As a young leadership studies educator, I often reflect on the early experiences which shaped my perspective of what leadership is. What makes a good leader? What leaders am I drawn to? Why do I believe these things? Higher education is a great opportunity for students to not only explore new ideas and perspectives but also consider these subconscious biases they hold, including the biases surrounding their thoughts on leadership.

Implicit Leadership Theory: Acknowledging the Biases

Hughes et al. (2022) discuss implicit leadership theory as the idea that individuals have subconscious biases of what make good, bad, effective, etc. leaders due to their upbringing, culture, and exposure to figures of authority in different ways. What I have noticed teaching in a civic and professional leadership (CPL) program is students may carry strong ideas of what leadership is, not allowing for a shift in their perspective. As of late, I have turned to the practice of Theory U and the One Breath to create an open environment to diversify how my students see the world.

Theory U: Approaching the Classroom as a System

In the CPL minor, the capstone class titled: Contemporary Challenges of Leadership, holds around ten students with diverse majors, usually in their final semester of undergrad. While exposed to other leadership courses, most of their previous classes have a leadership lens or theme in a specific field such as leadership through social justice or movement and dance. This course, small in size, allows students to connect with those who may think differently from themselves. I aimed to use Scharmer’s (2009) Theory U as a way to approach the course as a system through which the students have agency to shape the way they engage with their studies.

Scharmer (2009) describes Theory U as a framework which “focuses on how individuals, groups, and organizations can sense and actualize their highest future potential” (p. 36). Theory U recognizes that how individuals enter a space determines what may emerge from the space. Within the setting of this final CPL course, I wanted to help students not only take more agency in how they engaged in the course but allow for them to shift how they allow each other to influence their perspectives of course content.

Scharmer depicts a core process of Theory U which showcases how individuals observe their past, suspend their believes, and adopt new practices to enact. For students to be able to adopt new perspectives and act upon them within a classroom space, they must first achieve as sense of open mind, open heart, and open will which is depicted in the presencing phase. To achieve this, students must first engage in the first stages such as downloading, seeing, and sensing.

 This can be a lot to ask of undergraduate students, especially if they have not engaged in this type of process analysis in previous classroom situations. In order to help students assimilate, I looked to the One Breath as an exercise to scaffold throughout their semester. Through this exercise, I aimed to help students:

1.     Download: an understanding of their mental habits so they could enter the course without the weight of their pasts.

2.     See: new situations, experiences, and topics through a lens less filtered by their past.

3.     Sense: how observations are shaped by the observer.

This leaves way for students to eventually let go of previous ways of thinking and engage in presencing to adopt new ways of thinking and seeing the world upon which they can act. The focus of this article is on the earlier stages in relation to the One Breath.

A Practice: The One Breath

The One Breath, as described by Zachary Gabriel Green (2020) is a “dialogue exercise used to promote equity of voice in groups” (para. 1). Having experienced this as a student myself, I found it to be quite engaging and deepen my level of investment within not just the course and content but also the people within the group. In order to engage in this type of dialogue, each group member responds to a prompt in ‘one breath’, or more practically, in one train of thought. To ensure equity of voice, members do not respond to the previous member who shared. Instead, each person takes a turn to respond, or leverage their right to pass, so that everyone has space to share.

Oftentimes in groups larger than two or three, dialogue can continue and shift the direction of a conversation before everyone can speak. This practice allows for everyone to contribute and create a shared understanding of the collective climate on the topic at hand. This task requires the stillness and suspension of biases as described by Scharmer. As noted earlier, choosing how to attend a space is quite important in Theory U. Scharmer describes four types of listening which those participating in the One Breath may adopt:

1.     Habitual Listening: Assimilating your experience through the lens of your past.

2.     Factual Listening: Approaching new ideas with an open mind.

3.     Empathic Listening:  Willingness to observe perspectives through others’ lenses.

4.     Generative Listening: Holding space to allow the authentic emergence of something new.

Moving through these methods of listening can allow individuals to grow their openness of mind, heart, and will and connect with others.  

The Approach: Classroom Strategy

Framing the One Breath exercise through Theory U, specifically aiming to engage different types of listening throughout the semester, I shifted the type of prompts answered and methods of beginning the exercise slowly over the 16 weeks.

