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Innovative approach to education: leadership orchestra and children coach managers

Nina Kolyako, BC, Riga/Vienna, 12.10.2015.Print version
Following the new WU Motto “Rethink Economy”, the WU Executive Academy in Vienna is strongly emphasizing innovation. This applies particularly to its department for Corporate and Management Development, which designs and develops executive education programs, ranging from the transfer of cutting-edge tools to the latest research results.

Your company's success depends on qualified executives. The Academy provides your decision-makers with tailor-made management training and executive education. Designed with ease of implementation in mind, the programs are based on state-of-the-art academic knowledge, who create an interactive and practical learning experience.

 

The faculty is composed of internationally renowned professors and experts.


The product portfolio includes: 

- In-house MBA programsWU

- Management Development programsWU

- Leadership AcademyWU

- Compact CoursesWU

- Field TripsWU

- Special WorkshopsWU (Leadership Orchestra, Leading in the Dark, Children Coach Managers, Dirty Innovation, etc.)

- HR ConsultingWU


Leadership Orchestra

The department’s special workshops such as “Leadership Orchestra” are designed and implemented in cooperation with external partners, allowing leaders and managers a change of perspective.

 

The focus lies on encoutering and engaging with unique circumstances, breaking familiar thought and behavior patterns as well as questioning what appears to be self-evident. These special workshops are designed and tailored according to the needs of the respective company, supported by experienced specialists and embedded in extensive further education programs or modules. The tie between theory and practice within the framework of a university as well as the actual transfer into the individual business environment are guaranteed.

 

The “Leadership Orchestra” workshop provides executives with an opportunity to put on the сonductor‘s hat and meet a professional orchestra or string quartet representing employees. Following a short introduction to the art of conducting and an analysis of the (leadership) behavior of some famous conductors, participants start creating their personal interpretation of a piece of music together with the musicians. Along the way, they get to experience and examine their own leadership behavior (and that of others) first-hand. In this context, special emphasis is placed on the fundamental laws of effective communication – addressing, focusing and limiting. Throughout the workshop, participants keep moving back and forth between the role and perspective of the conductor and that of the musician, making it possible for them to get a first-hand experience of their leadership behavior and its impact. Moreover, they increase their leadership effectiveness by developing their understanding of obstacles to effective leadership, such as inner resistances or inconsistent behavior. A continuous feedback loop enables participants to hear (and see) the effects of both their decisions and the actions they take or do not take. In everyday executive practice, these effects either go unnoticed or are recognized too late. But the musicians, unlike employees, do provide instant feedback. An orchestra can play without a conductor for some time before losing direction. Likewise, employees can work alone for a while. However, a team without a leader will never be able to achieve the same performance and results as one with a strong leader. The „Leadership Orchestra“ workshops are an interesting experience for the musicians as well because they offer them the chance to give their “leader” personal feedback. In the world of professional music, just as in many organizations, having this opportunity is something that can by no means be taken for granted.

 

No prior knowledge of music is required for participation in the “Leadership Orchestra” workshop.

 

The “Leadership Orchestra” workshop is delivered in collaboration with Lorenz Huber – a qualified conductor – and an international orchestra or string quartet. Combined with the executive education expertise of the WU Executive Academy, the emotionalizing effect of music as a powerful catalyst is used for developing social and leadership skills of lasting value.

 

The “Leadership Orchestra” workshop is designed for executives and managers at different organizational levels. A group size of 8 – 12 participants is recommended for this workshop.

 

Learning objectives:

 

- experience the difference between the executive’s perspective and the employee’s perspective,

- learn how an executive’s inner attitudes influence employee behavior,

- become more aware of the effect of their body language and their impact as role models,

- gain an understanding of how to use their leadership and communication skills more efficiently, and

- learn to handle immediate feedback.

 

The “Leadership Orchestra” workshop can be carried out in English or German.


Children coach managers

A workshop that gives managers an opportunity to "experience" their leadership principles, leaving traditional cognitive learning behind and exploring them from completely new perspectives.

 

​The WU Executive Academy's Corporate Programs place special emphasis on "embedded learning": knowledge that is hard to acquire through cognitive learning – some aspects of leadership, ways and means of bringing values to life, ethics, etc. – is given an emotional quality, allowing program participants to experience it. Creating a strong link between emotional and cognitive learning ensures better internalization of learning.


Experiencing knowledge is only one important aspect, though: the programs involve a completely new concept, with experts providing the necessary input to embed it in an academic context. A traditional in-class session of usually two to three days with a professor of the WU Executive Academy forms an integral part of the format. In integrating the "Children Coach Managers" workshop into executive training, the WU Executive Academy customizes it based on the specific requirements of the client’s business.

