workshop, our host was Dr. Stephan Harding, cofounder of the Schumacher College (England), senior lecturer in holistic science and pioneering earth scientist with a focus the theory of Gaia. Harding introduced the cohort to the concept of Deep Ecology, based on the work of professor Arne Naess, weaving the concept by building on the four-fold way of knowing mapped out by C.G. Jung (thinking, sensing, feeling, intuiting) and used by Sibbet in the previous webinar. Harding reinforced that ecological science is mainly concerned with facts and logic, and alone cannot answer ethical questions about how we should live in harmony with people and planet. He explained that for this we need ecological wisdom, adding the word deep to ecology to consider values and philosophy, what Naess call an ecosophy: an evolving but consistent philosophy of being, thinking and acting in the world, that embodies ecological wisdom and harmony.
Harding engaged participants in a deep conversation exploring the topic and its main proposal: that to relate in a deeper way to self-other-nature we need to develop deep experience, deep questioning and deep commitment. He explained that through living deep experiences in our relations we develop a strong sense of wide identification with what we are sensing and this helps us developing wide identification in which the sense of self is no longer limited by the personal ego, but instead encompasses greater and greater wholes. This identification involves a heightened sense of empathy and an expansion of our concern with the non-human life. We realise how dependent we are on the wellbeing of nature for our own physical and psychological well-being. As a consequence there arises a natural inclination to care and protect all life. The new sense of belonging to an intelligent universe revealed by deep experience often leads to deep questioning, which helps to elaborate a coherent framework for elucidating fundamental beliefs, and for translating these beliefs into deep commitment to different decisions in how we want to relate, how to pursue a more sustainable lifestyle and to take action for a more harmonious relation self-others-nature.
Some thoughts of participants during this module were:
“Thanks to this module I was reminded that deep thinking, deep sensing, deep feeling and deep intuition have always gifted me with deep connections to people and progress in life. Even though I already used to be an active listener and valuing relating with presence this module also showed me how to further develop these skills both theoretically as well as practically”. – Max, participant
“The deep sense of gratitude and connectedness I experienced during the midterm meeting was a precious gift and I have understood that learning is a fruitful process and how constant awareness towards all IDGs promotes growth in long run if not right away” – Soundarya, participant
“I think this module is very important because it includes other people and everything around us. They are a big part of our lives and it is important to learn how to approach them. The most important things I learned are practices for embodying relatedness” – Marija, participant
I discovered it is important to have more personal practices to connect with myself and nature. We have to talk about it and practice that more.” – Ana Karen, participant
“LEAP has been a transformative experience, don’t stop it”. – Bhargav, participant
The end of July was time for the most awaited event of LEAP: the onsite Mid-Term Meeting. This year’s meeting took place in a mountainside village of Churwalden in East of Switzerland where participants and volunteers gathered for the event from 24 to 31 July. As usual, the volunteers’ preparation meeting also took place from 22 to 24 July. For many, the favourite part of the program, once more, the mid-term meeting brought oikees students from different countries and backgrounds together united in values and goals of growing into conscious leaders of tomorrow.
We wanted to guarantee these days together would be a deeply restorative journey for everyone. For the volunteers preparation meeting, the goal was to create space for individuals to arrive at easy, for the team to bond and to become equipped with capacity and confidence to host participants in the following days. The mid-term meeting is as much of a journey for volunteers as it is for the participants. Activities as embodiment practices, solo reflection walk in nature, collective artwork creation, brave space circle and group dialogue exercises, were carefully carried together with sessions to build intention, prepare logistics and finalize the program’s agenda. Those activities allowed them to focus on 5 main grow zones in hosting and facilitation:
Softening for quality of presence
Learning to prepare, trust and let go
Learning to work with diversity
Exploring connectivity with self, team, nature and for the program’s agenda.
Self-discovery and development
Once the volunteer team was ready, it was time for our beloved participants to arrive! Over the course of the week, our LEAPers explored each of the five dimensions of the Inner Development Goals – Being, Thinking, Relating, Collaborating and Acting. The program provided opportunities for everyone to ground, have space to reflect on themselves and to connect with others and nature, building key conditions for conscious leadership to flourish. Through the carefully picked agenda, the volunteers created a platform for participants exploring deep questions that might go overlooked in our day-to-day lives; to contemplate about past, present and future path in life; as well as to reflect about the roles and relationships they are currently involved with; to connect to their purpose with insights into ways of using talents and gifts to make a positive impact in the world; all while learning about and expanding interpersonal relationships.
