Program description 2018/2019

Main learning outcomes

I.SELF-LEADERSHIP

Building your own foundation.

Our focus is to help you craft your own coping strategies, for both your personal and professional life. We work to increase self-awareness and the ability to influence your thoughts and behaviour.

II. LEADERSHIP

You in relations to others.

The ability to foster and build healthy relationships and collaborations in your community and organisational life; you in relation to others, how you help them, and how you allow yourself to be helped. By understanding how values, power and emotional labour interchange you will be better off managing deep relations to your friends, family and coworkers.

III. IMPACT

Understanding the world and how to create impact.

Fostering a creative and critical mindset will enable you to gain insight, single out contradictions, connect dots and see new ways of transferring technology- and use knowledge between disciplines.

Gatherings

GATHERING 1- SELF - LEADERSHIP

Learning outcome:

The ability to influence oneself (thoughts, feelings, will, behaviour); to cope with everyday life, performance, growth, learning and moral maturation. The ability to change your habitual patterns of thought.

GATHERING 2- RELATIONS AND COLLABORATION

Learning outcome:

The ability to foster and build healthy relations and collaborations in community and organisational life; you in relation to others. The ability to communicate effectively.

GATHERING 3- DIRECTION AND OUTSIGHT

Learning outcome:

The ability to cultivate and form a clear sense of direction. The ability to first act, to plunge yourself into new projects and continuously learn new ways of getting things done.

GATHERING 4 - IMPACT AND CONTEXT

Learning outcome:

The ability to understand global context, develop and solve problems, at various scales and levels of complexity; understanding old systems and how to make better ones.

GATHERING 5 - LIFE LONG LEARNING

Learning outcome:

The ability to practice lifelong learning.

Curriculum

Some scholars define leadership as a process, focused on achieving goals through others; the influence of other people through different varieties of power combined

with the responsibility of delivering on goals. A broad definition lays ground for different theories, approaches, and views. These include personal- , strategic- , administrative- ideological- , situational-, emotional-, authentic, transformational- , relational- , operational management , and many, many more. In this program, however, we will not touch upon most of these theories. We view, work with and practice leadership at a practical, operational and personal level.

KNOWING DOING GAP

Ann Cunliffe, professor of organisation Studies in Leeds is highly critical of the concept of leadership as something that can be taught, as are we in Future Leaders.

Cunliffe has studied MBA programs worldwide, and how they develop leaders. The results show that far too often programs and studies focus on theory, with little room for participants to adapt what they learn reflexively. Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor in organisational behaviour at Stanford explains how this has been shown to have a negative effect on leadership development, as people learn the ideal way to lead, but rather seldom, manage to apply it when they graduate, which is shown to increase what Jeffrey calls a knowing-doing gap and apathy.The Future Leaders program is designed to close the knowing-doing gap, though emphasis on practical and contextual learning.

CONTEXTUAL LEARNING

The program is anchored in critical management studies, deep learning and complexity theory. Through personal system-two reflections, participants develop their own evolving strategies for self-leadership, leadership and navigation in complex contexts. Our focus lays on developing personal strategies through testing, challenging, learning and iterating, aligned with where you are in your life, the people you work with and the context in which you operate.

Methodical overview

The Future Leaders program uses methods adjusted to fit a contemporary mindset and way of life. In Future Leaders we view leadership as a lifelong process of constant development and learning. All processes have a long term mentality, putting in the hard work today to be able to deliver impact in the future.

GATHERINGS

The program is founded on physical gatherings. Each gathering lasts for 2 whole days, and consists of different tasks, presentations, exercises and challenges.

THEORY

New theory, perspectives and topics are introduced in each gathering. Key content is processed through individual and group reflection, and further broken down into practical goals and commitments, taken on by the individual.

TRAINING AND PRACISE

All participants commit to these specific training points between each gathering, directly related to self leadership, leadership and impact.

THE PIONEER

The pioneers are facilitators of the program. They operate groups of six participants each, and are important role-models and mentors . The pioneers have participated in the program at least once before and are trained and recruited through a special pioneer-program.

COLLABORATIVE LEARNING IN GROUPS

Through groups we create safe environments with trust and understanding, facilitating for the challenging of assumptions, biases and change. Another important reason for the use of groups is interpersonal learning. It is shown that people learn more effectively through relations with others, using the possibility to discuss, receive feedback and reflect openly.

MINDSET AND PERSPECTIVES

As we seek to solve complex problems, we need to raise above our own subjectivity. Continuous development of perspectives and mindsets, to let go of assumptions we have about the world and our self, is crucial throughout the program.

LIFELONGE PERSPECTIVE

As sad as it is; participation in the Future Leaders program can only last for so long. Therefore one important principle in Future Leaders is that our program should function as a stepping stone rather than a final destination or individual goal. Through the program the talents learn technique, gain self confidence, learn how to learn, how to develop others and how to develop themselves. Making the Future Leaders program a staring arena for lifelong learning.

Framework

The program is divided into 5 modules/ gatherings. Each module represents a pillar of the program. The length and depth of each module are adjusted in regard to culture, feedback from participants.

Based on constant improvement through international feedback loops, the program develops and foster. The system is built so that each participant feels that he or she can be a part of improving the program, which influences the mindset and culture by recognising ideas and input. The principle of constant improvement is also key for all participants as a crucial part of the culture and framework, as each talent understanding that them alone are responsible for their own development.

Gathering one: Self - leadership

Gathering two: Relations and collaboration

Gathering three: Direction and outsight

Gathering four: Impact and global context

Gathering five: lifelong learning