Leadership Academy Solution

Academy for Management & Leadership Development

Multi-Phased and Multi-Month Management and Leadership Skill Development (Customized In-Depth Programs For Executive Level, Middle Management and Supervisor/Front Line Managers)

Academy Certification For All Graduates
Customized For Your Company’s Direction and Culture Goals

Culture Solutions Group (CSG) presents customized multi-phased development programs for individuals at all levels of management (from senior-level leaders to supervisors and front-line leaders). Programs are offered in the form of a multi-month and multi-week Academy customized for your organization’s specific direction (vision, mission, strategies and performance targets) and your unique culture development path.

Your Academy is designed to target specific management and leadership requirements for success and sustainability in today’s and tomorrow’s organizations. Components of the Academy programs weave with the four quadrants of the Denison Culture Model, and also directly address the center of this model (Beliefs & Assumptions).

General Outcomes

Building Leadership/Management Self-Awareness: Increasing each participant’s understanding of his/her strengths (to build upon them) and identifying key weaknesses (that hinder effectiveness and ability to lead/manage).

Building Skill: Helping each participant expand his/her toolkit and providing resources with which to be effective in the management/leadership role.

Working ‘Differently’, Not Just ‘Harder’: Allowing each participant to personally discover ways to work truly ‘differently’ rather than simply putting in more effort in his/her given role.

Creating Legacy: Helping each participant define and create his/her leadership ‘legacy’ - both professionally and personally.

Defining Expectations: Creating shared expectations and standards for supervisory leadership throughout the organization and team.

Creating a Stronger Organization: Building leadership and cultural strength across and throughout the departments via increased competency at all levels.

Launching a Life-Long Leadership Development Path: Helping each participant to establish a leadership platform and development path that extends far beyond this Academy experience. Leadership development and management competence in today's world are clearly not tasks to be accomplished but ongoing life priorities – and a never-ending process.

Academy Learning Process

Applied Learning: Placing the learning process within the context of specific challenges faced by the managers and supervisors in their unique teams, departments and business units.

Practical: Providing tangible skills and tools to promote effectiveness within each participant's specific management and leadership roles.

Personalized: Placing the learning process within the context of each individual's personal leadership/management path and desired legacy.

Research-Based: Utilizing learning technologies that are proven to work for managers and leaders around the globe.

Real-Time Learning: Participants have the opportunity to not just "talk" or "think" about change but to actually experiment and implement change during the program.

Ongoing Learning Processes: A program structure that allows participants to continue learning between formal Academy sessions (through the use of homework, peer coaching, experimentation, learning goals, etc.)

Sample Academy Agenda: Month by Month

(Note: The following is a template of a standard Academy process. Content, outcomes and process are adjusted to meet the organizations and team’s specific needs and desires.)

MONTH ONE: Emersion Event

Official Academy Launch – Establishing program expectations, outcomes, process, etc.
The Starting Point – Establishing each participant's current management/leadership strengths and obstacles and defining individual learning paths.
Individual Goals – Creating learning ‘targets’ for each participant to be achieved during the duration of the program.
Leadership ‘Legacy’ – Defining each participant’s desired leadership and management "legacy".
Defining ‘Management and Leadership’ – What do great managers do? What is the difference between ‘management’ and ‘leadership?’ Can a manager do both? Do you have to be a ‘manager’ in order to be a ‘leader’?
Upward Leadership – Leading your boss so you both win.
Self-Leadership – Learning to create results both at work and at home.
Creating Collaborative Partnership – Building bridges across the organization at all levels.
The Power of ‘Choice’ – The foundation of personal responsibility – the power of choice in the workplace. What happens when you don't give choice – or practice choice?

MONTH TWO (Sample):

Motivating Employees – Including generational differences in the workplace; the range of motivational factors; internal vs. external motivators; and dealing with resistance to change.

Effective Communication Skills – Including verbal and non-verbal communication; the role of listening – Covey’s Habit 5 (seek first to understand and then to be understood); communication options and how/when to use them (e-mail, v-mail, and/or face to face approaches; communication styles and more).

MONTH THREE (Sample):

Empowerment – The most misunderstood concept in organizations today... What is it? What is it not? How does a manager use it to create higher levels of responsibility, focus, ownership and accountability? What is the non-manager’s role in creating empowerment? What type of partnership is required between managers and non-managers to create a truly empowering work environment? Where and how does empowerment go wrong?

Fostering Team Work – What goes into creating a high-performance team? What components must be in place for a team to be effective? What are team building exercises that you can implement with your team?

MONTH FOUR (Sample):

Handling Difficult Behaviors in the Workplace – and conflict resolution. What should you do when someone is misbehaving (a team-mate, your boss or an employee)? What are productive and positive ways to create a healthier and more accountable work environment? After all, no one likes dealing with conflict but what’s the best way when you must?

Delegation and Time Management – Including handling interruptions and the many ways to say “yes”; Covey Habit 3 (put first things first).

Fun is Good! – Bringing fun back to the workplace!

MONTH FIVE (Sample):

Effective Decision Making and Problem Solving – What constitutes a ‘good’ decision? What are optimal steps to take when making a decision or solving a problem? What are specific decision making/ problem-solving tools that will guide you in the future?
Behavioral Interviewing and Hiring – What are the questions that great managers ask? Bringing the right people into the right positions in this organization; using an understanding of personality styles to become an even more effective interviewer.

MONTH SIX (Sample):

Coaching for Performance – Including giving and receiving feedback.
Performance Development and Management – Incorporating performance appraisals, documenting behavior and disciplinary process.
Budgeting – The joy of budgets! A very necessary part of creating an effective team, department and organization.
The Safety Challenge – Using management and leadership skills to create a safer work environment; creating a ‘safety culture’ and setting safety performance goals.

MONTH SEVEN (Sample):

Creativity – Finding new ways to solve old problems; seeing challenges differently; getting out of the box!
Peer Coaching of Missed Modules – Ensuring that everyone graduates by teaching one another!
Taking Stock! – Recapping program experiences and learning; reviewing the new toolkit.
Planning and Goal Setting – So what. Now what? Where do we go from here?
Individual Leadership/Management Vision and Legacy! – What will you be remembered for?
Graduation – and Celebration!

TARGETED DENISON QUADRANTS: Mission, Involvement, Adaptability, Consistency plus Beliefs and Assumptions

Credit: Daniel R. Denison, Ph.D. & William S. Neale, M.A.

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