The first and last days were fully dedicated for arrival and settling in & for celebrating and preparing for leaving.
For the Being day they experienced a spaceful time to develop a deep level of presence, with embodiment exercises, time in nature for connecting to self, games to get to know others in a fun way and creative reflection activity to build the intentions for the week. Yet, there was still time for exploration of topics for self-awareness as diving into our personal beliefs to the different aspects of life using the Wheel of Life exercise.
For the Thinking day, we had sessions to connect to your why and to build a long term vision for the future, and to explore complexity and perspective taking with multi stakeholder roleplay games.
On Relating day, our connection to nature was at spot. We reflected about our current development paradigm and worldviews in connection to our relationship to nature and experienced the outdoors with different eyes through exercises such as forest bathing in pairs and hiking using special intentional cards to foster contemplation and dialogue.
During the Collaborating days, some important activities were the Warm Data Lab around trust; exploring embodied communication; being creative and taking the lead with setting your own activities with the Open Space Technology and coming together to co-create the LEAP Summit, an event intended of being a giving back experience where participants bring back to their communities their learnings with the different Inner Development Goals at LEAP.
The Acting day was the final time to reflect, integrate and step up to how to bring all the LEAP experiences and learnings forward, exploring what we want to commit to and presenting the LEAP Summit ideas.
Still, in all the days there was enough free space for morning well-being activities, to spend quality time together along with delicious vegetarian meals and for evenings together sharing cultural or games nights, dancing or gathering for a look at the night sky and stars. Talking about the sky, as always, the outdoor element had great value in shaping the activities. For the most part of the days, we were blessed with sunny and warm weather that allowed us to realize the program’s agenda mostly in our terrace and green areas, which highlighted the incredible setting for this year’s meeting. Sitting on a gentle slope between towering mountains, we had the soundtrack of silence, the singing of birds and of a river water running. With enough free time allocated, participants would enjoy nature playing any of the few sports at hand, sitting down for contemplation or talks or going for walks exploring the beautiful surroundings.
With so many soul-food elements, the Midterm Meeting has a special place at the heart of every cohort. The in person element allows one to have time and space to explore themself on such a deep level, connect with peers and share personal stories and experiences, creating strong bonds between participants. As LEAP Meetings are very touching, a fundamental piece of it is creating a safe space for flow of trust and confidence and where everyone can feel comfortable expressing their thoughts, sharing emotions and feeling empowered to count on peers for support.
Connected to that, we want to first thank our volunteers! The meeting was an incredibly valuable experience, which would not have been possible without this amazing team who dedicated time and effort, taking part in creating and carrying out all the sessions and being role models, guaranteeing that the LEAP safe space atmosphere and culture was always omnipresent throughout the meeting. Their shared inputs, insights, experience and feelings provided unique guidance, encouragement and support to participants!
We also wanna thank our lovely participants for having had the courage to step in to work on themselves and to create a strong community and group spirit allowing a deep sense of belonging and connection to emerge! You all truly shined in that regard.
Here we share with you some of the participants perspectives and stories from the LEAP Midterm Meeting:
THE DAY BEGINS
We wake up early in the morning. When the sun is still hiding behind the mountain. When the clouds are hanging low covering the valley. We step on the wet grass. We let the fresh cold air touch our sleepy warm bodies. We take a little hike up the hill. We find ourselves surrounded by trees, rocks, a creek running through. We take off our clothes. Embrace the chill. And then we dip. Our feet. Our hands. Our full bodies. On the THREE. Into an ice-cold water. Feeling the power of the water falling creating tiny waterfalls. Feeling our body parts sting. Blood rushing through our veins. That’s how the day begins. The sun shines over the top on the mountain. It sprinkles the glitter over the water, tiny drops on our bodies. Warms up our numb fingers. The sky clears up. The day begins.
“We kept calling our space PLAYGROUND. We were free to open our minds for all the possibilities, explore ourselves, our thoughts, learn about other people and nature. The moment in the mountain that teaches life lessons. Empowers to crave for deep experiences. Makes us fall in love with ourselves. Inspires to commit to our dreams. Shows how different and special each of us are. Sparks the hope for the bright future.
