Leadership Development

It is obvious that most of the leadership programmes have to little impact. There are several reasons for that:

• There is too much emphasis on knowledge transfer, and too less on personal growth.
• There is too little connection to the everyday work of participants.
• The programmes are too short and too fragmented.

This means that the integration of insights into daily life is made difficult, and the continous trusting room where personal growth can take place is missing.

The challenges in a leadership position are enormous. Of course you need solid skills and tools to meet them. But they are, at best, your entrance ticket. The crucial factors are personal qualities that need much more time to be developped. Therefore they have to be addressed as early as possible.

• More and more leaders have to lead people who don't want to be lead in the first place. Such employees will only follow someone who convinces them as a person.
• Leaders have to influence large groups of people. Thus they must be able to radiate integrity and credibility indirectly by being an example and by communicating cautiously.
• Leaders have to be able to cope with the fact that they can not control large parts of what they are responsible for. To stand this kind of outer uncertainty, they need an accordingly high inner certainty and steadiness.
• Leaders have to resist mulitple temptations that go with a postion of power. to do so they need a highly developped moral compass and mettle.
• Leaders have to maintain their balance in the face of great strain, both physical and psychological. To do so they need to lead a balanced, meaningful, and fulfilled life.
• Leaders have to be aware of their greater responsibility towards the common good and the good of the world they live in, and have to accept this responsability in a truthful way. Therefore they have to maintain their emotional sensitivity and develop their spiritual potential, that is their connection with a greater context.

This list is not complete, but it is enough to show that you cannot overemphasize personal growth.

Process-oriented formats are needed: these provide a space that participants can shape by putting up topics that have a pracital urgency for them. Content is generated continously, and if a need for knowledge transfer comes up, it is provided ad hoc or in separate input sessions organised in timely manner.

The continous character of the group leads to a familiarity between participants. On this basis the group becomes a sounding board for personal growth and a practice field for the development of the ability to communicate well and to build honest relationships.

This way a learning community is created, which leads to the development of a Leadership Culture in a high density. The group becomes a network of companions who collaborate efficiently across organisational units and carry a common understanding of Leading. This is how True Leadership is created.