Heading into the last leg of the inaugural voyage, strategy faculty member Kit Jackson explains how personal strategy maps support the integration of what has been learned and the transition process back into life post-Homeward Bound
We are crossing Drake Passage on our way back to reality from this extraordinary time in Antarctica, part of the Homeward Bound mission to equip leaders to be more capable of shaping the way we take care of the planet, to ensure the future for our children and grandchildren. It has been a developmental experience for us all on board, and we have all learned from each other during our 20 days together.
Kit Jackson passionately delivering the strategy content as part of Homeward Bound 2016
In the last few days, the 76 women have been capturing their resolutions for the future in their personal strategy maps. We recognise that typically strategies and intentions rarely get fully realised without structure and discipline so we are using this framework – a personal strategy map – to ensure that what we’ve learned and committed to over on the journey does not get lost when we step off this ship in a few days. Indeed, we ensure that we make our strategy happen. The personal strategy map has helped us work through the strategic choices and trade-offs that we need to make as leaders between our work, our families and our own personal well-being, and consider how our values enable those choices in order to achieve our ambitions and strive towards our purpose. We have used it to identify the action commitments that we have made and are going to implement.
Hearing the expeditioners describe their personal strategy in this way has been incredibly inspiring. Developing a personal strategy map takes time and being in Antarctica has been a perfect environment to create both the mental space for reflection and to challenge current thinking and conversations. Antarctica is one of the last wildernesses on the planet, a harsh and spectacular place with a magical quality which has been both delightful and arresting. I could not have imagined a better backdrop to the leadership, visibility, science and strategic capability building program.
So we make the transition from 20 days of isolated collaboration on board, back to our daily lives. We have brought everything that we have learned into one framework – the personal strategy map – to use as we continue our own journeys, and this global collaboration of one thousand women gains momentum.
Read more about Kit on our Faculty page.
(Featured image by Kess Broekman-Dattner)
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