LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME: OVERVIEW
 
Overall aim of the programme

Leaders and managers of Cambodian social development NGOs are more responsive to their own development needs and to those of their peers, organisations, and the communities they serve.

What will I gain from the programme (expected learning outcomes)?

You will gain increased skills and competence in the following areas:

    A deepened awareness of self along with increased confidence (self esteem)
    Enhanced social skills and ability to manage relationships with clients and colleagues
    Sharpened critical thinking skills
    Increased ability to analyse and work with different types of power
    Ability to draw on a range of leadership styles and match these to different work needs
    Increased ability to recognise and engage with conflict in a productive way
    Increased confidence in using creativity and risk taking
    Increased confidence to work effectively as a leader and build on the experiences and insights that you bring to
     your organisation

In addition:

    Course facilitators and your mentors will help you to improve your ability to sustain active learning beyond the
     course and within your team. They will also provide insights and feedback on your role as a learner and leader
    You will adopt active and adaptive learning skills that are relevant to your daily practice
    You will develop learning relationships with leaders from other social development contexts in Cambodia

What is different about the VBNK Leadership Development Programme?

• The learning journey involves a continuous cycle of experiential learning and reflective practice.
• The focus on experiential learning allows each participant to choose and direct her/his own learning outcomes; in this
   way each participant is able to focus on what is most important to her/him.
• The course is spread over 9 months to allow time for participants to try out and apply learnings into their work and
   family contexts.
• Coaching sessions are available between modules; the facilitators also provide follow up visits in the workplace.
• Participants are assigned a mentor from within their own organisations for the duration of the course. In this way
   there is direct support from the organisational mentor throughout.
• A learning agreement between participants, their sponsoring organizations and VBNK is used to support and monitor
   roles and responsibilities during the course.


What is the learning approach in this programme?

Our understandings about how and why people act and react have been crucial in shaping the learning approach. The LDP course is based on the following assumptions about people and learning:

• People learn when they actively participate in the learning.
• People learn when they bring curiosity and commitment to explore and take risks.
• People need to understand why they are learning something.
• People will only learn skills they believe they will really need.
• A ‘Whole Person Learning’ approach is used; learning goes deeper when we explore and express with our whole
   bodies: mind body spirit.
• People need to be in control of their learning and be able to measure it.
• People’s ‘readiness’ (includes ‘personal’ readiness and ‘organizational’ readiness) to learn often needs nurturing.


Some principles that shape the programme

» Reflective learning is an ongoing process in which participants in a particular situation take time to examine their experiences, to reflect on these experiences, to think how things might be different, to think through these possibilities, and to try out what seems to be the best option. But this is not the end: Trying that option becomes another experience in itself – to study, reflect upon, etc.

Source: Fletcher, G, Magar, V B and Noij, F 2005, Learning by Inquiry: Sexual and Reproductive
Health Field Experiences from CARE in Asia, Sexual and Reproductive Health Working Paper Series
No. 1, CARE USA (June 2005)

» Action learning – learning is life-long. While some learning takes place from organised training activities, most of our learning is a result from real life experiences. Action Learning emphasises learning that draws on and explores the experiences of the learner. If we are only taught theoretically then we usually struggle to connect the theory to our present knowledge. Surfacing and reflecting on experience, helps participants to create hangers on which to hook new concepts and theories from the outside. Throughout the course we aim to assist the participants to work with their own experiences and draw lessons learnt. The assumption is that what they learn they can be more readily applied into their future experiences.
» Creativity is used in many different forms throughout the course to aid; enable, explore and express course content and the learning process.
» Cooperative inquiry – A substantial part of a learner’s education should be by cooperative inquiry into important social and academic problems. Group investigation has been designed to lead students to define problems, explore various perspectives on the problems, and study together to master information, ideas and skills and simultaneously develop their social competence.

What are the different program components?

The Leadership Development Programme is designed to take participants through an experiential and holistic personal learning process. As much as possible, the workshop will draw on practical examples drawn from the workplace to link new concepts to understanding. The training will be learner-centred and build from existing capacities, while at the same time seeking new possibilities The content will help participants explore and develop creative and positive responses, compatible with their Cambodian culture and context, to the challenge of leadership within their organisation. The main elements of the programme are the five workshop modules shown below, the second of which is residential in Kompong Som. Given the intense and challenging nature of the development experience that the participants will undertake the modules are delivered 8 - 10 weeks apart. There will be learning assignments, and some coaching support, between modules. Below is a brief description of the structure of each module. The content and order may change as the course progresses.


»  Module one – Me and my learning and leadership experiences
    Aim: To develop a climate of trustful learning and promote the core framework and tools necessary for enhancing
    leadership performance.

    This module aims to introduce participants to the course; surface and work with group assumptions; introduce core
    content and methodology; develop team relations and trust; begin exploration of participants’ experiences of
    learning and leadership; develop a future vision for themselves as proactive leaders; develop ways of measuring
    their own learning.

»  Module two – Me and my relationships.
    Aim To explore helps and hindrances to empowering relationships and managing change in our organisations.

    This module aims to develop team; trust further through development of intra personal relationships. A big emphasis
    in this module is therefore exploring communication patterns and values of relationship.

»  Module three – Me and my management of change.
    Aim: To explore what helps and hinders empowering development relationships in the Cambodian context and how
    these are affected by leadership styles and the ways that organisations manage change.

    This module introduces participants to change and surfaces helps and hindrances to personal change, family
    change, organisational change and changes in society. It works with the underlying values of change in Cambodian
    context and links to participants’ work contexts.

»  Module four – Me and my learning from obstacles.
    Aim: To explore what helps and hinders learning and to examine how organisations can change to support learning.

    This module explores values necessary for congruent development practice. It involves looking at blocks to
    development and change within wider society, organisations and ourselves.

»  Module five - Myself as a leader for change.
    Aim: To review and refresh key learning areas and articulate visions and strategies for future learning.

    This module aims to connect the many threads of learning and exploration examined in previous modules.

The seven core and interwoven themes for exploration and learning that underpin the modules of the programme are presented below.

»  Self awareness

»  Relationships

»  Creativity

»  Critical thinking

»  Learning

»  Power and development

»  Facilitation 		 

How will the program outcomes be measured?

The programme draws on a variety of evaluation techniques:
»  Pre course learning goals assessment
»  Personal Holistic Baseline and Learning Implementation Plan
»  Progress Assessment of Modular goals and outcomes
»  Facilitator and mentor observations and feedback
»  Post course assessment


What will the programme require from me?

»  A personal interest to take learning beyond the workshop setting
»  Time. For example, to prepare for the course, reflect on emerging insights, keep a journal, complete assignments. In
    addition to the 5 days for the face to face workshops, you should set aside another 2 days per module to complete
    all the self-driven tasks you will undertake in the different phases of the course.
»  Readiness to contribute views, stories, cases from your practice
»  Willingness to share your ideas, take risks, listen to others, and to discuss new insights and develop learning
    objectives with your organizational mentor
»  Ability to “drive” your own learning process by monitoring and working with the learning contract.


Who is responsible for what?  

For the programme to achieve its aims, a number of people have to collaborate effectively and play different but complementary roles for the duration of the programme.

»  The biggest responsibility is on you the learner, as a professional who takes the lead in your own development.
»  The facilitators are responsible for course design; facilitation and inter-module coaching.
»  Mentors provide guidance and support, act as a sounding board and create space for application and sharing within
    the wider organisation
»  Other team participants are responsible for co-exploring and for giving and receiving feedback

    A mutual learning contract (agreed and signed before the programme commences) reinforces these areas of
    responsibility.