As part of our summer events, WATT partnered with Natacha Wilson, leadership explorer, development consultant and coach and founder of Cambridge Insights, to launch our first WATT Masterclass.
Natacha works with researchers, game changers and “leaders in the making” to help them increase their impact and influence. She worked at the University of Cambridge on flagship leadership and development programmes at Judge Business School and the Centre for Personal and Professional Development. Prior to this, she gained multi-sectorial experience working for start-ups and enterprises in the creative and innovation sectors in Paris and Cambridge. Natacha’s mission is to empower authentic leaders to shape a sustainable and inclusive future.
On behalf of WATT, I have personally attended this Masterclass, and in this blog, I aim to give the readers an overview of the “visioning” process I went through together with the other participants and Natacha.
The 60-min Masterclass aimed to provide attendees “tools” to find our purpose and vision, through a series of individual and team exercises. The participants came from a wide range of professional backgrounds, including scientists, founders of start-up companies, consultants, PhD students, Postdocs, business development managers, office managers, training and competence managers, non-governmental organisation (NGO) leaders, accountants, and credit managers.
The workshop explored the power of visioning through a clear process. Natacha asked us a simple question at the start of the masterclass: “Imagine what you could achieve… if nothing could stop you?”
After picking a timeframe, we were asked to imagine our biggest most audacious dream or goal, and then to write down that goal concisely and clearly without rejecting any ideas. Most importantly, we were asked to write in the present tense, as if we were already living our dream. Afterwards, Natacha invited us to share our story with a small group of people in small breakout rooms. We were asked to refine our vision through an iterative process of mutual feedback – without any judgement or criticism. The final step was for us to ask ourselves what needs to happen in the next months, weeks and days to make that dream come true and to help us prioritise our daily actions.
The session was interesting, fun, and engaging. We also had a clear process to follow with a “daily reflection ritual” asking us to answer four questions relating to our audacious dream: What will you stop doing? What will you start doing? What will you do more of? What is your level of commitment?
Participants were asked to join in, and ideas continued flowing in the chat box: “Commit to a daily routine of outdoor walks”; “Bullet journaling towards my goal”; “Reflect and remind myself of what my purpose is each day.”
The 1h flew by and we said our goodbyes, but here are some final thoughts from our speaker and participants to help you on your journey:
“Do what you love and love what you do!”
“Luck does not exist on its own – It’s about dedication and reflection. Reflect on what the intention is for the day.”
Written by Iris Batalha
August 30, 2021
A Thank You Note: The WATT leadership team would like to thank Natacha Wilson for collaborating with us and running this workshop, and Ruhcha Sutavani, who brilliantly and dedicatedly organised everything and co-hosted the event on behalf of WATT. We would also like to thank the marketing team, Elakiya, Roni, and Saba for all of their help with building marketing materials and advertisements.
