LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE COURSE INTRODUCTION HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS Welcome to the Leadership Excellence Course – a true action program! Obviously, nothing ever happens without some kind of action. Taking action that leads to worthwhile consequences requires thinking, planning, and goal setting. Before we begin, we’d like you to internalize one concept – neither this program nor any other can lead you from wish to fulfillment without constructive action and participation on your part. You are the key to any success this program will provide and I want you to understand that from the start. In the fifteenth century, Galileo pointed out that you cannot be taught anything. You can only find or discover truth inside yourself. You must become involved and willing to take action and implement the concepts presented to you. The design and approach we employ in this program are both practical and action-oriented. A key factor in this program is proceeding from the known to the unknown. On the final day we will convert this concept to what we call “closing the Knowing-Doing Gap.” Our material is fundamental and we realize that many of you have developed a high level of proficiency in a particular skill. In fact each of you brings strengths to the program and as we interact during the next three days, we ask you to share your experiences and insights to better help others to apply these principles in the workplace. Leadership Excellence Course is designed around the adult learning model. While all adults have a preferred learning style, research indicates learning in adults occurs best when they complete each of these four steps: 1. Concrete Experience. Although the rate of learning varies with each individual, knowledge comes through the five basic senses – sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. The more senses brought into play in a learning situation, the greater is the capacity to learn and retain new knowledge. In some cases, the concrete experience is one that you bring into the setting. In other cases, a common concrete experience will be created during this program through the use of role-plays and exercises that require each of you to expand your knowledge by engaging in the activity. 2. Reflective Observation. The definition of insanity is doing the same things and expecting different results. While concrete experience creates the base of learning, reflective observation, or facilitated discussion, is the mechanism by which the new truths are gained. Since participants share common experiences, discussion is a valuable vehicle for you to learn from each other. At Academy Leadership we have broad and varied experience in facilitating adult groups, and will assist you in discovering new ideas and techniques. 3. Abstract Conceptualization. In order to fully utilize knowledge, you must be able to fully understand it and apply it to new situations. This program is cumulative since each topic builds upon the previous ones and extends your grasp of the nature of leadership in its totality, rather than as discrete bits of information and techniques. This understanding is gained during each module as we help you to “put it all together” in a way that makes sense. 4. Active Experimentation. Once new concepts are mastered intellectually, they must become behavioral habits in the workplace. To accomplish this final stage, you will be expected to develop action plans to apply your new skills when you return to your workplace, and to continue to learn through active experimentation, tailoring the new techniques and ideas into a leadership style that works for you and your team. We have designed the program so you can use these five principles of learning: 1. Multi-sensory Perception. Research shows that different areas of the brain are used to hear material, read material, speak material, and write material. The more senses brought into play in a learning situation, the greater is the capacity to learn and retain new knowledge. Our Leadership Excellence Course makes use of each of these cognitive processes through the printed text, the recorded lesson, and interaction during the sessions. In addition, you will be asked to respond to Application & Action questions and Self-Evaluations during each training module to help initiate action. The act of writing and acting is critical to the formation
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of automatic responses or habits. By using these three basic senses – sight, hearing, and touch – the program accelerates the learning and acceptance process and provides results. 2. Spaced Repetition. The key to success in most endeavors is establishing habits. Habits are most effectively created through spaced repetition. When we learn to play a new sport, the key actions are broken down into their simplest components and then rehearsed again and again until they become automatic. A competent golfer or tennis player is not thinking about their swing – it has become programmed through repetition. Hardly any of us need to think about the mechanics of driving a car – this is also automatic because it has been done over and over again. We use spaced repetition by having you listen daily to the audio files that contain the same material as the written lessons. Once you have graduated from the Leadership Excellence Course, we recommend you listen to the audio portion again, not to learn more material but rather to stimulate thought on how to apply the material in daily activities – at work and at home. It is the first step in creating good leadership habits that will last for a lifetime. 