By Chally Kacelnik
We put out a regular newsletter for our leadership program alumni, helping them to keep fostering and developing their leadership practice. We get lovely emails back from past participants checking in with us. Recently, we received an email from someone who had decided that leadership wasn’t for him. He’d taken the opportunity to know himself better and find the right career path. He was writing to say that his program had helped him to be more confident in his words and actions, learn more, and get out of his comfort zone. He was now better placed to do what he loved.
This was so great to hear – and actually, one of our goals when we first started running these programs was to help people assess for themselves if leadership was in fact the right path for them. This person’s feedback got me thinking about lots of different ways in which our leadership programs have supported people beyond organisational life. Program participants document lots of different improvements they make for their leadership practice as well as their organisations – financial savings, safety improvements, systems change, and so forth. But what’s really heartening for me are the often transformative experiences people describe in terms of how they see themselves. People tell us that they didn’t previously realise they were this capable, or had the respect of their teams, or could have a meaningful impact.
Personal growth and confidence were the themes of a particular individual’s end of course survey, for a program that recently finished. This person felt she had gained skills she’d be able to use throughout her working life. This feedback really stuck with me. When this person added me on LinkedIn the other day, I was so glad because I’m keen to see what she does beyond the program, and I was able to tell her so! We always enjoy seeing people’s progress and how they bring their knowledge and skills to bear afterwards – definitely follow LKS Quaero’s LinkedIn page and feel free to add me.
Another person’s program work had a serious impact on safety and cost reduction for his organisation, but his own view is that the program has had a pivotal impact on his life, prompting hours of reflection on who he wants to be as a person. He was also kind enough to write to me after I wrote this piece about my experience of cancer at work, to let me know how he was engaging at work as a leader with those whose lives had been touched by cancer, and how he was adjusting his approach in light of what I’d said. After almost ten years at LKS Quaero, receiving that email from him was a personal career highlight for me.
I spend a lot of time noodling around in the back end of our programs with spreadsheets and PowerPoints (bliss! really!), but it’s moments like this that make me really pleased to know that we, like our program participants, are having a substantial and positive impact that reverberates beyond the workplace.
At LKS Quaero, we conduct leadership development programs that have a real impact. For more information, visit us at lksquaero.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook.
