Leading with resilience through ambiguity, uncertainty and constant & increasing change

This developmental workshop is aimed at leaders of organisations who take their leadership of change seriously and want to significantly develop their confidence and ability in leading change effectively, particularly through difficult times and emergent challenges. 

The whole essence of the programme is work from what the attendee already knows and then develop their mastery further, in the direction they want to take it – it is not designed to teach a standard theory or standard change management tools and techniques.  It is designed to maximise learning and support within organisations and between leaders – a very collaborative programme.

Please contact me if you are interested in attending the programme or in having one run in-house for your leaders.  Another option is for the course to be run for 4-5 of your leaders in conjunction with 4-5 other organisations.

The information below covers:

  • A broad outline of the programme
  • The context in which this programme is designed
  • The essence of the programme
  • The purpose of the programme

Broad outline:

Mastery in Leading Through Emergent Challenges is a 3-day residential, intensive, experiential development event.  It will have between 16 and 25 attendees depending on demand and need.  Leaders can choose to attend open events with leaders from other organisations as well, or in-house events in which participants are all from the same organisation.   Attendance will be preceded by a 30-minute 1-to-1 telephone interview for each attendee, which will ensure that leaders are effectively prepared for the workshop and will start the process of drawing out the developmental needs.

Ideally, at the open events, leaders will attend with 3 or 4 other leaders from their own organisation – which helps the organisation itself to build its change leadership capability.

Each event will focus directly on the developmental needs of the particular attendees of that event and will be designed in collaboration with them.

The cost of each event will be agreed in advance with the attendees or organisation sponsoring the event, and will depend upon the location in which it is held and the number of people attending.  Broadly, however, the base cost would be in the region of £1,000 per head, plus VAT and the cost of accommodation.

The structure of the programme allows all the teaching that occurs to be directly relevant to the specific needs as expressed in the room, and only to add to the existing bank of knowledge, not duplicate it.

Context:

“The only certainty is uncertainty itself..”  quoted recently in a number of newspaper headlines.

The context to this programme is as follows:

  • Change is growing in scale and rapidity and life is increasingly ambiguous and uncertain
  • Simultaneously there is a growing knowledge about change management and change theory within leaders
  • The ability to lead with resilience, and to help the people we lead be more resilient, is becoming more critical
  • Many developmental events focus on teaching change management theory and tools which are often already known about or they are not necessarily appropriate to the need of the people being taught        

 Essence:

“No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.” Kahlil Gibran

This programme helps leaders to develop their mastery in change leadership.  It helps leaders to develop their ability to recall fully, clearly and appropriately what they already richly know about leading change and then to determine directly what they want to develop further about themselves in this respect.  It does not teach a set script – the agenda for the programme is directly focused on the development needs of the leaders attending that programme and worked up in collaboration with them (modelling collaboration in change).

The programme also helps leaders to practice drawing on their core skills and expertise when they most need it, and to develop their own self-confidence and self-awareness in this respect.  Most often in key moments of change, it is not the theory or techniques that are difficult to apply – the most difficult thing is becoming unstuck and remaining open to being as powerful as we can be, using everything we already know and bringing that to bear in what are facing and leading.  This programme develops that muscle.

By helping leaders to access what they already know and then determine their own precise development need, the programme is able to maximise the value of the time together by focusing new development on exactly what the attendeesneed.  New development is therefore directly applicable to the need of the individual and the context they are facing.

It should be clear that, while tools and techniques might be used in the programme and sometimes covered at the request of the attendees, the programme is fundamentally about building leadership muscle and confidence rather than in teaching tools and techniques.

Purpose:

The purpose of this experiential and collaborative learning programme is to

  • Help leaders to build their own resilience and to lead from a resilient space – also helping those they lead to be more resilient too
  • Help leaders to develop their own understanding of change leadership further from what they already know and focused directly on what they want to develop further about themselves
  • Create a community of leader learners that can continue to draw on each other moving forward.      

Potential outcomes:

Leaders who attend the programme should come away with:

  • Increased self-confidence and courage in leading change
  • Increased personal resilience and ability to deal with ambiguity and uncertainty and improved ability to help those they lead with the same
  • Better skills and understanding in surfacing and positively harnessing resistance to change earlier and quicker
  • Enhanced ability to engage their people in whatever changes are impacting them – including engaging different people in the different ways they require  
  • Improved network across other leaders in the organisation (and other organisations) and stronger trust in each other.

This should create the following in their environment, both short and long-term:

  • More resilience and ability to deal with change, ambiguity and uncertainty
  • Quicker and more genuine acceptance of changes being implemented
  • More cross-functional collaboration and empowerment
  • Quicker cross-functional communication
  • More consistency in approach to change across the organisation
  • Greater trust in the leaders of the organisation and fewer people having to be involved in decisions because they trust each other more.

The bottom line impacts could look something like:

  • Faster and more effective change programmes and therefore lower costs
  • Lower turnover of leaders who would otherwise leave because of the uncertainty of the change
  • Quicker and more effective delivery of the benefits of any change
  • Less need for repetitive communication activity because of lower resistance to change.