Whenever organisations, management or teams, are discussed there are always the questions of leadership. Having outstanding operational and financial efficiency and the best IT systems can never guarantee an organisation's success if the community that is created does not engage, motivate and inspire. Only the social skill that is called leadership can make a difference. So what exactly is this skill and how can it be used and developed?
At the Academy definitions of leadership are not the primary focus, so instead of looking at what leaders are, we look closely at what they say and do. The model that we use with participants defines the skill of leadership as action, rather than any particular behavioural competencies. Action that will influence a situation that is currently without appropriate direction. Of course to do this the leader must also have the ability to notice when their action is needed and confidence in their own self awareness.
Our model is experiential. We start with what actually happens and then build up some general principles that combine with personal experience. By focusing on action we can help to increase the participant's propensity for action, thereby enabling them to create opportunities for leadership within their own organisations.
The leadership event is based on increasing the participants self awareness and "other awareness". This is achieved by using MBTI Step 2, 360 degree feedback and participant's real world incidents that are presented, evaluated and fed back in a unique (en passant) group feedback situation. Experiential projects are used to create leadership vacuums. These are situations without purpose or effectiveness, vacuums that can only be filled by individual influence, language and action. The social skills of "Deep Noticing", attending, interpreting and deciding to act are critiqued and fed back. This increases the participants self awareness in challenging situations and adds to their perceived authenticity (and reputation).
"Authenticity" describes being ourselves, rather than copying other's leadership behaviours. Most leadership events endeavour to train these behaviours, trying to shoehorn them into the personality of the participants. The academy approach grows leadership out of the individual and encourages their social (leadership) skills to strengthen and develop.