The Challenge of Leadership

Creating effective leaders

In business, executives often focus on models of rational analysis, paying far too little attention to the idiosyncrasies and irrational processes that make up individual human behaviour. At the heart of success however, lies a true understanding of the emotional side of decision-making.

The Challenge of Leadership aims to improve your understanding of how human behaviour affects the functioning of an organisation. By focusing on conscious and unconscious behaviour, as well as rational and irrational action, you will learn to manage irrational and dysfunctional processes in your company. You will explore your personal leadership style and address ways of dealing with processes that fall outside recommended models.

How you benefit

• Build a foundation for effective leadership. Discover the forces behind authority and power, increasing your confidence at the most senior levels.
• Develop a leadership style for the future. Evolve your leadership style to improve the health and effectiveness of your organisation.
• Build teams with a collective mission. Gain the capability to diagnose toxic organisational cultures and dysfunctional processes in companies, enabling enhanced group dynamics and the creation of high-performance teams.
• Better work-life balance. Determine when to pull back and how to share responsibilities, thus creating a better work-life balance.

Content Overview

The Challenge of Leadership combines the characteristics of being group oriented, reflective and clinical. First, this means that the personal experiences of the select community built during the course get frequent airing. This in turn helps leaders consider their behaviour, increasing their ability to act, reflect and then refocus their actions. They thus become what we refer to as ‘reflective practitioners’. Lastly, the programme uses a clinical framework, drawing on psychoanalysis, family systems theory, developmental psychology and cognitive theory among other disciplines, and applying them to business. The modules will cover the following topics.

Organisational diagnosis and change

• Understanding national and corporate culture
• Dealing with the ‘undiscussables’ of organisational life
• Group dynamics and team building
• Creating a coaching culture
• Social defences
• Personal and organisational change processes and transformation processes
• Interpreting non-rational processes
• Empathetic listening
• Dealing with transference and countertransference issues

The executive life

• The dynamics of power and influence
• The failure factor in leadership
• Authority problems in management
• Regressive behaviour in organisations
• Defensive reactions and coping styles
• Stress symptoms in organisations
• Managing disappointment
• Emotional intelligence
• The leader as coach

Problem solving and career planning

• A better understanding of your leadership style
• Uncovering ‘blind spots’ through multi-party feedback
• Process consultation – ‘critical incident’ method
• Managing interpersonal conflict
• Learning how to coach
• Life and career planning: establishing a balance