Time to bring the outside IN!

There’s a real danger that the longer we spend living in the virtual working world, the more disconnected we’ll become from the outside forces that will change our business.

There’s a whole range of reasons for this such as big tech algorithms perpetuating the echo chamber of content we receive, the absence of chance encounters in and out the office to stimulate new thinking, our inability to visit the new places and meet people that challenge our perspectives and the fatigue of spending long hours on back-to-back Zoom calls. They all combine to create a world that perpetuates a new kind of sub-optimal status quo just when we need fresh thinking and energy to help move us out the old way of doing things and into the new.

To overcome this we need to find ways to bring outside perspectives IN, to break up formulaic ways of seeing things, to take leaders to ‘where the snow is melting’ inside their own organisational ecosystems, to help people feel differently as well as think differently and to see the system-wide picture rather than just their computer screen.

Long before the onset of COVID-19, needs such as these have driven companies to provide immersive learning experiences and leadership expeditions for their leaders, but I would suggest that the need is even greater now while the ability to undertake them is severely constrained.

It is with this context in mind that we have developed our INmersive approach to developing leaders.

Based upon the Principles we’ve established over 15 years of delivering powerful Immersive Learning experiences, INmersion focuses on using virtual ways of working to bring the outside IN. Using a range of dynamic session formats and working with inspiring partner organisations from across the business ecosystem, the approach brings what’s happening at the bleeding edge into the centre of the learning environment to create an engaging and perspective-shifting experience.

In an INmersion, participants can expect to:

• Work on challenges presented by innovative organisations and gain insights into how they operate, what’s new and what drives them
• Engage in 1:1 conversations with people from diverse backgrounds to shift perspectives, develop empathy and tap into new knowledge
• Explore issues of topical concern (such as racial inequity, resilience & recovery) from a variety of points of view in order to build deeper understanding of the issues that matter
• Experiment with new kinds of behaviour in a safe learning environment
• Reflect on their learning on an ongoing basis and share these reflections in coach-supported learning circles
• Integrate and apply learning to their current personal leadership and business challenges

As time goes on, there’s little doubt that people will crave more physical interaction and value what a genuine in-person immersive experience brings. But until this is possible, the virtual world provides us with an opportunity to do things differently – to touch the system, to bring the outside IN, break through the home-working cocoon and support people when they most need fresh perspective.

Does INmersion sound like something that you or your organisation need right now?

Contact Matthew to find out more