3. Simultaneous Learning Experiences. Learning is simultaneous with experience in the Leadership Excellence Course. One of the chief complaints of large corporations is that the theory taught in schools and universities often fails to deal with the practical problems people encounter in the business world. We make a concerted effort to bridge the gap. Beginning with the first session, we believe you will learn how to apply and practice the concepts. Experience, then, is simultaneous with learning. 4. Journaling. The practice of keeping a journal that explores thoughts and feelings surrounding the event of one’s life and as a stress management and self-exploration tool. It is not simply recording the happenings in one’s life, as in keeping a log or diary, but rather writing in detail about your feelings and cognitions related to important life/leadership events. Journaling allows people to clarify their thoughts and feelings, thereby gaining valuable selfknowledge. It allows them to reflect on how well they are doing on what they know they should be doing and thus closing the Knowing-Doing gap. 5. Coaching. Executive coaching is a process of working with individuals one-on-one to help solve problems and introduce behavioral changes for developing effective leaders. The essence of this type of coaching relates to helping leaders transition into a broader awareness of their effectiveness and assisting them in transferring what they have learned during their Leadership Excellence Course experience into tangible results for their organization. Facilitators will schedule three monthly Executive Coaching telephone sessions with Leadership Excellence Course Graduates to check on progress toward accomplishing attendees’ 90 day Action Plan. This dialogue will create a clear picture of one’s long term leadership success and continued journey.
RESULTS OF THE LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE COURSE The Leadership Excellence Course will change your life. It is not designed to change your personality or values, but rather to bring out all of your natural abilities that have lain comparatively unused. In other words, it provides a vehicle for capitalizing on your abilities at a much faster rate than you are likely to achieve through your own initiatives. You will discover and develop goal awareness and attitudes you never knew before. Through activated internal motivation you can develop attitudes and habits that will place you at the top. You will become a practitioner of the type of leadership that produces concrete results and benefits at work, in your home, and in every facet of your life. The Leadership Excellence Course will not end on day three but rather be just a beginning.
WHAT YOU SUPPLY During this course, you will be asked to perform action-oriented exercises that will cause you to stretch, reach, and grow. Some of these exercises will encourage you to form new habits and help you become a more effective leader. One habit that successful leaders have formed is that of recording daily reflections. Journaling, the practice of recording our thoughts and feelings surrounding the leadership events of one’s life, is an effective method for leaders to gain valuable self-knowledge. As a stress management and selfii
exploration tool, it is not the same as simply recording your daily actions, such as keeping a log. To be most beneficial, one must write in detail about feelings and cognitions related to important life/leadership events. The outcome is you can then actually see what you were thinking because your thoughts and experiences are in a solid form. As an active participant in our program you will have ample opportunity to share experiences with your fellow participants. This interaction with each other will reinforce your values as well as the key principles of your leadership style. Journaling each day will enable you to reflect on teachable points of view that will motivate you to grow as a leader and to continue to record important experiences and ideas. Moreover, you will be reinforcing lessons learned through reflective self-disclosure, which will assist you in managing stress, solving problems more cognitively, and making good leadership decisions. The people with the most to gain from our Leadership Excellence Course are those who already enjoy a level of success that is above average. Typically, those that attend our training are busy in their work, aspire to take on more responsibility and accomplish even more than they are already. Most of our participants are interested in learning new habits and changing behaviors to become more effective leaders. This interest, however, needs to be taken to another level and turned into a commitment. A leader who wants to make a difference will always do his/her best by making a commitment and doing whatever it takes. The Leadership Excellence Course is an exciting program, filled with ideas and information that you can use in all areas of your life. Make a commitment to participate actively and the program will deliver many rewards and benefits that will last a lifetime. If you do “whatever it takes” you will have success in reaching your personal and professional goals and forming new habits. Read, reflect, journal, participate, and look for opportunities to learn how to create these habits and become a more effective leader.
