 Exploding Your Leadership Potential
Brochure
Download The Leadership Academy Brochure here
Upcoming Leadership Academies:
Download The Salt Lake City Leadership Academy Insert here
Note: The Leadership Academy will be starting March 12, 2009
Register Today
The Leadership Academy Online Registration Form
Q: What is The Leadership Academy?
The Leadership Academy is a 12-month group coaching program for individuals who are ready to make a step change in their careers. Based on years of research in evidence-based leadership and management practices, The Leadership Academy model is designed to build a foundation of strong personal competencies, effective interpersonal skills, and strategic organizational awareness. Each participant starts with an individualized assessment and development plan, and attends monthly group workshops focused on specific learning objectives. Between sessions, participants complete homework and reading assignments, and get individual coaching from group facilitators and/or mentors.
In the past five years (as of 2008) PEOPLESMARTS has trained over 170 aspiring leaders working in the community behavioral healthcare industry. The Leadership Academy offers a curriculum that is tailored to the unique needs and challenges of the behavioral healthcare industry while incorporating the research and evidence of effective leadership skills and practices. Our faculty use personal examples, stories, and solutions from over 100 years of combined management experience in behavioral healthcare.
Q: Is the Leadership Academy right for me?
Every single person has the ability to be an effective leader. Effective organizations seek to develop leaders at all levels. It doesn’t matter if you’re a current supervisor, a supervisor with experience, a wannabe supervisor, or don’t have any current aspirations of supervision. Leaders exist everywhere in business and you don’t need a title to make a difference. Businesses and organizations need leaders to step up everywhere. The Leadership Academy is for everyone who wants to make an impact on their team and others they influence.
Q: What’s expected of Leadership Academy participants?
Participants are expected to:
- Complete executive assessments in emotional intelligence, behavioral styles and a leadership strengths 360 degree feedback survey at the beginning and end of the year-long course.
- Attend 12 monthly four-hour training sessions.
- Complete monthly homework reading assignments.
- Participate in monthly coaching calls.
- Complete collaborative work projects with other participants.
Q: What topics are covered in The Leadership Academy?
Topics covered are in four key skill areas:
Managing Self
Managing Others
Managing for Results
Leading for the Future
Q: Who else have you worked with?
PEOPLESMARTS has met the leadership development needs of a number of behavioral healthcare agencies across the United States. The following companies have contracted with PEOPLESMARTS to develop their bench strength:
Valley Mental Health
Seven Counties Services
NorthKey Community Care
Heritage Behavioral Healthcare
Dunn Center Mental Health
Liberty Healthcare Corporation
Southwestern Indiana Mental Health Center
Bear River Mental Health
Q: Does The Leadership Academy really make a difference?
Yes. The Leadership Academy has a strong track record of demonstrated results. Participants in the year long Leadership Academy receive feedback regarding their progress in leadership development. Leadership Academy students complete an executive assessment at the beginning of the program which includes: the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i), the 16 Personality Factors, the DiSC, and a 360 Degree Feedback Survey. Participants use the results from the assessments to create a personal development plan designed to leverage their strengths and fill performance gaps. At the completion of the academy, participants complete another EQi® and 360 Degree Feedback Survey to determine what progress, if any, they made in improving their performance. Results indicate that not only are Leadership Academy alumni more emotionally intelligent, their peers, direct reports, and supervisors report they are performing better in every aspect of their job! Improved supervisory performance translates into improved performance for the company. The graph to the right demonstrates the pre- and post- scores of one Leadership Academy.
Q: What is The Leadership Academy curriculum and what is it based on?
The Leadership Academy’s uses an innovative curriculum based on the four principles of leadership development:
1. Effective leadership begins with self-knowledge
According to Daniel Goleman, author of Primal Leadership, self- assessment, self awareness, and self management are the three most important elements of successful leadership. All intentional change begins with knowledge and awareness of the current state of skills and abilities. PEOPLESMARTS uses four industry standard assessments to give students knowledge and awareness of their current leadership skills and abilities. The four assessments are: the EQi, the DISC, the 16PF and a 360 feedback survey. Every PEOPLESMARTS leadership student receives individual feedback regarding their assessments and work with a PEOPLESMARTS coach to create a leadership development plan.
