A LESSON IN LEADERSHIP

Abstract

Leadership development should work in two ways - it should be a journey of self-discovery whereby participants learn something about themselves - and it should also be adaptable to the culture and architecture of an organisation. Leadership development programmes, therefore, should not be designed to simply teach a person how to lead in an abstract situation. The main goal should be to develop a person's capacity for leadership so that it can be applied anywhere.Leadership capacity is something which everyone is born with, but not everyone enacts - and it is only those who act on their capacity that truly become leaders. The idea of a leadership programme should be to harness this leadership capacity and encourage individuals to act upon it - to lead small teams of people and apply that leadership in business.The 'Act of Leadership'Each person's capacity for leadership varies - it may take the form of extensive knowledge of a particular subject, adaptability to a certain situation, open-mindedness, relevant experience, composure in a crisis - anything which differentiates that person from others, and encourages them to take action. Once an individual has performed this 'Act of Leadership,' that person is beginning to both look and sound like a leader.An 'Act of Leadership' is the process of identifying something which needs to happen in order for the group to progress - and acting upon this instinct. 'Acts of leadership' occur when a group is working to achieve a common goal and needs to pull together in order to succeed. Leadership actions are no less meaningful if they are small, nor do they depend on personality or job title, although it is inevitable that some people will have a greater propensity to act than others and will also have a greater aptitude for the kind of action needed. A true act of leadership is one that not only benefits the group, but one that encourages others to act.Creating a model for leadershipImpact, a global leader in people development programmes, creates opportunities which provoke the need for leadership and, from these, generates a model of sustainable leadership which can be used in real business. Expert facilitators focus on acts of leadership as they emerge throughout the project and the leadership roles as they arise within the group. The facilitator records the roles fulfilled by each person and brings them to discussion during the project review session. The facilitator cannot get involved in the programme or lead the group in any way; all acts of leadership must come from the participants.The project review is a time to reflect on the learning experience, to discuss the individual acts of leadership which occurred, and to determine which acts of leadership were missed. During the session, the facilitators and participants create models of sustainable leadership which can be utilised within a business environment. The review provides a positive model, showing all the acts of leadership which were achieved and how they helped the group - as well as a negative model, identifying all the acts that were missed and how to enact them in the future.Community Action-LearningThere are essentially four facets of learning - cognitive, motor, imaginai and experiential - all of which must work together to provide the most successful learning experience. (Please refer to panel: The 4 Domains of Learning.)Impact specialises in experiential learning programmes, which take people out of their comfort zones and place them in an environment where some form of leadership is essential, a situation which demands that they use their own personal strengths to lead the group. Programmes take different forms depending on the exact objectives of each business. Every project involves a practical activity, which usually benefits a third party. This includes Community Action-Learning (CAL) programmes, which Impact has used as part of its people development for over 20 years. …