We talked about how we wished that every person has gone through LEAP experience at least once in their life. The world would be a different place – full of kindness, openness, support, and freedom. But until then, we can plant the seeds in our communities and create little LEAP moments every day”.
-Patricija, participant
“This week was one of my best weeks in my entire life!! Being with the other participants in this beautiful place in Switzerland was just magical! It made me feel so well, so peaceful, so connected, so grateful and so much more and definitely helped me to become a better leader and person as a whole :)”
– Antonia, participant
“It’s been a beautiful learning journey & honour to be with you, witnessing myself and the group as we’ve been tinkering around with our comfort zones. The leap is part of my life for about 6 years now and this year would have rendered the first without my proactive involvement wouldn’t you have invited me to hold you in the process. This dedicated role allowed me to host from my essence, to be more myself than rarely before in my work. Boundaries blurring, and you allowed me to be ok or even embrace that. To trust that there’s a rosebush, not only the wondrous smell of a flower or the spikeyness of thorns. it’s been a real honour to meet everyone of you, see you grow and to share a little more of who I am becoming. I cannot wait to see where we will meet again, may it be at next year’s leap, in the virtual office or just a call away. I count on your adventurous spirits to think of me in the right moment – and I hold so much trust, compassion and love for all of you”.
-Sophie, oikos International team member and LEAP volunteer
During a 10-months journey, participants at LEAP YOUth experience the Inner Development Goals framework in 5 modules to explore the main dimensions of conscious leadership: Being – Relationship to Self; Thinking – Cognitive Skills; Relating – Caring for others and the world; Collaborating – social skills and Acting – driving change. Besides input webinars and workshops, they are supported by 1-1 coaching sessions, peer groups, are invited to engage in personal reflections and can enjoy 2 main onsite meetings.
Continuing our LEAP journey, from May to June participants went through the THINKING MODULE – Cognitive Skills. In this module they explored the topics of navigating complexity and fostering imagination for the future we want to bring forward.
Over these 2 months they developed cognitive skills learning tools and/or frameworks that support us to make sense of our vuca and interconnected world, at the same time leveraging understanding of different perspectives and developing more robust and critical ways of thinking for wiser decision-making processes.
At the first workshop participants learned about the Cynefin Framework and the Iceberg Model. To fully engage with the tools and practice it, participants had the chance to work through a situation they were facing as a challenging experience. First, they would have to sense-make and be aware of the complexity of their experience, and reflect about the circumstances that were involved, which could be barriers to move forward with solutions.
Afterwards, they would use the 4 domains of reality that the Cynefin Framework introduces – complex, complicated, chaotic and clear – to visualise the challenge at a certain level and then think about how to respond to it accordingly. Participants had to share their processes with others to exchange perspectives and exercise critical thinking.
In a second moment, the Iceberg Model was introduced, supporting deeper insights into the roots of challenges. Both tools helped participants understand on a broader level what could be a clear and positive way to attend the situation they were facing.
For the THINKING input webinar our host Rob Hopkins, cofounder of Transition Town Totnes and Transition Network, introduced the cohort to the idea of long term vision with the power of imagination. Using the concepts of his book “From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want”, he took the participants on a journey, starting from seeing how big changes had happened in the past 10 years and how to rise again the forgotten power of imagination. He introduced the Imagination Sundial, a design tool for how we might set out, intentionally and skilfully, to rebuild the imaginative capacity of people, organisations or nations to bring alive a more connected and integrated future.
At the end of the session, participants were part of a collective imaginative experience, where they were invited to visualise the world they would like to be living in 10 years from now and could share thoughts on how to bring it to practice.
A main message Rob left to the cohort was about the importance of recognizing the type of narratives we select to approach sustainability topics as climate change. He highlighted that pessimistic narratives can lead to apathy, denial, feelings of helplessness or other negative responses in general. As a way to approach differently, Hopkins inspired participants to co-create spaces and places that tells a powerful immersive story to visitors of how the future could be. In this sense, breaking down our internal constraints and societal norms to open up again in ourselves a greater sense of what is possible. Unleashing positive emotions and active hope, so we can collectively respond in a more loving way to what we are living today, paving the path for a positive sustainable and flourishing future.
