Program Description
Does it seem like everyone and everything is calling for your attention right now?
As your focus expands to building a team and an org, how do you create an “Operating System” that focuses your attention on What Matters Most and gets results—without losing your mind in the process?
“If you want to be busy and anxious, practice busy anxiousness. If you want to be calm and centered, practice it. It’s as simple as that.” (Diana Winston, UCLA mindfulness teacher and researcher)
Well thanks Diana, sounds pretty simple…but what about when I’ve got 11 back-to-back meetings, a board meeting to prepare for with investors who have sky-high expectations, 6 new hires to onboard and 16 more to find, and–not least–a product to improve for the customers we are trying to serve and retain–only to wake up, rinse (maybe) and repeat tomorrow?? (We didn’t even mention the Slack and email messages mounting in the background.) How could I possibly exit “busy anxiousness” and practice calm centeredness amidst this chaos? Calm sounds nice–for vacation! I want results.
There is a way, not to perfection and a stress-less existence, but rather a set of habits and mindsets for working, being, and leading that create higher performance and calm centeredness.
We call this way Applied Mindfulness, and we’ve helped hundreds of high-growth leaders implement it. Click for more details on what this looks like concretely and our journey to get you there.
Program Timeline
Everything will be virtual except the retreats
AMP is a pair of 2-month programs, each including:
- group sessions (2-3 hours each), Weeks 1, 3, 7, and 9
- 1on1 executive coaching (1 hour each), Weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8
- an in-person retreat (Wednesday night to Sunday), Week 5
Participants can elect to do one or both programs.
AMP is for the committed, i.e. those leaders who are willing to apply the mindfulness they develop and the operating system they build when they are going about the rest of their lives. As the name implies, AMP is not about one-off peak experiences; this is not the vacation you’ve been waiting for! Each retreat, while fun, restorative, and deep, is ultimately in service of application. To this end, we also provide toolkits, templates, and conversation guides to help you instill the key habits in your team.
AMP #1: Leading Yourself
Kickoff: Attention-Liberating Habits + 360 Launch
1 on 1 Coaching + 360 debrief
Mindfulness and Prioritization: Focus on What Matters Most
1 on 1 coaching
Retreat #1 : Leading Yourself
1 on 1 coaching
Powerful Requests and Delegating for Development
1 on 1 coaching
Sustaining Your A Game: Plant the SEEDs
AMP #2: Leading Others
Communication Is a Game of Catch: Mastering Catching Whatever Is Thrown
1 on 1 coaching
Growth as a Team Sport: Actionable Feedback Foundations
1 on 1 coaching
Retreat #2 : Leading Others
1 on 1 coaching
Coaching for Growth: Iterate the Team Like You Iterate the Product
1 on 1 coaching
Conclusion: Designing Your Growth Path and Architecting Others'
AMP #1: Leading Yourself
AMP #2: Leading Others
The Logic Behind the Structure
Why combine group formats with 1on1 executive coaching? 3 Reasons
Why Retreats?
Immersion
The retreat environment creates an immersive experience co-created by the group. This immersion provides a sharp distinction from the fast pace of life in a high-growth org, helping you stand outside your everyday habits and evaluate which ones you want to change. Furthermore, just like in learning a language, immersion is the most powerful context for learning and ingraining new habits. Finally, especially for working on skills around leading other people, our experience shows that practicing these skills with…other people is a great way to get better. The group becomes the context for practice, which helps you both improve and reveal growth areas.
Why Group Sessions?
Groundwork & Momentum
We are wary of the format taken by many retreats/bootcamps which focus on just this one-off peak experience, neither laying the groundwork beforehand nor offering follow-up support for integrating the new insights and practices back in the regular world. Our integration groups (and coaching structure) complement the work of the retreats, addressing both the before and after, sowing the seeds and watering the growing plant. Moving beyond the metaphor—when you start building and refining your Operating System before the first retreat, you are much better set up to maintain the clarity of mind developed on retreat.
Why Coaching?
Personalization
Personalization and coaching take you to a deeper level, helping explore and grow the inner game growth areas that emerge in the interpersonal interactions within the group and in your day-to-day work. Coaching is a powerful context for exploring the mindset shifts in moving from Actor to Author and for learning experientially how to coach and develop your own team members.
Testimonials
What Our Clients Say
Past Clients
Meet Our Team
Working with rapidly growing teams and leaders since 2014 to build more peaceful productivity and radical response-ability across their organizations and their lives.
Unlocking a deeper connection within organizational leaders so they can become better leaders, build healthier communities, and create meaningful, sustainable impact. Transforming people and teams since 2012.
Helping social impact leaders since 2008 articulate their values, visions, and strategies, attract talent and capital, and grow themselves and their teams.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the origin of AMP?
AMP is a project of the Brain-Based Workplace, an organizational development and executive coaching company founded in 2014 and focused on high-growth startups expanding their focus from building a product to building a team and organization. We have spent the past 8 years crystallizing the differentiating factors in leaders and startups whose teams thrived versus those whose teams faltered, as well as between those leaders who kept growing and those who flailed and/or burned out. We have woven together our most impactful offerings into a cohesive, integrated program and framework to serve startup founders and leaders at key inflection points in their company growth and their own development as a leader and a person. We first launched AMP in 2019.
What are the COVID policies?
Who is AMP not for?
AMP is not for people who want to come and burnish their reputation or credentials in the startup world.
While we are excited about the connections participants make with each other, the focus of AMP is not on networking; it’s on developing your self and navigating interpersonal dynamics.
AMP is distinctly not for people who want to check the box like signing up for a gym membership in the new year or who want to just add another experience to their lives like an exciting vacation.
When does AMP start? When are the retreats?
The next AMP #1 cohort starts in late January 2023. The retreat will be in March 2023. (Wednesday evening to Sunday afternoon).
What are the retreats like? What do they involve?
Where will the retreats be? (Everything else is virtual)
Who's eligible for AMP?
Founders and senior executives of startups. Participants must have an active, existing commitment to their own growth, as well as a willingness to take deep and often uncomfortable looks at themselves and their leadership to see where they can grow.
AMP is a great fit for leaders whose startups have found product-market fit and are growing rapidly. That said, if your startup is pre or post that phase and you think the program is a great fit for you, we can have a conversation to explore that.
Can I come alone or with teammates?
How can I apply?
Email [email protected] to express your interest. We’ll ask you to fill out an application and set up a 1on1 interview to assess mutual fit.
What’s the time commitment?
The timeline is a good place to start. Behind this question might be a deeper question, “I already have more to do than I have time for. How much time is this going to take?” Our belief—and experience working with hundreds of startup leaders—is that this is a time investment, not a time expense. Implementing the takeaways from AMP will save you significantly more time than you will invest. One past client noted that a few changes in his Operating System almost immediately saved him about 4 hours per week—a pattern maintained when we checked in two years later.
Concretely, in addition to the long-weekend retreat, the synchronous time commitment is about 4 hours per month (3 hours for one monthly workshop, and 1 hour for 1on1 executive coaching). Beyond some reading and reflection prep (another 15-30 minutes per week), the tasks you will take on are hopefully what you are doing already in leading yourself and building out your team and organization.
This might amount to about 2% of your time over the course of the program. We’re confident you can get an outsized return on that investment if you are committed to your own learning.