The Qatar Development and Consultancy Centre or QD&CC with Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute had its Leadership Program themed “Search Inside Yourself – Mindfulness-Based Emotional Intelligence for Leaders” on November 10 – 11, 2017 at Sharq Village and Spa, a Ritzcarlton Hotel.

“It’s life-changing, and we believe in it, and we want to spread it.” Jacki Woodworth, Social Worker (MSW) for QD&CC

From the left: QD&CC Managing Director, Tina Ringer Mogensen, CEO Ameera Al Kharaz, Learning Facilitator and Senior Mindfulness Teacher Jacki Woodworth and Planning Committee Rena Chehayber.

The mindfulness leadership program was held in Doha for the very first time and focuses on mindfulness, emotional intelligence and the latest in neurosciences, and was developed in google by an engineer named Chade-Meng Tan. Chade-Meng Tan, a mindfulness practitioner himself, focuses on “world peace” inside you before the outside and the Search Inside Yourself program still runs internally at Goggle as an employee training for well-being and Leadership. It is now also taught worldwide by highly trained Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI) teachers who come with strong backgrounds in business, leadership and mindfulness.

“To present this kind of training in Doha that is very unique… the evidence is to reduce any anxiety and sadness and depression as well… so it’s a very scientific approach and at the same time it is needed in the community.”  added Ameera Al Kharaz, QD&CC CEO.

Over 90 people attended a fruitful 2-day program facilitated by Peter Bonanno from San Francisco and Angelika von der Assen from Switzerland. The program has 3 stages where the first stage is the 2-day live program: Day 1 is about Mindfulness, Emotional Intelligence, Self-awareness and Self-management, and Day 2″ ends with Leadership” after Empathy and Integration. The second stage is the follow-up for a whole month, also called the “28 Day Challenge”, for the participants’ daily practice. The last stage is the capstone webinar and post-program, where the participants interact with the facilitators in live webinar about the results and feedbacks of the program.

“What inspired us really is that we are looking into ourselves, making a program that had a language that people can understand… and that is applicable and easy to apply in a daily life.” Tina Mogensen commented.

According to Jacki Woodworth, Learning Facilitator and Senior Mindfulness Teacher for QD&CC, the program is the same as going to the gym to make your body healthy and strong. This leadership training is more on building one’s mental muscles, training them to be more present in life, more joyful, more effective as a leader and be more connected as a family member, a friend and as a community member.

From the left: Teachers/Facilitators for the Mindfulness Program Angelika von der Assen and Peter Bonanno.

The organizers, facilitators, and committee members encourage the participants to take things in a mindful way and a mindful approach. To be more proactive in the community instead of being inactivate. According to Ameera Al Kharaz, CEO of QD&CC, it is something needed by the community to make oneself more successful, happier and more resilient.

When we asked them, what can they say for interested participants of their future program “Just do it and feel the effect.” said Mogensen. “Just reading about it is like going to a restaurant and just reading the menu without testing the food. You can’t really speak to the experience of being in that restaurant. This is the same thing.” Woodworth added.

For more information of their programs of the same theme or related interest, you may direct to their website http://qdandcc.com or send them an e-mail at contact@qdandcc.com.

Written by Yvonne Basera