We believe every individual has the ability to spark positive catalytic change.
“A true partnership is rooted in understanding who the other person is and where they are coming from. In that spirit, I share directly with you, in my own voice, my philosophy that guides my work and that of Spark Leadership Partners.”
– Karin Stawarky
The Possibility
To be human is to be a creator. That creative energy is limitless.
It all begins with you and within you. Your expression of your distinct voice. Your experience of life. Your tapestry of relationships. Your questions. Your passions. Your contribution and unique imprint on the world.
To create what you envision, you need to know how to effectively lead yourself, and in so doing, effectively lead others.
The Block
What gets in the way of your ability to realize this?
We are living in an epidemic of disconnection.
I believe that we, as humans, have wandered far away from our core essence.
There are a variety of forces that drove this, all of which encourage more, bigger, faster… because wherever, whatever, and whoever you are in this moment is perceived to be not enough. We innately know something is awry but look for “fixes” outside of us instead of turning within us, where the keys lie.
As a result, the gap – the space between us and everyone and everything else — grows; in some places, it is a chasm.
Disconnection is evidenced in relationships from our innermost circle to friends, co-workers, neighbors, teammates, and other community members. There is greater distance reflected in relationships to nature, time, stillness, grief, and a spiritual presence. Ties have become tenuous. We walk in a distracted haze amidst veneers of intimacy. We give our attention away to objects and media without considering that in doing so, we give away our authority, our power, our own creative genius.
These are all symptoms of the greatest disconnection of all: who we are most distant from, most disconnected from, is ourselves. Our intuition, our imagination, our unique logic. This erosion within causes us to lose touch with our innermost dreams, desires, and gifts.
It is no coincidence that the capacity I encounter that is least developed in a global web of clients I have coached is a consistent, intentional practice of personal reflection.
The inherent risk in this is that we become disconnected from the creative force that is within each of us, the source of what brings to life our biggest aspirations and dreams. This blocks us from realizing what we most want in all aspects of our life: what we seek to experience, what we seek to provide and create, who we seek to be.
The Key
There is a path back. The key is in the re-awakening of your relationship to self.
This requires intentionally slowing down to explore your inner terrain with openness and curiosity. It is terrain rich with insight, ideas, wisdom, healing ability, and love. Exploration involves deepening your awareness of all the parts that make you uniquely you while learning about and consciously engaging with the dynamic dialogue between your brain, body, mind, and spirit.
In our work together, we explore where you are and what you are seeking. We design and shape your own stepping stones — the path back to your whole self.
From there, we expand into your fullest expression. One step, and then another step, and another step.
Your effectiveness in crafting and realizing this path to possibility, peace, and fulfillment is enabled through cultivating relational intelligence.
Relational intelligence, or RQ, is at the heart of what I focus on and how we work. This involves being aware of and engaging with all aspects of your being (psychological, emotional, physical, spiritual) while at the same time being open to and seeking to understand others. This capacity enables you to spark, strengthen, and sustain relationships which reflect mutual growth. It unleashes the expression of your most expansive, authentic self. And the seeds of RQ reside within us; we are born with it.
Cultivating and deepening your RQ is multi-dimensional. It is holistic and whole system: brain, body, heart, mind, spirit. As such, it requires a multi-disciplinary approach, one which is tailored to each client: individual, team, or organizational system. It leverages research, knowledge, and craft from neuroscience, psychology, somatics, art, and the wisdom of the world’s spiritual traditions. There is no one right way. I meet you where you are, and we grow from there.
The Implications for Leadership
Leadership is not conferred by title; anyone can lead in any aspect of life. And to lead well, relational effectiveness is what matters most. Why? Because leadership is inherently relational. Leadership requires followership: individuals who choose to follow and support what you seek to bring to life. Followership and leadership are dynamic relationships that involve commitment and active cultivation. The greater your fluency in relational intelligence, the more effective you will be.
It doesn’t matter what title you hold or role you have, what function or industry you work in. Having a lasting legacy lies in your ability to build, deepen, and sustain relationships.
The Implications for Organizations
From individuals to organizations: my vision of hope for a new future
The epidemic of disconnection is amplified in organizational life.
More than a century after the advent of the Industrial Revolution and accelerated by the advent of computers and more recently AI, the pendulum has swung too far in one direction in the mechanization of the work environment. I believe that organizations now also need to return to an innate way of being: a return to humanship.
At Spark Leadership Partners, we are committed to modeling the essence of humanship, and we are committed to re-imagining organizations to bring the heart back into focus.
A first step is reminding organizations of their fundamental fabric as human systems and support that restoration. Over decades, this fabric has been frayed, ripped, and neglected: a result of external pressures, priorities, and conflicting values. We seek to bring our individual and collective humanity back into the places we work. This requires remembering a way of relating that many organizational cultures have forgotten. It reflects leading and collaborating from an open-hearted place. It means taking a stance from a place of love, not a place of fear. It means seeing connection and interdependence instead of competition and individualism. It anchors in compassion not judgement. And what this way of relating creates is more powerful, more catalytic, more innovative than anything you’ve seen — but the truth of it lies deep within all of us.
We seek to do this by partnering with the leadership systems – individuals and teams – who are the most significant shapers of and influences on organizational life. Our engagements reflect coaching, teaching, perspective sharing, exploring, story-telling, and co-creating.
If this resonates for you, keep reading about us. We welcome open-minded, curious seekers who in their hearts know that there is a better, different way. A more authentic way. A more human way.
Come join us as we spark possibility: for you, for your team, for your organization… and for the world.
The Invitation
“I believe that relationships are the key to fulfillment and contentment in life and at work. And the most important relationship is your relationship to yourself. It influences your relationship to everyone and everything else: from people to situations to uncertainty to nature to life and death to healing and growth.”
– Karin Stawarky
In their words, the experience of some of our clients: