Course Overview
We are able to design a conscious leadership programmes to suit your needs from a one-day introduction to the concepts and experiential practises through to an advanced programme including pre-assessment and coaching. Whichever level is suitable for your organisation, following the programme, participants will be able to operate with improved consciousness, self-awareness, creativity and effectiveness.
Where many leadership development programmes focus on horizontal development – technical skills and subject matter expertise, here we focus on vertical development – highly developed soft skills that are required to operate in complex environments.
Vertical development is based on research which shows that, as we progress through certain stages of adult development, we develop new capacities for thinking, acting and leading. A useful analogy is filling a cup with more liquid (horizontal development) compared to expanding the size of the cup so that a greater volume of liquid can be held (vertical development). Or horizontal development is about what you think and vertical development is about how you think – the ability to think and act in more sophisticated ways.
Leaders need a blend of vertical and horizontal development, however, in an increasingly VUCA* world, vertical development is becoming critical to improved and sustainable business performance. Vertically developed leaders are able to respond to problems that cannot be solved with existing knowledge (adaptive challenges), think both systematically and from multiple perspectives, interpret situations and collaborate with others. They use their increased understanding and self-awareness to lead in a grounded, skilful and wise way.
Depending on your requirements a programme may include some or all of the following:
- An assessment of leader’s current stage of Adult Development using ‘The Leadership Circle’ 360 feedback profile**
- Approaches to create the three primary conditions for vertical development including pre-course reflections, classroom exercises, mindfulness and reflection, coaching, peer support and challenge and organisational perspective building
- Models and methodologies for example: Beyond Competency, Working with vision and purpose, Creative Tension, the Scarf model and Immunity to change
- Participants will explore their individual development journey.
Following a typical programme participants will:
- Be more resilient and have a greater sense of personal well-being
- Maintain focus on what is really important and avoid distraction
- Have better listening skills and communicate with others more effectively
- Work more constructively with conflict
- Be more comfortable having courageous conversations
- Foster high performance in their team
- Motivate and inspire others so as to bring out the best in them
- Have improved delegating skills.
*volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous
** This is the only 360-degree competency assessment that simultaneously provides focused competency feedback while revealing the underlying assumptions that are causing a leader’s pattern of strengths and limitations. It helps leaders understand the relationship between how they habitually think, how they behave, and, more importantly, how all this impacts their current level of leadership effectiveness. Once this awareness is established, leadership development can proceed. Without it, change rarely happens.