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MY THREE MOST IMPORTANT BUSINESS GOALS What are your organization’s three (3) most important goals?
What are your three (3) most important goals that tie into the above goals that you want to accomplish in the next 12 months?
What specific personal development needs prompted you to enroll in this program?
PARTICIPANT
SUPERVISOR
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______________________ Supervisor signature
Name Title Phone Email Company Address
10120 Valley Forge Circle King of Prussia, PA 19406 ph: 610.783.0630 f: 610.783.0883 www.academyleadership.com
WHAT YOU SHOULD INCLUDE IN YOUR LEADER’S COMPASS General Writing Instructions: 1. Your Leaders Compass should be written in the first person so that when someone reads your leadership philosophy it will be authentic and in your voice. 2. It should include phrases I believe, I expect you, you should expect me, etc. 3. It should not exceed two double spaced, typed pages (about 500 - 600 words). 4. Do not include personal or business goals or your job description. What Leadership Means to Me – how you intend to lead. (eg. I intend to lead from the front, setting example by my actions and constantly encouraging those with whom I set these examples.)
Personal Values – what you hold important; such as honesty, commitment, respect for others.(Include the definition you hold true for each value.)
Operating Principles - description of how you will carry out your responsibilities. (Tell us what makes you tick, what activities you prefer and are best at and what we can expect working for you will be like. List several of your highest operating priorities.)
Priorities - What’s important and in what order
Expectations – what you expect of others. What will you expect from the people that report to you? What can they expect from you? What will be your priorities?
Non-negotiables - what you will demand and what you will not tolerate.
Personal Idiosyncrasies - your peculiar likes or “pet peeves”
Commitment – to give feedback and your willingness to receive feedback
THE LEADER’S JOURNAL | CHARTING THE COURSE OF A SUCCESSFUL LEADER Journaling is the practice of recording our thoughts and feelings surrounding leadership/life events. As a stress management and self-exploration tool, it is not the same as simply recording the daily actions in life such as keeping a log. To be most beneficial, one must write in detail about feelings and cognitions related to important life/leadership events. The outcome is you can then actually see what you were thinking because your thoughts and experiences are in a solid form. A journal is a record of your experiences and ideas. It forms an integral part of the experiential learning process by providing a forum for your reflections, reinforcement of lessons learned and identification of unclear concepts. It is a means of self disclosure. The ability to organize your thoughts, identify feelings and record them on paper is a valuable skill. The more specific you are in recording your thoughts and feelings, the more you will learn about yourself and your ability to influence others.
THE BENEFITS OF KEEPING A JOURNAL Journaling allows leaders to clarify their thoughts and feelings, thereby gaining valuable self-knowledge. It’s often a good problem-solving tool where one can hash out a problem and arrive at a solution easier on paper. Journaling about traumatic events helps one process them by fully exploring and releasing the emotions involved, and by engaging both hemispheres of the brain in the process, allowing the experience to become fully integrated in one’s mind. Reduces stress – Journaling has a proven benefit of reducing stress. Once you’re journaling, you won’t carry as much of what you have written about within you. It is on paper or in the computer. By journaling, you give yourself a powerful form of self-expression, and through that expression you gain clarity, release, and relief. Problem Solving – An effective way to think through problems until you reach a point of clarity. Putting your problems on paper avoids linear thinking about more complex problems. It allows you to see the many possible solutions so you can evaluate how each one will affect the people involved. Journaling allows you to overcome the brain’s functional limitations by expanding the mental working memory that’s available for problem solving. Define Your Dreams and Goals – “Our dreams are the visions that shape our lives. Do you know what your dreams are? Have you stopped dreaming? Sometimes we do. At different points in our journey, both professionally and personally, it is so easy to get caught up in surviving that we stop dreaming. When we stop dreaming, we slowly begin to disengage from our work, from our relationships, and from life itself.” (The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly) What do you want to accomplish? Journaling helps you to actually see and better understand what you want and what is important to you. It gives you the opportunity to explore your dreams and develop the goals that will allow you to realize your life’s purpose. You create a personal checklist of things you want to accomplish and develop the action plans to make them happen. Helps focus – Writing in a journal creates more personal awareness; therefore, more focus on the issues that are important to you. If you want to be a successful leader, you can explore the skills you will need to develop in order to obtain the results you want. You learn to focus on daily leadership opportunities and how you make a difference. Health benefits – Research has scientifically proven that journaling decreases the symptoms of asthma, arthritis, and other health conditions. It improves cognitive functioning while strengthening the immune system which in turn prevents a host of illnesses. Journaling is very therapeutic and counteracts many of the negative effects of stress.
