Flourish
Power skills, grounded in neuroscience
Workshops for new and emerging leaders.
Led by Sophia Pacynko: seven years in strategy and partnerships at Shell, First Class MEng in Chemical Engineering (Manchester), MSc in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health (King's College London, in progress), and a qualified yoga, breathwork and meditation teacher (RYT-200hr).
Leading well takes both
Leading well takes both results focus and social skills, and the combination is rare. In a survey of about 60,000 employees, a leader's chance of being rated great depended on both (Lieberman, 2013).
In a separate survey, fewer than 1% of leaders were rated high on both goal focus and social skills (Lieberman, 2013).
What Flourish is
A workshop and training programme that builds five power skills for high performance and wellbeing, for new and emerging leaders. It is neuroscience-informed, combining research with mind-body practices and using the principles of human flourishing to help people reach their full potential.
Leadership isn't limited to CEOs: it applies to team leads and to anyone growing into leadership. The programme upskills leaders in emotional intelligence, conflict resolution and creative problem-solving, human skills that matter more as AI takes on more analytical work.
The foundation
Our ability to change. Neuroplasticity: the brain changes with experience and repeated practice. Epigenetics: our experiences can influence how our genes are expressed.
The five power skills
Awareness, attention, regulation, insight and connection, cultivated through practice and not through information alone.
The goal
With consistent practice, skills become habits, and habits become who we are: flourishing as our default.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”Will Durant, summarising Aristotle (1926)
The five power skills
Skills can be cultivated, and with consistent practice become our default. Select a skill to see what it covers.
Noticing thoughts, emotions and body signals as they arise.
At work: noticing worry building about a big presentation, before it turns into days of mental rehearsal.
Relevant to: distraction, low mood, difficult conversations, supporting mental health.
Directing and sustaining focus, resisting distraction.
At work: staying with a hard task, resisting multitasking, and being fully present in a meeting.
Relevant to: distraction.
Staying steady under pressure and recovering well.
At work: pausing and taking a few deep breaths before replying to a difficult email or comment.
Relevant to: feeling overloaded and unable to switch off.
Seeing patterns in your own responses over time and finding new perspectives.
At work: when overwhelmed by a difficult problem, you reflect on the challenges you have overcome and see yourself in a new light.
Relevant to: low mood, difficult conversations, managing performance constructively.
Relating well to colleagues, with presence and clarity.
At work: listening to understand, having honest conversations, and inspiring and motivating your team.
Relevant to: isolation, difficult conversations, managing performance constructively, supporting mental health, inspiring and motivating.
The programme
Fourteen sessions of 50 minutes: an introduction, four clusters of three, and a closing session.
Focus and concentration
- The cost of distraction
- Attention as a skill
- Regulate attention and energy
Staying steady under pressure
- Stress and the brain
- Create the pause
- Respond with perspective
Creative problem-solving and decisions
- Frame the problem
- Create space for ideas
- Intuition and bias
Interpersonal relationships
- Know yourself, lead others
- Have the hard conversation
- Bring others with you
A typical session
One core idea, one practice and one thing to try each week. Example: Attention as a skill.
Name the challenge
A short reflection on where attention goes in a normal working day.
What attention is
Top-down and bottom-up attention, selecting and sustaining it, and the multitasking myth.
Practice
A guided focused-attention meditation, then a short debrief.
Does practice work?
What short, regular practice can and cannot change, with caveats where they matter.
Make it stick
Choose one cue and one practice to use this week.
Ways to start
Start with one session and build from there. Groups of up to 30 participants. Fees are quoted per group after a short scoping call.
Taster session
Where most teams beginOne standalone session, Attention as a resource.
50 minutes
Pilot block
Introduction, three sessions from one cluster, integration.
5 × 50 minutes
Leadership overview
Introduction, one session from each of the four clusters, integration.
6 × 50 minutes
Full programme
All 14 sessions: introduction, four clusters of three, integration.
14 × 50 minutes
What to expect, and how it is measured
Honest about what the evidence supports, and clear about how we will check.
What the research supports
In a randomised trial of 623 working adults, 30 days of short guided practice improved sustained attention and lowered perceived stress (Axelsen et al., 2022).
What we do not claim
- No guaranteed gains in performance.
- Results depend on continued practice.
- Not a substitute for fixing workload or work design.
How we can measure
- Practice: days practised each week.
- Change: a short self-report at the start, at the end and 30 days later.
- Reported to the company in aggregate. Each person gets their own summary.
References
Axelsen, J. L., Meline, J. S. J., Staiano, W., & Kirk, U. (2022). Mindfulness and music interventions in the workplace: Assessment of sustained attention and working memory using a crowdsourcing approach. BMC Psychology, 10, Article 108. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-022-00810-y
Durant, W. (1926). The story of philosophy. Simon & Schuster.
Lieberman, M. D. (2013). Social: Why our brains are wired to connect. Crown.
What participants say
Feedback on Flourish from an organisation and from public workshops.
“restorative, invigorating and informative — Can't recommend highly enough!”
Amy, GM Mental Health, League Ahead
“Sophia is a brilliant teacher. The way she explains neuroscience concepts is very easy to understand and so interesting.”
Attendee, public Flourish workshop
“I enjoyed how intimate, humble, genuine and warm it was.”
Attendee, public Flourish workshop
“I really enjoyed the Flourish session she held and enjoyed learning more about how our brains and nervous system work!”
Attendee, public Flourish workshop
About Sophia
Sophia Pacynko spent seven years in strategy and partnerships at Shell before moving into human performance. She holds a First Class MEng in Chemical Engineering from the University of Manchester, is completing an MSc in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health at King's College London, and is a qualified yoga, breathwork and meditation teacher (RYT-200hr) teaching across studios on the Northern Beaches, Sydney.
She brings experience inside a large organisation together with postgraduate training in the neuroscience of mental health.
Start with a taster session for one team
Afterwards we review together and decide whether a pilot block, leadership overview or full programme makes sense.
Introduction and pitch
30 minutes.
Scoping call
Agree the taster session, team and date.
Taster session
50 minutes with one team, for example Attention as a skill.
Review together
Decide on a pilot block, leadership overview or full programme.