Life Journey Mapping and Co-Creating the leaders of the future

We use mapping, in the form of life journey mapping as a key building block of our leadership development programme, which we run in close co-operation with the Leadership Partnership (www.leadershippartnership.com)

The LIfe Journey Mapping element of the programme helps individuals reflect on where they have picked up the skills, knowledge and experience to achieve what they have achieved: this sets the stage for more structured and reflective learning from experience and learning from other participants. It also helps them understand more clearly which contexts are most likely to help them continue on their leadership journey.

How to Lead

We have conducted extensive research on how to lead, including over 700 video interviews and survey responses from current and future leaders in the private, public and voluntary sectors. The research has been published by Prentice Hall (2005) in the definitive book on leadership: How to Lead, by Jo Owen

The first chapter of the book is available for you to read for free in the Articles section of this site.

You can buy a copy of How To Lead from Amazon at a 30% discount:

www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0273693646/qid/=1110207744/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_10_1/202-4091508-2827046

The principles of Co-Creating the Leaders of the Future

At the heart of our Leadership Co-Creation method is a fast track training programme. This porgramme is designed to reflect the reality of how leaders learn:

1. People learn from experience. Our programme puts an emphasis on enabling participants to make sense of their work experiences and to provide them with structured frameworks to help them make structured observations and structured learning.
2. People learn from each other. The most relevant and the most credible lessons are learned by seeing other people do things well or less well. Our video vignettes programme pulls together all the war stories of how to succeed and fail in your organisation in a structured, credible manner.
3. People want tailored support, anytime, anywhere. Each programme results in an unique DVD which incorporates both the core frameworks for thinking about key management challenges, plus the video vignettes of peers talking about how they have seem those challenges dealt with in practice. This DVD provides a personalised coach that can be used anytime, anywhere by participants.
4. People do not have time for training. Lack of time means lack of priority. Our experience is that people learn best in short sessions. Our modular approach to leadership development allows for the learning to happen in anything from two hour to two day sessions.
5. Everyone person and every organisation is unique. There is no universal answer to the question "what is good leadership?" Our programme provides participants with core frameworks, but then enables the group to create the actual practices which work in their particular context. The rules of success and survival are clearly articulated by participants.

Practical outcomes of a Leadership Partnership programme

The intangible benefits are the most important:

1. Accelerated and structured individual learning and development
2. Increased ability to learn from experience
3. Understanding of up to fifty core leadership challenges and how to handle them.
4. Understanding of practically how to lead in their unique context: understand the rules of success and survival.
5. Learning to learn to lead (L2L2L).

The tangible outcomes of a Leadership Partnership programme are:

1. A DVD of video vignettes structured around core leadership challenges reflecting core frameworks and local best practice: this becomes each participant's private and practical coach.
2. The Leadership Skills Pocket Book which provides the framework for understanding and observing leadership best practice: the learning continues after the programme has finished.
3. A copy of How To Lead which provides a comprehensive guide to leadership
4. Hand outs and notes from each of the modular sessions.

Core modules within the Leadership Partnership programme.

Many of the core modules of the Leadership Partnership programme look familiar; some may be surprising. We discuss requirements with each client. In practice, there are some common elements that most clients require. We then encourage the participants to discover directly the areas that are most relevant to them as individuals. Each course is co-created with both the client and the individual participants.

• Understand where you are;
  • Understand yourself
  • Understand others
  • Understand your context
  • Understand your journey
• Observe and develop core leadership skills
  • Delegating
  • Motivating
  • Selling
  • Coaching
  • Directing
  • Conflict management
  • Negative feedback
  • Managing adversity
  • Working to win
  • Becoming lucky
  • Networking
  • Relaxing
  • Etiquette
• Practice and develop core technical skills
  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Presenting
  • Listening
  • Doing numbers
  • Problem solving
  • Holding and attending meetings
  • Using time well
  • Managing projects
  • Managing change
• Prepare top skills
  • Creating and communicating a vision
  • Building the top team
  • Managing the board and external stakeholders
  • Creating the right values, leaving a legacy.
  • Honesty
  • Humility
  • Ambition

A typical fast track programme design