 

The concept was developed by Margret Rasfeld, principal of Evangelische Schule Berlin Zentrum; a key expert in Angela Merkel's Dialogue on Germany's Future; and one of the initiators of "Schule im Aufbruch", an initiative to encourage schools to foster a culture of learning that is conducive to unlocking individual potential.

 

At Evangelische Schule Berlin Zentrum, Margret Rasfeld and her team demonstrate how to achieve a radical change in learning culture, placing special emphasis on unlocking individual potential. The workshops are part and parcel of students' school work: "Cushioned at the bottom, open at the top," to quote the words of a 12-year-old student who has obviously understood what it is all about. Children and adolescents can do much more than adults think they can. The "Children Coach Managers" workshops illustrate this very nicely. As communication takes places at eye level and in a mutually respectful way, both sides benefit enormously from them," says Margret Rasfeld.


Students vs. managers – a complete change in perspective

The workshop, which the WU Executive Academy will offer its clients from now on, gives managers the opportunity to meet a group of students between the ages of 13 and 16 to jointly explore leadership principles from a new perspective. In so doing, the teacher-student relationship in schools heeding the call of "Schule im Aufbruch" provides practical guidance.

 

Today, academics and practitioners alike regard transformational leadership as the strategy that generates the highest levels of motivation and satisfaction in employees, making the entire organization more efficient and successful. Having gone through a process of transformation in their school, the students are subject-matter experts with a wealth of experience to share. After all, their school has succeeded in creating what businesses are eager to develop for their employees: a culture of genuine appreciation that encourages high-level performance.


With their manner and their inspiring visions, the students themselves have a transformational effect on the managers, and their straightforwardness and creativity allow program participants to look at their own approaches to leadership in a different light.

 

- They ask questions where adults thought they knew the answers.

- They do not talk about theories but share their own experience.

- They are honest, free from fear and appreciative.

 

The benefits managers can derive from the transfer of learning into organizational contexts are breathtaking. As they gain new perspectives, they may rediscover long-abandoned wishes and attitudes. Joining forces with adolescents is a catalytic experience. Program participants not only relearn to explain complex matters in simple terms but also benefit from the intergenerational cooperation in other ways: as a result of not wearing professional or social blinkers, the executives of tomorrow approach question in a straightforward and unconventional manner, which is in stark contrast to the diplomacy and complexity so typical of the adult world.


That being the case, the managers get to experience and understand the scope and potential of transformational leadership. Together with the students, they explore new ways and means of implementing transformational leadership in their organizations. For instance, every manager raises a question encountered by him or her in everyday professional practice that workshop participants discuss and answer in small groups composed of 2 to 3 managers and 1 or 2 students.


Dirty Innovation

Dirty Innovation – that's the name of the WU Executive Academy's latest training offering, which requires executives and managers to leave theory behind and literally get their hands dirty in the process of developing real-world business models.

The WU Executive Academy is extending its successful range of special workshops by another extraordinary format. After Children Coach Managers and Philosophy & Management, its Executive Education experts have devised a sophisticated training program that teaches participants to reconsider well-loved habits and start thinking and acting along new lines. In the course of a Dirty Innovation workshop, one thing becomes clear: You cannot make a difference unless you roll up your sleeves and step outside your comfort zone.


The special workshop lead by Dr. Thomas Funke and the Executive Education team includes a hands-on approach to learning in order to reconsider longstanding habits from a different angle. Photo: © LABKULTUR.TV/Boris Alexander Knop (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The format conveys the latest methods in corporate entrepreneurship and is based on interaction, teamwork, application and a "let's-make-it-happen" attitude—for maximum practical relevance. As participants venture off the beaten track, generate specific ideas and create business models, they develop their understanding of why innovativeness is so important. 

By joining forces, the WU Executive Academy and Dr. Thomas Funke have fruitfully combined the academic excellence of a leading European university with the know-how of innovative and creative practitioners.

For Astrid Kleinhanns-Rollé, Managing Director of the WU Executive Academy, this is a welcome and meaningful development: "Good ideas have long since ceased to be enough for achieving success in the marketplace. For innovation to happen, people need to think laterally, roll up their sleeves and get things done. This is exactly what Dirty Innovation is about."

 

The new training format is designed for executives and managers at different organizational levels. In terms of content and duration, each workshop will be tailored around the specific needs of the organization in question. Dirty Innovation teaches participants not only to adopt a new mindset that enables them to handle open-ended projects in a more professional and more playful manner but also to develop innovative business ideas by taking advantage of a completely new methodological toolkit.

 

For further information and contact please click here.


Read here the full article about the WU Executive Academy.






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