Leadership Naturally
We believe that nature is the perfect place for leaders to develop skills in partnership, relational awareness, grounded wisdom, and authenticity that are necessary foundations for good leadership.
Ronna and her husband, Dave Verhulst, have been leading programs for Leadership Development at the Banff Centre and Pacific Centre for Leadership for over a decade. Are you looking to gather your team in nature to restore mental health, build capacity and instill resilience in your organization?
We have two programs for you to choose from. We can also customize programs in Banff, Canmore, Lake Louise or Kananaskis.
Leadership Naturally
While many existing resources give people the language and knowledge of leadership, few programs empower people with the tools, methods, and inner resources — the ‘how’– to achieve their own natural, authentic, embodied, and empowering leadership style. Most programs focus on learning about leadership theories and acquiring leadership skills, emulating others’ leadership, or trying to consistently adopt behaviors described and learned in a didactic format. This leadership program focuses on enabling emerging leaders to find their own voice, innate wisdom, natural skills, and individual way of being as leaders through partnership and immersion in nature. “Leadership Naturally” is a Nature based program for leadership development that combines restoration, reflection, empowerment and powerful conversations. This is a three part program but can be adapted to your specific leadership focus as a half day program.
Fire in the Forest
Forests and trees are dynamic and living organisms. Like people, they are subject to “disturbances;” events that test and develop resilience.
For trees and forests in Banff National Park, the most defining disturbance is fire. Fire can burn slow and low, fast and hot, or any temperature in between. Like an issue facing an individual or organization, fire motivates/demands a response. The response varies depending on the type of tree, the intensity of the fire and the condition of the forest as a whole – just as a person’s response to a disturbance varies according to the individual’s personality, the intensity of the challenge and the condition of the community to which that individual belongs.
Understanding the dynamic of fire and how trees in Banff have co-evolved with this important process will provide insights into what resilience means to forests, to you and your organization.
“Ronna and Dave are exceptional guides and story-tellers. They artfully connect people with nature and create vision, meaning and reflection in a powerful way. I have witnessed their work transform perspectives for people in all walks of life and have personally found their outdoor experiences to be profound and inspiring”
We are happy to adapt our programs to meet your groups theme and needs.