Savouring Life: The Leader’s Journey to Health and Effectiveness

‘Savouring Life ’ was a participatory action research (PAR) study within a complex living system—the Churches of Christ in New South Wales (NSW). One hundred and eight leaders participated in collaborative qualitative research aiming to help the organisation improve professional practice in the development of healthy and effective leaders. Structured conversations, storytelling and other participatory techniques were used to elicit the leaders ’ own tacit knowledge to better understand the systemic health issues that they face. Viewing the organisation through complex living systems was found to be a useful framework to explore four cycles of action research inquiry. An aspirational state of ‘optimal functioning ’ was identified to assist a shift in leadership practice that emphasises the salutogenic (focus on health and wellness) rather than merely responding to the pathogenic (focus on disease and disorder). Participants co-generated their own theories of transformation, making tacit knowledge explicit through the development of six mapping tools that were designed to share newly found knowledge throughout the organisation. PAR effectively influenced both learning and change, contributing to the launch of three system-wide action interventions: (1) The Centre for Wellness, (2) The Leaders Care Network and (3) Mentoring Training. The result is a holistic approach to leadership development designed to improve the health and effectiveness of leaders across the organisation