In addition to knowledge of skills and abilities, effective leaders know their personal values. Central to all of the current leadership research is the importance of aligning personal values with actions. According to Kouzes and Posner in The Leadership Challenge, honesty is “the single most important ingredient in the leader-constituent relationship.” Their leadership business practices begin with Modeling the Way. Leaders must find their voice, clarify their values and set an example through aligning their actions with shared values. Credibility and integrity are the foundation of effective leadership. Aligning actions with values requires knowledge of what those values are. From this self-knowledge, leaders can develop their personal styles and strengths based on their skills, their values, and the research of effective leadership practices.
2. Leadership is an art that can be learned
It is well documented that effective leadership requires a combination of skills – managerial tools and techniques that are results-oriented and self and relationship management skills that are defined by Kouzes & Posner in The Leadership Challenge, as the “art of using oneself to get others to follow to accomplish shared goals.” Self and relationship management skills are the hallmark of all effective leaders.
In 2002, the Corporate Leadership Council (CLC) conducted a study entitled “Voice of the Leader: A Quantitative Analysis of Leadership Bench Strength and Development”. The study identified the following leadership behaviors crucial to organizational success:
- Acts with honesty & integrity;
- Clearly communicates expectations;
- Recognizes & rewards achievement;
- Adapts to changing circumstances;
- Inspires others;
- Puts the right people in the right roles at the right time;
- Has a passion to succeed;
- Identifies and articulates a long-term vision for the future;
- Persuades and encourages others to move in the desired direction; and
- Accepts responsibility for both successes & failures.
The foundation of these capabilities is the competencies defined as Emotional Intelligence (EI). According to research by Dr. Reuven Bar-On, author of the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i™) assessment and Daniel Goleman, author of Primal Leadership, emotional intelligence competencies are much more important than intellectual ability or technical skill in leadership success and the higher in organizations the individual climbs, the more crucial EI competencies become. Unlike IQ, a person’s emotional intelligence, or EQ, can be developed over time.
Effective leaders develop those EI competencies that will help them integrate the leadership behaviors identified in the CLC study into their everyday leadership style. The “art” of leadership is the ability to maximize your strengths and manage around your weaknesses. Effective leaders strive to develop all of the important leadership skills while acknowledging that their weaknesses will likely never be on a par with their strengths. When faced with similar problems, effective leaders will create different solutions based on their unique personalities and skills sets. No two leaders will employ the exact same tactics to address a similar problem, but the principles of effective leadership will be present in both situations.
3. Organizations are as strong as their collective leadership abilities.
Cultures of innovation, accountability, and change require the development of leadership at all levels. In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins defines the first step towards becoming great as having a Level Five Leader. According to Collins, Level Five leaders infuse their organizations with the ability to act and respond to the changing landscapes of their businesses. His research found that businesses with strong leaders who lacked the ability to develop leadership capability in others became dependent on that leader to stay competitive. Businesses with Level Five Leaders remained on top of their industry because they developed teams capable of leading the organization long after they left.
According to Kouzes and Posner in The Leadership Challenge, “in a world that’s trying to do more with less, competitive strategies naturally lose to strategies that promote collaboration.” Their fourth exemplary business practice is Enabling Others To Act. Centralizing, or consolidating leadership decision making practices to a select group of senior leaders harms an organization’s ability to be innovative and adapt to the fast pace of change in the 21st century. Effective leaders challenge and encourage their teams to identify problems and enact innovative solutions, tapping their organization’s greatest resource – the ingenuity, creativity, and potential of their workforce.
4. Leadership transformation requires practice.
When a New York tourists unknowingly stops the famous tenor, Luciano Pavarotti on a street corner and asks, “Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?”, Pavarotti responds without missing a beat, “practice, practice, practice.” Achieving greatness in any arena, whether it is music, sports, or leadership, requires practice. Leadership development has four components: self knowledge, leadership skills knowledge, practice, and application.
