Participants explore what it means to lead and begin to answer the question ‘What type of leader do I want to be?’ After examining a number of leadership frameworks, participants begin to build connections with their own style and leadership approach. There is a focus on building self-awareness and awareness of how leadership plays out within their teams and organisation. In addition, strategies for building resilience, mindfulness and wellbeing are also explored along with ways to overcome challenges, bounce back from adversity and increase resourcefulness.

In today’s highly competitive employment market it certainly helps to be effective when putting your thoughts and opinions across. Although many people dread presenting, learning a few basic skills can significantly reduce feelings of fear and help to put both you and your audience at ease. This theme will help participants develop their confidence and capability in this critical area.

Presence and Presentation Skills​

Elements of a successful team

Most organisational achievements occur through the work of teams. Participants explore teamwork from both team leader and team member perspectives. This allows participants to develop their situational and strategic leadership skills. Participants learn the key attributes of successful teams and how to create them within their own team. The importance of diversity and inclusion and its challenges and benefits, are analysed. This includes the development of a high-performing team culture. The earlier work on feedback, communication, emotional intelligence and conflict is further considered as integral elements of developing team performance.

Leading in times of change​

Participants explore various responses to change. They learn a model for managing change and for engaging others on the journey. They also explore common challenges that are involved in change. Participants move on to learn how to integrate their new skills in order to effectively embrace and lead change within their team.

Participant experience​

Encompassing a sophisticated blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning, Leading Edge immerses participants in a multilayered development journey designed to ensure maximum individual impact. Coordinated via WLI’s state of the art learning management system, the course provides powerful and accessible individualised learning.​

​Segmented into seven key modules, Leading Edge engages participants in a detailed exploration around the fundamentals of leadership and management and their individual drivers and derailers.

Course modules

Self-assessments

Participants undertake a capability assessment to evaluate their ability in key areas. Results from this assessment help inform each participant’s developmental focus and support them to achieve their objectives. The assessment is revisited at the end of the course. A comparison of the two sets of results enables each participant to measure their progress and achievements and identify those areas that may still require their continued attention.

LEADERSHIP AND AUTHENTICITY

COMMUNICATION, PRESENCE AND INFLUENCE

TEAM DYNAMICS

DRIVING PERFORMANCE

LEADING INNOVATION AND CHANGE

THINKING STRATEGICALLY

PURPOSE, PRIORITIES AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

supporting leadership performance

Virtual Workshop Days

Participants attend two, virtual workshop days, interacting with peers across multiple industries. The workshop days are segmented into three high impact sessions with breaks in-between. During the workshop days, participants come together to work collaboratively on real-time challenges and build powerful alliances. The unique format offers valuable insight informed by collective experience as well as reflective practice.​

online workshops

Participants attend five, ninety minute online workshops during the course. Focused on rich discussion and debate pertinent to each of the key themes, these high impact sessions aim to contextualise learning within real world situations and promote peer group interaction.​

LEADING EDGE

01

Participants are introduced to ways to communicate with presence and influence. Participants explore a range of communication skills to help them engage more effectively with others. These include approaches to listening deeply, asking questions that elicit more valuable responses and skills that enable them to balance the desire to advocate their point of view with their capacity for learning from others. Participants then extend their communication skills into the realm of performance by learning the principles of effective feedback. By appreciating the distinction between perceptions and observable behaviour, participants come to understand and meet the challenges involved in sharing difficult feedback.

02

Effective interpersonal communication and feedback

Participants learn to appreciate that whilst intelligence (IQ) may be important, it is emotional intelligence (EQ) that enables them to progress further. A model of EQ is presented and participants are invited to explore the ways in which they can develop and practice a range of EQ skills. This extends into the realm of managing conflict, from which participants examine how to make conflict a constructive and potentially transformative experience.

Emotional intelligence and conflict

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03

As our everyday environment increases in complexity it is easy to become distracted by the immediate at the expense of what’s truly important. This theme centres on developing a coherent and dynamic ‘game plan’ for future career and life fulfilment. Within the context and expectations of the participant’s workplace, they consider the steps required to fully realise their career potential. Career inhibitors and accelerators are explored and their career path is explained through the Sigmoid Curve model. Participants also explore the importance of networking from a strategic growth perspective.

Career and professional growth​

04

05

06

07

05

Peer coaching​

The peer coaching sessions are designed to develop participants’ own coaching capacity so they can not only increase their own self-awareness, but support learning in others. Participants are invited to reach out to their peers in order to practice meaningful, outcome-driven coaching conversations. The peer coaching sessions offer real-time feedback to participants and enable them to develop meaningful, impactful connections with their peers.​

Workplace Application Project​

In conjunction with the various course elements, participants will undertake a Workplace Application Project (WAP). The purpose of the WAP is to deepen and extend the courses learning outcomes and for the participant to generate a portfolio of evidence around their capability. Further information on the WAP is included later in this document.

Self-directed learning modules

Throughout the course, self-directed learning content is accessible via our state of the art online learning management system (LMS) allowing participants to engage with it at any time from any device. Content includes high quality video tutorials, ‘best practice’ leadership literature, experiential activities and reflective tasks. Throughout the course, participants are also free to connect with each other 24/7 via the LMS and discuss ‘top of mind’ issues.​