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THE LEADER’S JOURNAL | CHARTING THE COURSE OF A SUCCESSFUL LEADER WHAT DOES A LEADER WRITE IN HIS OR HER JOURNAL? You write about the leadership experience had today and how you felt about your performance. You review your values and principles, to see if you were true to Your Leader’s Compass. You evaluate your performance. Did I do my very best today? Did my people do their very best? When you reflect on these questions, you begin to understand how you can be a better leader by focusing your efforts on developing your people and accomplishing the mission (results). Here are the four steps: 1. What Happened (Concrete Experience) This is the activity which provides the data and experience for your learning. Record significant events and describe the situation to include others who are involved. What part did you have? What did you do? How did you contribute to the outcome? 2. How I Felt (Publish and Process) What emotions did you experience (anger, excitement, boredom)? How did you feel about the situation? How do you feel now? What was your internal dialogue (includes what you thought about saying) and how the other person(s) responded? What were your feelings during the dialogue? What are they now? How did you respond to the situation? 3. What I Learned (Generalized Information) What insights did you gain from your experience? What did you learn about yourself and your reactions to what happened? How did the experience get you to think in new directions? What did you learn about others? This is opportunity to explore possible cause-and-effect relationships so that theories or hypotheses can be developed that explain “why” outcomes of the experience were produced. 4. Application to Life/Leadership (Develop and Apply Courses of Action) How is what you learned useful? What did you agree with and why? What actions will you take? How will you apply what you have learned?
ROLE MODELS FOR JOURNALING The probability of our founding fathers coming together at one time in history to lead the American Revolution is quite remote. But it happened! We know so much about them because they were diligent about journaling their leadership experiences. George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and Alexander Hamilton all kept detailed journals about their personal leadership experiences. From these journals we know how they felt about the revolution and the part they played in leading the 13 colonies to victory over the greatest power in the world. We can learn how they reflected on the thoughts and ideas of the other delegates and how they were able to adjust their own vision and leadership styles accordingly. As leaders we often times know what we should do but fail to do it. This is a very common problem called the Knowing – Doing Gap. Journaling is a mechanism to help close this Gap. If we spend time each day reflecting on how we did as a leader, compared to this checklist, we will obtain the focus necessary to close the Knowing – Doing Gap. By measuring ourselves (A, B, C, D or F with a max GPA of 4.0), against our own standards, in these four key leadership areas, we can begin to see progress in becoming a better leader.
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THE LEADER’S JOURNAL | CHARTING THE COURSE OF A SUCCESSFUL LEADER Key Leadership Behaviors
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1. Getting Results
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2. Developing People
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3. Living My Leader’s Compass
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4. Being Open to New Ideas and Opportunities
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The routine and habit of journaling means making time for the most important leader in the lives of your people. When you set aside time for yourself, you can feel the benefit and gain from doing something specifically for you. It can show up in other areas of your life as you carry that time you have spent on yourself within you, and everywhere you go. Journaling will track your life as you record your experiences, dreams, ideas, desires, thoughts and more, for reflecting on now, and the future. You are telling your story to yourself.
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