Embrace
Your leadership team reflects on the pressures and patterns it carries, without blame.
Team Experiences · For HR and L&D leaders in the UAE
Kintsugi team building in Dubai
A facilitated half day for leadership teams to examine how they work together, using hands on Kintsugi, structured dialogue and practical commitments.
Space for the conversations that matter
Competing priorities. Difficult decisions. Conversations that keep being postponed. Step outside the daily agenda to examine how your leadership team works together under pressure and through change.
From blame to gold
Old question
Whose fault is it?
Pressure. Blame. Hiding the crack.
New question
How do we put gold on it?
Repair. Value. Making the crack part of the story.
Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing ceramics with gold, gives leaders a shared experience to reflect on how they respond when something does not go to plan. Facilitated dialogue connects that experience to the team’s working relationships and agreed commitments.
How the experience works
Transform
Through hands on Kintsugi, leaders repair broken pieces with gold and explore how they respond to tension, setbacks and change.
Shine
Leaders agree concrete commitments for how they will communicate, work together and lead through the next challenge.
A short follow up session a few weeks later gives the team space to revisit its commitments and reflect on their application at work.
What your team walks away with
- Agreed commitments for communication and collaboration
- Shared language for repair, resilience and inclusion
- A short follow up session to revisit those commitments
- A showcase summary for internal sharing
- A repaired piece as a reminder of the experience
Designed for leadership teams too
The same half day works as a focused offsite for executive and senior leadership teams. Leaders use hands on Kintsugi and facilitated dialogue to examine how they work together under pressure, and agree practical commitments for the return to work.
Practicalities
- Duration
- Half day (3 to 3.5 hours)
- Group size
- Up to 12 participants per session; larger teams in several sessions
- Location
- At your offices or a venue of your choice
- Materials
- Everything is provided. Your team just brings themselves.
- After the session
- A showcase summary you can share internally
A premium experience, tailored to your team
Investment depends on team size, number of sessions and location. Book a discovery session and we will shape the right format together.
Why SAWA
Designed by Dr. Samia Jamai, whose PhD research examined what holds people back at work, SAWA combines research, hands on Kintsugi practice and structured anchoring to connect the experience to everyday work.
Meet Samia →SAWA team experiences in Dubai and the UAE bring research, hands on Kintsugi practice and structured anchoring to senior leadership teams navigating complexity and change.
Frequently asked questions
Who is this offsite for?
Executive and senior leadership teams who want space to reflect on how they work together and lead through pressure and change.
Is this suitable for diverse or cross cultural teams?
Yes. The experience is designed for mixed teams across cultures, departments and seniority, and supports wider diversity and inclusion goals.
Does this include strategy planning?
This is a focused half day leadership experience, not a strategy planning retreat. Its focus is how leaders work together, with practical commitments and a short follow up session.
Do participants need any artistic skill?
No. The practice is simple and fully guided.
Can it be delivered in Arabic?
Sessions can be delivered in English, Arabic or French.
How is this different from a conventional executive offsite?
Hands on Kintsugi provides a shared experience of repair, alongside facilitated leadership dialogue, practical commitments and follow up after the session.
Shape your team experience
Book a discovery sessionPrefer that we reach out?
Or email us at hello@sawaleadership.com