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These 500 words on Leadership Development are for all leaders and managers who are interested in supporting their people through challenging times.
Use the lockdown to become a virtual leader
During the global pandemic the need for strong leadership has been crucial as uncertainty, lack of direction and lack of communication crept in.
But when it comes to your own leadership, do you have the feeling that this virtual new world suits your strengths or are you feeling as though you need additional help and support?
We know that leadership development is a process, not an event, and our virtual leadership workshop kick-starts how leaders can grow their own awareness of how they lead their teams virtually in today’s world.
One of the reasons our course is different is it stands in huge contrast to standardised e-learning or webinar formats which tend to be passive in delivery and unable to reflect the individual needs of the learners.
The course is broken down into four modules that cover:
- Virtual basics
- Toolbox for virtual facilitation
- Learning virtually
- Leading virtual teams
The behaviours for learning that we focus on include trust. Building and maintaining trust in virtual environments is vitally important in our lockdown world, even more so than in face-to-face interactions.
When companies are in lockdown, leaders face the challenge of balancing goal setting to motivate their team alongside necessary personal contact. It can be a wobbly tightrope to walk as you need to articulate the team vision, decide on the steps needed to get there and clarify expectations for both sides, whilst also allowing time for “human” interaction for those working remotely. This human contact maintains a feeling of team spirit, with team members understanding they are working towards common goals and are part of something bigger.
We place particular value on the art of good listening and feedback skills when working as a virtual leader.
Not all leaders are tech savvy and the course focuses on a variety of different interactions modern technology can offer leaders today, especially for those leaders who have seen it as a one-way communication path in the past.
Our course is bespoke to each client as we customise the content according to the client’s goals, the learning needs of the target group and the particular situation that we address. We design it for the client, beta test it with them and/or run a pilot and then launch the workshop. This iterative, feedback–based approach ensures that we stay close to the real needs of the learners and provide practical content that is relevant and applicable for their current leadership challenges.
Our inspiration for the course comes from our Mastering Change approach as change will always happen, even in a post-COVID-19 world, and leaders need to be able to deal with it and incorporate it into their organisations’ way of doing things.
By the end of the course leaders will be able to lead in a virtual context using their most effective communication skills, be familiar with common leadership situations and be able to use virtual technologies easily. By becoming aware of their own communication style and its impact on others, leaders will be able to acquire the best methods for managing and moderating in a virtual space. Ultimately they will learn how to identify and rectify the challenges of their virtual leadership style.
If you are interested in the course and would like to talk to one of the team about it, please click here.
In order to facilitate leaders we have made sure our leadership courses are still available to you and accessible online.
Our Virtual Leadership e-learning course, available in English and German, combines the best blend of personal exchange and virtual collaboration tools to create an intimate learning environment using modern technology. It is important the course is as real as possible so we ensure we deal with you as a real person, tackling your real leadership challenges and in real contexts.
Yours,
Dr. Marcus Gottschalk
CEO at CLP
CLP periodically publishes 500 words that reflect our experiences, research and thought leadership. Download your PDF version here.