30 Reasons to apply for the Leadership Evolution Learning Marathon

Applications close at midnight 16th August 2021 (your timezone!)

Here’s 30 reasons to apply…

The format is really varied and well designed, so keeps you going as you explore your learning/research question. So even if you're not a, er, natural completer-finisher [I don't know what you mean, stop looking at me] - the rhythms will take you through
It's a cohort of 12. Just you, me and ten other (brilliantly curated) people - so you really get to develop deep relationships - as well as having loads of minds to give you feedback.
You get six months to reflect on you as a leader, in the midst of doing your work. Dedicated, committed time with other (fab!) people.
One of the most joyous things about a learning marathon is the 12 multi-disciplinary workshops that the participants run for each other.

Honestly - such a brilliant part of the weaving of people's expertise. In the Learning Marathon I was a participant in, we had workshops on qualitative research, embodied knowledge, songwriting, visual storytelling, journalling, community involvement, network mapping...

Such intimate sharing of experience and knowledge.
We regularly have Get Shit Done Sundays (not always on a Sunday) where you can (if you're anything like me) use the power of being with a group to actually make progress on your learning question. Fun too.
The brilliant company! (This followed on from the this Twitter thread about it being ‘lonely at the the top’)
There is loads of scaffolding to keep you going and inspired over the six months. e.g. you have a peer coach who you’ve chosen and you look after each other for three months. Then we change peer coaches again for the next three months, just to keep it fresh. Maybe we'll coach each other?
There's a really strong rhythm to the six months. 2 months to explore, 2 months to develop, then two months leading towards a showcase. You leave with something to show for your investment. The Showcase is an important place to not only show your friends and family where the hell you've been for the six months, but also it's a place to invite potential collaborators or funders if you end up with a project that might benefit from that. Plus it's a Wild Kaleidoscope of Brilliance!
At the 2-month and 4-month transition marks, you get a Power Up day, where you present your 'evidence table' and get to ask for exactly the kind of feedback you need. Momentum milestones.

The Power Up days mean you don't have to try and keep your forward motion for the whole six month journey. You get a boost as you transition between each phase of the marathon - between Discovery and Exploration, and Exploration and Showcase.
Each participant on a Learning Marathon gets two coaching sessions with the host about their learning question. So that means two coaching sessions with me 😃
This one comes from a conversation I had a couple of weeks ago with my friend Anneka when we were in Wigan Starbucks. We talked about how learning to build community with people who are different to you is vital to the future. The LM is 6 months of THAT.

To build something big, knowing how to actually rub along with people you haven't chosen whilst working together is vital. The Learning Marathon rhythms provide brilliant scaffolding for learning about peer learning in practice.
The Leadership Evolution Learning Marathon is like a mini-Masters but you totally get to decide on your learning/research question and your 'curriculum'. All the juicy bits and none of the shoulds.
You have a channel for the urgency you feel around climate and social justice. https://twitter.com/megalightheart/status/1424985989928394752
If you're thinking about applying but fees are stopping you, DON'T LET THEM! Just put on your application form what you can comfortably pay and it's all good.

People who currently have more cash available, pay more cash. People who currently have less pay what they can (without making themselves anxious).

Money flows in and out of our lives. I'm very relaxed about how much you contribute.
Being on the Learning Marathon means you have the container and the impetus to work on your leadership without stopping your work. I’m going to be both hosting and being a participant whilst working a full-time job!
You get to have one major focus for six months. For me, this means I know I’m where I’m meant to be at, doing the work I’m meant to be doing, which I think really helps with anxiety and overwhelm.
You get to experience a type of learning you may not have accessed before. Totally directed by you - but with a group container around you, with established rhythms.

It’s unusual to start a learning journey with almost no idea of what may happen. The makeup of the group is totally unique, and your cohort will influence you in ways you can’t predict.
If you’re interested in the work around interdependent lenses on the world, the Learning Marathon is a pretty bloody good place to be doing that learning and evolving. See this video from TWO YEARS AGO - look at my short hair! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArQQx_no_uA&t
Pre-Covid, Learning Marathons tended to be in person, in one location. This year they're all online. I know most of us have had quite the year with Zoooom, BUT it does mean that the LM is more accessible for anyone who would find it hard to travel to Manchester, UK!
You can indulge exploration of something that’s close to your heart without having to make it fit into an academic framework PLUS you can choose a topic that is outside of where you normally operate without having to prove yourself to anyone.
Apart from the (delightful, enriching, enlivening) group meetups (which are mainly once every two weeks), the hours suit you. So if you're a morning person, an evening person, a find-the-corners-of-the day person, a lunar tidal person, it's all good.
It’s a non-punitive learning environment - there’s no such thing 'falling behind' (partially because YOU decide what you're exploring and when) so you won’t be castigated for your speed and rhythms. You just get supported by the group all along the way.
I run a very actively anti-oppressive environment so we’ll have mechanisms to handle any rubbish that comes up, as well as centring the experiences and comfort of the multiply marginalised people FIRST.
You become part of the Enrol Yourself community - a group of people who, like you, have committed six months of their lives (sometimes more than once!) to exploring a topic that’s close to their hearts.
You’ll be part of the first Leadership Evolution Learning Marathon cohort. HISTORIC PATHFINDERS!
You'll be part of a cohort of people who are probably going to be interested in your specialist field. We’re all a bunch of curious nerds, so you'll have a receptive audience who'll ask you brilliant questions AND be interested your answers!
You’ll learn about how you are in a new group full of very different people, so that when you go to build your own community, you know what you’re naturally good at and what you need to be more conscious of. Skills we are all going to need in the next few years.
Your sense of being someone who has little to offer is blasted by being part of a Learning Marathon cohort when you see how useful your feedback is to your fellow journeyers, and how important your part in the synergy is.
Learning Marathon meetups are magic. Especially in the middle of winter, when it’s dark and cold (depending on where you are of course!) it can be hard to drag your ass to a Zoom. But pretty consistently you’ll leave energised and changed. Honestly. It’s part of package.
The journey is curated by me as a host, and also by the group. One of my people said, it’s haute couture rather than slightly ill-fitting off-the-peg. This might be the first learning journey you’ve had that FITS!
Ultimately, the best reason to apply is because you’re called to it. You know it’s the right time for you and the right cohort for you to join.
Check it out here.
Applications close midnight 16th August 2021 (your timezone).
Any questions, email me meg@megalightheart.com