Kaospilot is an extraordinary “Education Design Agency” based in Aarhus, Denmark, that provides “high engagement and impact for collaboration, creativity and new leadership.” A hybrid business and design school, Kaospilot provides multi-sided education in leadership and entrepreneurship, with programs designed not only to shape students to fit the future, but to help them create it.
As a recent Kaospilot Masterclass graduate, I wanted to share some reflections and learnings from this refreshing and inspiring approach to leadership and to learning.
- Start with the vision, rather than the outcomes, in mind.
Vision describes the destination, while the Mission is about purpose, actions, and audience. Starting with the vision is the prerequisite for the technique of Vision Backcasting – a collaborative process enabling you “to deliver equally and authentically on not only skills and knowledge, but also the attitudes & mindset necessary for the personal growth and development of the participants, staff, clients and…the wider community. “
- Apply Design Thinking to your leadership and your learning .
Some key elements of design thinking are to:- Use both Divergent and Convergent thinking, starting with Divergent
- Hold multiple perspectives – and hold them lightly
- Practice empathy
- Make the process iterative – there are many versions
- Ensure that your leadership and design are user-centered, and done with other people
- Get with the problem – be in it, and feel it
- Stay in the mindset that everything is possible
- Design around the learner/user, not the content.
- Remember that to be an effective leader, you are also a constant learner, and that learning involves transformation and transition.
Questions for Reflection
- What are the mindsets and attitudes you bring as a learner to your own leadership practice?
- What’s your level of openness, of presence – how deeply can you accept not knowing?
- How comfortable are you in the midst of uncertainty?
- What’s your ability to create a safe space for yourself and others to stretch, to express, and to make mistakes?
- How able are you to be present, not performing; to be authentically yourself, not in a role; and to take yourself as the “expert” out of the room?
To be an effective problem solver means raising our consciousness: “We can’t solve problems with the consciousness that created those problems.”*
*Thank you to learning designer, facilitator and strategy consultant Ramon Marmolejos for this reminder. linkedin.com/in/ramon78
For more information on Kaospilot see https://www.kaospilot.dk/about/story/