The Leader Within Program
The philosophy
The Leader Within Program emphasises increased self-awareness as an essential component in becoming a more influential and effective communicator and leader.
To achieve excellence in self and others, leaders need to:
- think, feel, reflect and continually challenge themselves;
- build and maintain strong relationships with those around them;
- understand and manage their own emotions and responses;
- explore strategies to build personal health and resilience; and
- create an environment for their teams to be the best they can be.
Opportunities offered
1. To create a strong learning value-centred leadership culture within your organisation that is committed to continual improvement.
2. To build a strong core of people across the organisation at every level who:
- are conscious and committed learners;
- are emotionally and interpersonally equipped to handle conflict and change internally and externally;
- take personal responsibility for leadership whatever their role; and
- are actively involved in mentoring and coaching one another to support each other’s growth and organisational growth.
The intention
This program was designed to respond to key challenges being faced by individuals, teams and organisations. It provides a framework for current and emerging leaders to be more effective in today's complex and changing business environment.
This six-month program aims to build management capabilities in the following areas:
- People skills
- Managing effective workplace relationships
- Ensuring team effectiveness
- Developing teams and individuals
- Facilitating and capitalising on change and innovation
- Managing personal work priorities and professional development
The program has five interlinked elements
- An initial interview with each applicant to ascertain their unique goals and aspirations for the program, gain an appreciation of their roles and experience, assess prior learning and aptitude for further leadership development.
- Assessment prior to, and at the end of, the program as a way of providing feedback and measurement of change and progress over time.
- A three day / night residential workshop to provide each person with the tools and models for self-improvement as well as enhancing their leadership capability.
- Five months telephone coaching for each person with an external professional coach.
- A recall meeting towards the end of the six-month program to review progress and assess learning outcomes in the context of the business imperatives.
Comments from previous participants
“My awareness of self and interaction with others is better now than before doing the course, and I had more confidence in myself and my ability to lead the team and work with the other team leaders on their level”.
“With some increased awareness and a few more ‘tools’ I believe we now interact much better and I feel much better. I think the fundamental thing was my awareness and choice of how I interact”.
“A reaffirmation of the need for positive behavior as a manager, being aware of the consequences of the choices we make”.
“One of the major benefits for my organisation and me has been an improvement of the interaction between my immediate supervisor and myself”.
Comments from their supervising managers
“Yes, improved confidence and job satisfaction/… is more self motivated and is therefore self managing their work very well/ … is happier in their job and is considerably less affected by any negative influences of other staff or situations. This in itself has led to improved team work and I suspect, job satisfaction.”
“… appears more relaxed in their role. Minor changes to management style with more emphasis on: seeking out / clarifying information prior to making a decision/ keeping staff informed of developments / focusing on areas of mutual agreement / clarifying reasons for decisions where points of view may have differed and making effort to put person’s focus back onto positive aspects, or areas of mutual agreement.”
“…’s communication and interaction with internal and external stakeholders has certainly changed over this period. I can see that they are trying to alter their leadership style to meet the various environments they are working under”.
“Yes, they now take time to consider alternative options without quickly rejecting them. However they have increased the amount of communication over the past six months as they now provide greater explanation as to why their decisions are made that way … now listens more to what employees have to say without quickly rejecting it.”
“They have certainly developed their ability to ‘look through the eyes of others’ (listening) which has had a positive effect on the team.”
Comments on coaching component
“I found the coaching gave me momentum to keep the key learning concepts from the workshop in the forefront in my approach to work and personal life. I used the coaching for motivation to undertake some goals at work”.
“To me, this was the crux of the program. Removing the coaching would reduce the effectiveness of the overall program by 75%. Coaching kept allowing me to return to key aspects.”
“I found the coaching helped to refresh my memory and raise my level of awareness again. It was good to be able to go over particular opportunities, struggles and concepts that were coming up in my work in real time."
“I thought coaching was very important in helping me take a bit more objective look at the situation (especially when it involved trying to visualise the point of view of someone with a completely different style). It was my choice and I could start being that person now if I wished – it was a fundamental shift in thinking for me and I think it has really resulted in me taking more steps“.
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Download the full program outline and application details >>
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