Some thoughts of participants about this module were:
“Especially, given the current world situation, this module has given me the tools to see this world in a more opportunistic way and give me the tools to see myself as a leader who can balance different uncertainties and turn them into something good through creativity”. – Nea, participant
“Very inspiring and giving a bright vision of the future and the tools to imagine this future together with other people” – Amelie, participant
“The models explained here can be used in breaking down the problems and finding the root causes which will be both helpful in the personal and professional life” – Asha, participant“This module has helped me greatly in acquiring these important skills of thinking for effective leadership. My decision making has really been sharpened by what I learnt in the module”. I am a better resilient leader.- Abdulbaki, participant
At the end of April the LEAP YOUth Cohort 2022 finished the first Module of the program. During the 10-months journey, participants go through 5 modules following the Inner Development Goals framework to explore the 5 main dimensions of conscious leadership: Being – Relationship to Self; Thinking – Cognitive Skills; Relating – Caring for others and the world; Collaborating – social skills and Acting – driving change.
From march to april they have explored the dimension BEING – Relationship to Self. This module’s structure was related to acknowledging and working on our relationship with ourselves, supporting participants to comprehend and practice the qualities of presence, self-awareness, inner compass, integrity/authenticity and openness/learning mindset and how these qualities and capacities can enhance leadership.
They could learn and exercise the different topics and skills experiencing different program elements as online input webinars about strengths and values, a hands on workshop on leading well from within: understanding how our brain works and practicing mindfulness, facilitated peer groups to get together and exchange insights and a 3 days onsite kick off meeting with different BEING exercises for the hybrid cohort.
All the LEAP elements are facilitated by experts, professional coaches, LEAP alumni volunteers and the LEAP project team. The sessions are interactive and experiential, engaging full presence and participation. The sessions might include for example contemplative practices such as meditation, to help ground participants and get them ready for other inner and reflective practices.
One example of an exercise from the BEING workshop was a reflection where they were asked to think on how a leader was perceived and which characteristics they embodied, recognizing leaders’ skills, “ways of being”, and capacities. The reflection was first made individually, and then an exchange took place where ideas of participants started to intertwine and expand into robust reflections.
“For me the qualities that I have seen in leaders I have encountered are: first, leading by example, which means that all of their inner qualities are being embodied in a coherent way, their actions, and words. Secondly, a general energy that I feel from them which is relaxed but in control at the same time. And a third one, being open and having the willingness to always learn, but being assertive, for example, when you talk to them you feel really listened to, and that your opinions are respected and you feel they want to learn more, but at the same time, whenever they might have a different opinion they will be assertive and create a space to evaluate the options accordingly.” –Ana Karen Cota, participant
Another important topic discussed during this session was the work of Dr. Daniel Friedland, the author of Leading Well from Within: A Neuroscience and Mindfulness-Based Framework for Conscious Leadership. Being a leader is being able to recognize your emotions and how they can impact your process of thought and consequently your behaviour. Being aware of negative feelings such as fear, could help us have the capacity to evaluate our being during a certain moment and create space to understand where we are coming from and if that can take us to the goal we aim for as leaders. In a cycle of reactivity (no self- awareness), different actions and words could be triggers and expose negative feeling in a relationship, on the contrary, being more mindful, pausing, noticing and choosing how to react could serve us to always be able to create more positive relationships and space to choose a more aligned way of being in accordance to what is happening on the present moment with a sense of openness and curiosity.
