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Changeability – The  Leader’s New Role...

More and more organisations now connect leadership to learning for success – and more leaders are linking practical business outcomes with change-ability – their capacity to take on new leadership roles and learn new skills, tools and approaches that differ dramatically from the old mental models of management.

If building leadership capacity (link to factsheet 1) is a critical concern in your organisation, here’s where you’ll find out more about our Learning-Centred Leadership Series - a flexible framework of 12 work-based, action-learning modules (link to module summary table below) for executives, managers and other people with pivotal learning, leadership and change roles

At The Change Forum, we take people beyond conventional notions of leaders as ‘special people’ who invent the vision, set directions, plan, co-ordinate, make the key decisions, and come up with saving ideas or magic words that motivate. Such notions are deeply rooted in individualistic mental models of charismatic leadership.

In information-rich, complex, collective work-cultures, no single person has all the answers. Leaders need to learn how to lead in ambiguous, unknown and increasingly complicated situations that are ever-changing, where there are no ‘easy answers’. Learning is the only unifying thread in the leadership fabric of this challenging environment. 

Increasingly, the leader’s new role is about leveraging learning to mobilise coalitions, network, challenge prevailing mental models, develop shared visions and create a supportive learning climate which unleashes innovation and builds the learning capacity of others to achieve quality outcomes. In other words, they lead through learning. That’s why we call these people learning-centred leaders.

Learning-Centred Leadership (link to factsheet 2) is essentially about giving people at all levels opportunities to develop new roles as learning leaders - to become change leaders, networkers, conceptualisers, relationship and meaning-makers, mobilisers, values-stewards, capability-builders, process-designers and facilitator-coaches.

The Learning-Centred Leadership Series.....

Each of the 12 Modules that make up the Learning-Centred Leadership Series covers a major learning, leadership or change arena and involves mastering a specific set of concepts, capabilities and tools.

They  can be delivered either as separate, stand-alone modules or you can mix and match elements to build your own, more specialised programs or you can mix and match elements from different modules to build your own, more specialised program. 

Learning Framework – Key Elements

The Learning-Centred Leadership Series fuses contemporary models of leading change (link to factsheet 13) with work-based action-learning (link to factsheet 12) and the principles, practices and tools of the 5 Leadership Learning Disciplines (link to factsheet 4) - a framework we regard as a robust, practical and enduring one for leading through learning in progressive organisations.

Module 1: The Learning Centred-Leader introduces the 5 learning disciplines - Shared Vision, Mental Models, Personal Mastery, Team Learning and Systems Thinking. Other modules then expand on one or more of these disciplines.

The Series offers flexibility inside a unified leadership-learning framework.

r     Its modular format caters for a variety of different delivery methods, work environments and leadership learning needs.

r     Core components can be combined in various ways to design your own customised leadership learning program to fit your particular change challenges and leadership learning context…

r     Modules can be delivered as formal learning blocks through interactive workshop sessions, as individual or group coaching sessions or a combination of both. Self-study options are also coming on-line.

r     Each module comes with a comprehensive, self-directed action-learning guide covering key concepts, tools and learning activities people use after the program to manage their own ongoing learning and development

Click here for some examples of how to integrate and combine our modules...

While our Leadership Learning Modules are packaged as a 'start-up- menu' for easier comprehension of the some of the learning territory the series covers, they’re designed to be embedded in an organisation through workplace support frameworks and workplace contextualisation.

The series has a built-in learning infrastructure consisting of 5 key elements....

r     A Design/Customisation Phase at the front end. This can include an optional Leadership Learning Audit using our Leadership Learning Index of 16 key competencies for learning-centred leaders. This process actively involves leadership learning groups in determining what they need to learn and how.

r     A built-in action-learning framework where people undertake self-directed, work-based activities that tie into workplace improvement or change initiatives leaders really need to do in their daily work-setting. This reinforces the relevance of learning to real time, work-based applications.

r     Leaders can also carry out an optional Leadership Learning Project back at work and identify try-out actions to kick off the action-learning cycle, as part of a real work-time improvement strategy flowing from each Module. Action-Learning is a participative, team-based endeavour, so Action Learning Teams and Leadership Learning Partners are prime vehicles for this.

r     A coaching framework and workplace learning support networks sustain learning, encourage learning exchange, harvest participant learnings and harness them to ongoing workplace improvement. This also involves personal coaching plans to reinforce leadership learning/behaviour change. A self-evaluation and assessment methodology can also be built in as part of the learning infrastructure.

r     A set of core leadership learning values (link to factsheet 10),  processes and principles that include: ‘work-based focus’, ‘strategic-link’, ‘tangible improvement action’, ‘learner-self-direction’, ‘team-based learning’, ‘relevant & real-time’, ‘learning transfusion’, ‘guiding ideas’, ‘collaborative conversation’ and ‘learning in partnership’.

A typical work-based, leadership learning cycle takes around 16-20 weeks to complete, allowing for "work-breaks" between formal learning blocks, conduct of coaching sessions, time for people to complete work-based activities with teams and integrate learning activities into work schedules, etc.

The diagram below depicts a typical view of the leadership learning process and timing.

Key outcomes to expect from undertaking modules in the Learning-Centred Leadership Series include:

Leadership Learning Forums and Coaching Clinics

Read or download brochures for our 2005 calendar and current round of public programs based on modules from the Learning-Centred Leadership Series - The Learning-Centred Leader, Personal Mastery - Leading with Emotional Intelligence, The Leader as Coach, Leading through Teams and Learning to Lead Change.

u         Learning Leader’s Toolkit. Without new tools and guiding ideas, new leadership approaches can’t be actioned. Our leadership-learning forums and coaching clinics take a ‘tool-kit’ approach’ - injecting specific tools into your personal action learning process for you to try out and experiment with. The toolkit part of our website provides a sample of tools you can use to get you started.

u        Who’s been using Learning-Centred Leadership? Click here to see what other leaders and their organisations have to say about the Learning-Centred Leadership Series.

·         You can read or download brochures and a 2005 calendar and our current round of Leadership Learning Forums based on our Learning-Centred Leadership Series....:

·         Special 2005 Learning Events – Leading Learning Schools. Download brochure here: