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Zero Zone Praxis as Invisible Leadership

Leader's Self-Cultivation as a Tool from Outside of Craft
In the present era of materialism, the desire for deeper self-fulfilment has strongly emerged in the context of growing social consciousness (Bachkirova, 2022). The need for individual development brings a sense of commitment to the leader and creates a sense of purpose and community. The personal profitable goal, incl. in the form of making a career, is replaced by the mission of serving society.
Outdated ways of doing things, attitudes and inevitable ignorance before every new task are the reasons that bring imbalance in management. In a time-critical situation, for example, one often does not notice all the possibilities of action, one’s inner resources or even perceives an attack. New factors in a seemingly familiar situation reduce the likelihood of success. However, the leader’s task is to be effective in this unknown situation. Their experiences, but also their character and attitude, will be decisive. All this creates a requirement for self-cultivation for the leader.
Partnership
The unknown situation creates uncertainty under challenging moments, blurring objectivity and reactivity. Internal or external tension can arise, confrontation in the partnership, the personal vulnerability of the leader increases, and the adequate flow of activities may become inadequate and conflictual. The problem becomes the retuning capability at the critical moment and its quality. This discourages making sustainable decisions.
With high self-esteem, any advice can fail due to the partner’s self-protective attitude. At the same time, a person with low self-confidence is afraid to offer solutions and gets involved in the process superficially. Being primarily engaged in mutual self-assertion in such a partnership, the participants’ focus inevitably shifts from doing to evaluating their own performance: am I good enough? There is a confrontation with a new idea or dissenting opinion, personal ambitions and performance anxiety in front of coping. Instead of intriguing stimulation, it all blocks the ability for fruitful actions.
Zero Zone
The zero zone appears when one falls out of the steady flow of performing activity due to an external or internal impulse. An unpleasant event or an inappropriate reaction (subjective!) triggers a new situation. Having exited the previous action or state of mind and not entering the next, a “headless state” occurs. The focus shifts to the powerful fright that the sequel is gone. The habitual flow of activity is interrupted, and according to our adaptability, everything that follows is either retarding, disruptive or unproductive.

You may develop your craft endlessly.
One day you'll be on top. How and where to for next?
Crafts are not enough.
You are enough.
Expand your Self.

Leadership

Flow is a state of concentration so focused that it amounts to absolute absorption in an activity.
It is easy to reach one, an achievement is to stay in one.

Consciousness creates a pattern from every situation to be applied again when necessary, constantly dividing between the main focus and distractions and taking “responsibility” for dividing itself between the primary task and the “distractor”, even if the individual disagrees (Thomson and Jaque, 2020). A feedback loop occurs; since such a loop is endless, attention is constantly diffused. One never gets used to this experience of anxiety and confusion; the person becomes disturbed again every time a misleading impulse appears, and the circulation increases until the tension reaches the level of panic attacks and destroys performance. Fear and confusion can become a phobia, and specific activities will be avoided. These processes happen automatically, are very powerful and can only be stopped by changing the somatic reactions through previous training.
However, instead of the negative effect of the Zero Zone, we could use it as a positive gap that allows us to focus again on the main task, preventing confrontation. It is a moment of reflection, either in a time-critical decision-making situation or in a more extended period of activities, to create a personal conviction about the effectiveness of a possible solution.
Zero Zone praxis was born from the need to support the team to take risks in new activities to secure an effective performance flow. In critical processes, people’s egos are alarmed and trust mainly their solution to ensure success. The Zero Zone praxis helps to prevent and mitigate conflicts, develops deepening into detail, raises selflessness and personal reduction, and creates a willingness to compromise. Such training helps shift the focus from fears, prejudices and the need for achievement to effective action for a common goal. In an unexpected disturbing external impulse, consciousness can anticipate a critical situation.
The leader’s opportunity through Zero Zone praxis is to find personal balance, detail accuracy when guiding others and independence from external help. The training brings a subtle understanding of the ensemble’s needs, prevents stress and burnout, and is the basis of horizontal – invisible – leadership.

(Tamur Tohver, Business Day, 2023)