Habitual Perspective

Early in the semester, I wanted to provide space for students to show up and recognize their currently held perspectives. Beginning prompts allowed students to explore leaders who inspired them, leader moments they felt failed by, or goals they had to grow into they leader they hoped to be. This helped them be able to articulate their thoughts and feelings. While some began in a downloading state, others welcomed different perspectives which was clear through inquiry beyond the initial share in the activity. Later questions pushed everyone to move from downloading as it relates to habitual listening to debate as it relates to factual listening.

Factual Listening

Students were later prompted with statements which they were asked to share how much or little they agreed. These prompts included statements like evil people can be good leaders, you can learn to lead, or being a follower is more important than being a leader. These statements were difficult at times for students to bite their tongues as peers shared perspectives differing from their own. Eventually, a sense of openness allowed for deeper reflection not tainted by previous experience. This prepared students for reflective dialogue in relation to empathic listening.

Empathic Listening

Students were exploring more leadership theories and activities by this point of the semester. This exposure in tandem with their few months of One Breath allowed for prompts which could lead to more open dialogues beyond the One Breath sharing. These prompts included questions about the importance and dangers of power in organizational leaders and which theories offer opportunities or limitations within their fields as they see it. Coming from different domains, from science and math to public health and education, students could learn a lot from each other in this.

Generative Listening

As the semester approached its end, students were prompted to begin generating questions of their own to begin the One Breath exercises. Having completed a research project regarding their fields, futures, and leadership, these prompts gave students agency and continued to develop their listening.

Challenges to Consider: Knowing your System

When reflecting on Theory U, there are frequent examples discussing businesses and organizations. One must not forget the system in which you are attempting to generate thinking and change. For a group of 20-22 year olds in a CPL minor course, you may consider the willingness and ability to invest in a process of change. Utilizing an activity like One Breath allows for a sense of regularity so engaging throughout a semester can feel doable, even if it does not completely push everyone through a co-presencing to creating experience in the same way. That said, I faced some challenges I did not see coming which I would urge potential classroom facilitators to consider.

Disengagement

Some students do not enjoy reflection activities and clearly check out. Phones come out or eyes sink to the floor. While the technology piece is easy to remedy, I felt stuck on how to ensure deeper investment. I tackled this a few different ways. For one, I asked students to log ideas shared which they agreed with and then those they did not agree. I asked specifically for the latter so they could reflect on that list come the end of the semester and see if their perspective has shifted or not and why. I also did not originally plan for students to create prompts near the end of the semester. By asking students less engaged to do so, their investment increased as they played what felt to them as a more active role.

Anxiety

One student pulled me aside after our first class asking if we would be having similar activities throughout the semester. I realized she left class for the restroom about halfway through and did not return until 90 minutes later. The prompt created a sense of anxiety due to its personal roots. While noting a student has a choice to pass, it is still something their peers will notice, which may induce further anxiety. What I found helpful with this student was informing them of the prompt ahead of time and discussing ways they could be present which would not faulter their comfort. This student became one of the most thoughtful sharers throughout the semester.

Losing Spark

While a check-in activity like One Breath can be exciting for some, it may also lose its novelty after a few classes. I approached this through a few methods. For one, changing location played a big role. When the weather became warmer as winter turned to spring, we had some of our One Breaths outside. This increased engagement among students. Similar to the first challenge, allowing students to craft the prompts increased engagement. Finally, making connections to early One Breaths began drawing a throughline students found interesting.

Final Thoughts

While not perfect, I found engaging Civic and Professional Leadership undergraduate students engage well with the One Breath exercise as it increases their ability to listen through the lens of Theory U. While Theory U was not an explicit topic within the course, I would be curious as to explore what implications it would have on students if the theory became a part of the curriculum in connection with the practice itself. Only future courses will tell.

References

Green, Z. G. (2020, Sep 2). The One Breath. Medium. https://zacharygabrielgreen.medium.com/the-one-breath-e535f0c7d64e

Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (2022). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience (10th ed.). McGraw Hill LLC.

Scharmer, C. O. (2009). Theory U: Learning from the future as it emerges. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.