Leadership development as a side effect of change
In MiL Institute we don’t see learning as a goal in itself but as a consequence of doing the right things together with the right people. The goal is to contribute to reaching results, to get the job done with quality, efficiency and in an innovative way. As a consequence of our way to contribute, at the same time we create space for learning about leadership, change and strategy, etc. The difference is that we let the task, the work that has to be done, come to the fore. Not as a motor or as an arena for learning, but as the goal for the operation. One can say that leadership development becomes a side effect of a job that has to be done anyway.
Using the organisation’s natural change processes as a platform for leadership development and learning is efficient. Many of the companies we work with have a need to force change and find quicker ways to integrate systems and activities.
Example: Company X will during two years carry out a major change. The motive is to accomplish shorter lead times and general resource efficiency. The company management want to carry out a leadership development program that will equip the managers to lead the change, through present methods and tools for change leadership, etc. A classic approach is to design a program with a number of themed modules and let the participants work with their individual projects from everyday life in the program in order to tie the program closer to the questions and problems of the establishment.
An alternative can instead be to create several, but cohesive processes around the important subprojects in change and let the people who are needed to solve the task, be in the same room. Within the frame of this process the work is designed in a way so that creativity enhances and thus the probability to raise the quality and the innovation content in the solution. During the work, the participants have the possibility to stop the process to reflect. Short theory sessions with relevant research and theory are connected to these reflections. Then the knowledge enhancement will be ”just-in-time” rather than ”just-in-case”.
This way the learning happens at the same time and in parallel with the change process instead of being a preparatory and more secluded activity alongside the change work.