Together with carefully designing the program elements, the LEAP team is also making sure to continuously listen to participants and how they are benefiting from the program or if it needs changes, evaluating the impact of LEAP to be able to adapt and best serve this powerful community of change-agents. As part of our evaluations, we were excited about some of the participants’ perceptions from the first module – BEING:
“I think this module impacted me in several ways. It somehow made me more calm and self-aware. I feel like I am getting to know myself even better which is such a good feeling. I can’t say it often enough how important self-reflection is and how great it feels to also talk about it with others. The module also taught me to become a better listener and I really appreciate that. Overall, I had such a good time during the onsite event in Graz and I am so so grateful for this opportunity and all the great and inspiring people I get to meet.” – Antonia, participant
“This module was very useful for me and I can already see that I am implementing the knowledge I got in my personal life. Especially finding out my strengths was very helpful for me, because now that I know them, I can see clearly the path I should take and ways to use them”. – Marija, participant
“I found the Being Module very interesting. With the help of this module I have learned a lot of techniques regarding the relationship with myself and to others, to open to other people, to ask powerful questions and also to identify my own values. I found the topic of “Inner compass” very important. These are just issues that I hadn’t given much thought to before the LEAP Program. It is very important to understand what my values, strengths and purpose are and how they drive and impact the whole.” -Noemi, participant
“Getting to understand that self awareness, presence and openness are some of the things that make a being, I got to develop how to express myself. The breakout room sessions created to interact with other participants from a different background has opened a part of me that has been closed for quite some time. This got me to understand better my being as well as that of others”. -Abubakar, participant
“Thanks to this module I noticed that being clear and frank about who I am is not only affecting the satisfaction level of my decisions but it is also better for working in a team where people can rely on me because they trust and respect me for my openness”. – Max, participant
“I absolutely love the peer group calls, we learn a lot from each other and our facilitator is just amazing and shares a lot of his knowledge and experience with us”. – Anna Müller, participant
Participants of our LEAP YOUth program’s 2022 cohort had the opportunity to meet together in the lively city of Graz, Austria for the long-awaited onsite kick off meeting at the end of April.
The meeting took place from 19 to 21 April, and was immediately followed by oikos International Chapter Conference which began just after the meeting was finalized.
The onsite meetings of LEAP aim to support participants to build a stronger sense of community with each other. Participants get to deepen their understanding and practice of LEAP foundations, culture and frameworks. As the LEAP YOUth program this year is focusing on the Inner Development Goals, and its 5 dimensions – Being, Thinking, Relating, Collaborating and Acting – the onsite kick off meeting was an opportunity for them to dive into and practice the learnings from module 1 – the BEING dimension – relationship to self.
Through different sessions hosted by our amazing LEAP alumni and volunteers, the participants explored how to cultivate the BEING dimension interacting with its themes of:
Inner Compass
Integrity and Authenticity
Openness and Learning mindset
Self-awareness
Mindful Presence.
Participants had opportunities to self-organise their morning wellbeing activities, connecting with themselves through contemplative practices like meditations, reflections and embodiment exercises. They were invited to explore their inner world through discovering and sharing about values, personal challenges, and strengths. Another exercise focused on learning to design and use powerful questions in life while simultaneously listening deeply to self and others.
We were blessed with an amazing selection of locations our sessions took place in! Part of the program was held in the beautiful hill of Schlossberg, allowing more contact with nature while enjoying extensive views of the city. Another very special location was the Spektral, a creative, community open-space and cultural center near the Mur River.
Outside of the session times, a lot of space was provided for getting to know each other, to exchange between multicultural volunteer facilitators and participants, to learn from different perspectives, to share delicious vegan meals, enjoy fun evening activities and party!
A big thank you to everyone involved and the LEAP team is excited to see you all onsite again for our LEAP midterm meeting in July in Switzerland!
Check out what facilitators and participants had to say about their onsite experience:
“This is my second year participating with the LEAP program and I am so happy I came back to it after a year off. The on-site meeting was a chance for me to go deeper with my own learnings while being an example to our participants in pushing our comfort zones and being willing to learn. I greatly appreciated the opportunity to lead a mindfulness and well-being exercise to share what is useful in my own practice from yoga and stretching, thoughts of gratitude, and mental check-in. LEAP really gives all of us the chance to lead and improve ourselves”.– Stephen Snider, peer group facilitator and volunteer
“I am beyond happy that I could join the onsite kick-off meeting of LEAP in Graz and get to know in person all the open-minded and inspiring people in this year’s cohort, as well people standing behind it. We worked on ourselves to become better listeners and explored the values we are running on. All of that in the unique chilled atmosphere only LEAP can create! Kudos to organizators!”-Viktorie Vlkova, participant