Current literature regarding leadership development supports a non-traditional approach to the development of supervisory and leadership skills. The traditional classroom approach, with subject specific training, is not effective in improving the long term skills of supervisory and management personnel. The most effective models cited in the literature include a combination of competency-based training paired with coaching/mentoring. The development of a peer support network is also a crucial element in the development and enhancement of leadership skills.
According to the Corporate Leadership Council, the five most important activities for developing leaders are:
- Creating a leadership development plan
- Interacting with peers
- Meeting with a coach or mentor
- Feedback
- The opportunity to “stretch’ – to be given more challenging assignments
PEOPLESMARTS leadership courses incorporate all five of these activities. Because participants begin PEOPLESMARTS leadership courses with a personal assessment they are able to develop a unique personal plan that focuses their learning on maximizing their strengths and managing around their weaknesses. Plans include specific, measurable steps to improve performance areas and/or to supplement a performance gap area by leveraging the strengths of co-workers.
PEOPLESMARTS leadership courses are limited to 25 participants. This group size is small enough to create a safe environment where participants can thoroughly explore leadership practices, discuss personal strengths and performance gaps, and provide effective feedback to one another. The group size is large enough to stimulate lively discussion and to represent a cross section of leaders with varying degrees of experience and expertise.
Finally, PEOPLESMARTS offers leadership courses with on-going coaching. Leadership development courses incorporate practice opportunities, but the greatest opportunity for practice is in real life situations. Coaching ensures concepts and practices discussed and practiced in leadership courses are applied in the work setting. The two components identified as most helpful in PEOPLESMARTS training evaluations are the opportunity for interaction with peers and coaching.
Q: What do previous participants have to say about The Leadership Academy?
Comments from our Leadership Academy participants capture the value and importance of this training. Our combination of management experience, leadership development research, expertise in training, and commitment to personal development culminates in a course that reshapes the future for many aspiring leaders . . .
“Excellent conference. I have some tools to use in my day to day job. I think all organizational leadership should be trained in this model.”
“This has helped to focus my efforts and energies. Great information and content.”
“It was a great experience and I enjoyed myself while learning. I am dedicated to implementing what I have learned in both my career and personal life.”
“This academy was excellent. I finally have some very concrete skills and tools I can use on a daily/monthly/yearly basis. I can teach and share these things with my colleagues and “direct reports”. Thank you for doing everything with professionalism, competence, and compassion.”
“Liked both videos and all role-playing. This was a great experience for me. I can’t wait to implement some of the things I learned.”
“This exceeded my expectations!”
“My only comment is that 2 days is not long enough! I would have liked to have had more time understanding the testing. I would have liked a whole day on coaching and performance evaluation. The presenters were great – just not enough time.”
Q: How will The Leadership Academy actually impact my supervision?
Great question. We asked our participants the same question: “As a result of the Leadership Academy will you change your supervisory practices in any way? If yes, what will you do differently?” Here’s what they had to say :
“Changing the way meetings are formatted and developing more leaders within the team.”
“Encourage more team participation – delegate.”
“Get out of the office more and visit various units, institute a performance recognition program, develop and articulate departmental goals & communicate the goals and vision to staff.”
I’ve become more aware of my strengths & challenges and have tempered my style.”
“Do a lot more praising of staff daily successes, celebrate trying, increase collaborations.”
“Great tools to use in dealing with conflict and having your opinion matter, own values matching the organization, etc.”
“Specific focus on positives, goal direction.”
“More able to stand up and make tough decisions.”
“Change my practices with respect to encouraging the heart, dealing with difficult people, and being more assertive.”
“Overall, more focused and encouraged with specific plans, methods, tactics, strategies – more focused.”
“Will ask for input & encourage participation.”
Q: How do I get involved with The Leadership Academy?
Easy. Just follow these simple steps:
- Talk to your supervisor to determine if this is the right time for you and your company to take advantage of The Leadership Academy.
- Fill out the The Leadership Academy application online or download the one for your area above, get one from your supervisor, or
- Call PEOPLESMARTS toll-free at 877.700.3305.
Related Events and Resources
Brochure
Download The Leadership Academy Brochure here
Upcoming Leadership Academies:
Download The Salt Lake City Leadership Academy Insert here
Register Today
The Leadership Academy Online Registration Form
|
