This principle is also reflected in this saying,
the origins of which have variously been attributed to Goethe, Confucious and anon.
"I hear and I forget,
I see and I understand,
I do and I remember."
The design concept which follows is based on
these principles.
Most learning occurs when people are outside
their comfort zones, and leadership skills are particularly critical in situations
involving discomfort. For this reason it is important that people not only have the
knowledge to enable them to provide effective leadership, but the also the confidence in
themselves to put that knowledge to effective use.
Self-confidence takes a number of forms, and that
which is referred to above is of the assured type, that which has been tested and has
triumphed.
The programs we conduct are designed to challenge
the participants in a supportive environment, allowing them to make their own decisions,
and own their own successes and failures. Participants are guided through a number of
challenging and participative problem solving activities which are crafted to maximise the
learning outcomes. Learnings are identified and understood by the participants with the
help of highly trained facilitators who accompany the participants on their learning
journey.
The Ausworks programs are structured in the
following way to provide the best possible learning outcomes:
Research: Understanding the needs of the
participants and their organisation.
Frontloading: Context setting, setting
objectives and gaining the commitment of participants.
Outdoor Session:
Follow Up and Evaluation: Providing
support for the learning outcomes, and a place to use them.
Research.
A consultative process carried out to understand
the needs and wants of the targeted participants.
Frontloading.
Participants are apprised of the program outline
and its objectives. This session is designed to enlist the commitment of participants to
achieving the program objectives, and to developing the ‘ground rules’ by which
the program will operate.
Outdoor Session Structure.
This outdoor session is designed to create the
desire and provide the impetus for program participants to put learnings into practise at
the conclusion of this outdoor phase
Phase 1 – Awareness
This phase commences with an introduction to the
program, definition of roles and responsibilities, clarification of the program
objectives, and an introduction to the learning models and processes which are used
throughout the program. Participants are formed into small groups which have the ability
to operate independently of each other.
This phase is designed to provide participants
with the opportunity to experience working with a small group to achieve specific
outcomes. It provides a ‘performance benchmark’ of the participants’
current teamwork/leadership processes, and allows first hand experience of areas within
those processes which need attention. It provides the opportunity for the participants to
move from unconscious incompetence in terms of specific teamwork or leadership
skills, to conscious incompetence. In other words, the participants become aware of
which areas they need to address.
Phase 2 – Discovery
This second phase comprises a series of
practical, participative activities allowing participants to take on different roles and
to try new ways of doing things: a time of experimentation and discovery, and allows the
opportunity to begin the transition from conscious incompetence to conscious competence.
Participants remain in their small groups, developing their group skills and taking the
opportunity to have limited interaction with the other groups. Activities during this
phase are relatively short, focussed, and outcome specific.
Phase 3 – Consolidation
This phase enables the participants to bring
together the learnings and experiences they have had to this time, and to apply them in a
proactive way so as to achieve synergy. The small groups are now required to work
effectively as one large group in order for them to achieve success.
It is this continuous process of moving from the
individual to being a member of a small group, to becoming a smaller part of a larger
group, which provides the opportunity for participants to experience, understand and
develop the skills necessary for them to play a more effective role within their
workplace, as well as within their families and communities.
Phase 4 – Transfer
This is the final, critical phase of the outdoor
session where individuals and groups identify their key learnings and develop strategies
for the successful transfer of those learnings from the learning environment to the
‘real world’ environment they are about to re-enter.
Follow Up and Evaluation
A process to evaluate the effectiveness of the
program in achieving the stated objectives, and a review of the relevance of the outcomes.
In addition, periodic interventions designed to
support the implementation of learnings. These may be done in a variety of ways, including
the development of a graduate network, periodic interventions by program facilitators,
scheduled regrouping and so on.
Evaluation:
If we accept that the self-concept is the
greatest obstacle to change (Sullivan, 1953), within an individual, then any
leadership program must aim to develop the ‘self-concept’ of each participant.
The ultimate aim of any such program is behaviour change within the individual.
Cognitive mapping is an innovative and effective
evaluation tool which enables participants and facilitators to evaluate the changes in
‘perception’ that result from an ‘intervention’ (such as the
leadership program). This evaluation process can be followed up in 6-12 months to evaluate
whether behaviour change has resulted.
Evaluation involves discussions with participants
prior to the program focussing on their current roles and responsibilities, goals,
conceptions of leadership and levels of motivation. The preliminary phase of the cognitive
mapping exercise takes place at the commencement of the Outdoor Session. The final and
comparative cognitive mapping session takes place at the closure of the Transfer session.
These cognitive maps enable both the participants and facilitators to observe and discuss
the changes from the first map (which maps the perceptions of individuals prior to the
program) with the second (which maps the same perceptions after the program). Participants
are therefore able to observe their own learning and development.