“I thought the onsite Kick-Off in Graz was an amazing opportunity to meet people in person and connect with other people from other countries. A very great cultural experience. This LEAP program is impressing me more every day. I found it very interesting to immerse ourselves in ourselves and see, for example, what our strengths are and what values are most important to us. Also learning to listen to each other carefully, which is fundamental in mindfulness.” –Noemi Zmork, participant
“Hey dear reader, I am ilkay and this is the short description of my LEAP Kick-off meeting experience. Enjoy!! I would say it was the most open and accepting event in my life. We all have friends and close people with whom we can share a lot, but it is hard to do so with someone you have just met. And during the meeting it felt like everyone knew each other for a loooong time and the “trust” was so powerful. For me it was the first time to meet LEAPers since 2020, when I was the participant of this program. I was counting hours to finally go to Austria and meet them. The event took place in a lovely place, Graz, and it is definitely going to my top 20 cities list. During the meeting I hosted my first session, I was super nervous at the beginning. And right at that moment I had the support of the whole organizers’ team, which was so cute I even teared up a bit, just a bit :D. I really enjoyed being part of the team, I brought back a lot of new learnings about teamwork and friendships.”-Ilkai, peer group facilitator and volunteer
“Leap is the place where you maybe don’t know anyone in the room at the start but in a second everyone is your friend. It is the place where you share, where you feel safe and the most positive atmosphere surrounds you. I spent almost 2 days on a leap onsite kick off meeting and in this small time had the pleasure to speak on interesting topics with new friends all around the world, given thoughts of my problems, faced them, found solutions and asked powerful questions and most importantly developed. And the favourite session, we shared positive energy with each other, small notes on each’s backs, which we will always remember”. – Jaba Jabauri, participant
“As a participant of the LEAP YOUth program 2022 I was invited to spend a few wonderful days in Austria during which I discovered more about myself, especially what kind of leader I would like to be. Already before our on-site session we had a few online gatherings which were put together with love and spirit – but they were nothing in comparison to the environment I found in Austria. In just three days I had so many laughs, learnings and joyous occasions that I feel very blessed to have been invited.” – Niklas Ziemann, participant
Are you ready to become a more conscious leader? Embark on a 10 month self-discovery journey with like-minded adventurers and learn how to transform yourself and your environment to become the change agent this world needs.
The next LEAP Advanced cohort starts already in February 22 and applications open on December 1st! We are hosting two Info Calls for everyone interested to hear about the upcoming cohort and to answer all of your questions on December 1st, 4-5:30pm CET and on January 10th, 7-8:30pm CET, so make sure to join us for the Info Call.
Open call for professional coaches inspired to support the next generation of leaders to create the change they wish to see in the world!
oikos is a student-led international organization fostering the reflection about how we want to live, lead and learn together for a thriving, sustainable tomorrow. Our community of student change agents works towards transforming education for sustainability.
One of our main initiatives is LEAP – the oikos leadership program to support the community in their personal and professional development. LEAP focuses on building capacity in the oikos community with the necessary competencies, qualities, practices, tools and global network to become conscious leaders in the co-creation of thriving and sustainable societies.
By being part of our LEAP Programs participants become equipped with capacity in key aspects of conscious leadership with a focus on personal development and transformative economics and management (business) education change and change for sustainability; are empowered and inspired to expand their learnings and impact in the different communities they are part of; build capacity for personal wellbeing and resilience; and are part of a global network and community of support within LEAP & oikos.
The LEAP program is composed of different elements including inputs in the form of webinars and reading/watching materials; workshops; hands-on projects; onsite events, and contemplative practices as individual reflections; group reflections, dialogues; peer coaching and individual coaching sessions.
We are looking for professional coaches who are inspired by the oikos community and the LEAP program to volunteer in monthly 1:1 coaching sessions.
The applications for the 2022 cohort of LEAP Advanced are open!
LEAP Advanced is a 10-month transformational leadership programme focusing on building capacity in the oikos community with the necessary competencies, qualities, practices, tools and global network to become conscious leaders in the co-creation of thriving and sustainable societies. The journey will start with an online Kick-off on February 26 & 27 and will run until December 2022. Click here for more information about LEAP Advanced.
Every oikos member (active and alumni) can apply to become a participant of the program. Please take your time to answer the questions thoroughly. We estimate that it will take about 40min to answer all questions. Participants will be chosen solely based on their answers in this questionnaire. We are looking especially for individuals with a strong commitment to their personal and leadership development, who wish to become empowered, skilled and inspired to act as conscious leaders in the different communities and organizations they are part of. In this way, building effective conscious communities that transform systems towards sustainability and wellbeing of people and Planet. The result is empowered student change agents who strengthen their chapter’s performance and create impact in line with the oikos vision and mission of transforming education for a sustainable world.
Do you have a question about LEAP Advanced or want to learn more about the program? Make sure to join the Info call on January 10!
