SENSEI LEADERS OF THE FUTURE

'The future isn't what is used to be and it's time for a new breed of leader to emerge...

The recent economic crisis has placed leadership and how it is deployed in the spotlight like never before. It has also starkly demonstrated that many organisations simply did not have robust enough plans to survive without significant trauma. For many traditional leaders the last few years have simply been a challenge too far, as they have been caught holding on to false assumptions about how the future will unfold. Those in leadership roles now find themselves in many cases leading organisations that are bearing the scars of the recent recession. Their people are feeling battered and bruised and, in many cases, fearful of any more change that might threaten their livelihood.

To help leaders respond to this challenge in a smart and intelligent way we have developed Sensei’s ‘Leaders of the Future’ service, an innovative and cost-effective way to develop future leaders in today’s cost conscious climate. Our approach will:

• Deliver the sustainable value needed now to help fuel the growth of your organisation
• Embed a culture of candour that will unleash pent up enthusiasm and focus energy on improving performance
• Provide a leadership pipeline that helps you future proof your organisation

The recent global recession has taught us all some painful lessons and we have to take these on board if we are to ensure we have any future at all.

Developing leaders of the future is always an important but rarely an urgent priority for non-executive directors, CEOs and their executive teams. In fact, in the current economic climate it is common for this activity to be considered as just part of the overall training and development budget and this, as evidence shows, is one of the first budgets to be cut when the cost squeeze is on. Rather than fight this reality we have developed a more novel and, we believe, more realistic line of attack to develop the leaders your organisation needs to future proof your business.

This service draws on our award winning global consultancy skills and the latest training and facilitation techniques developed while supporting some of the world’s leading organisations. Our starting point is to work with you to co-create and design a highly tailored approach that recognises your current operational and strategic reality. Your world view and the value you need to deliver to give you an acceptable ROI guides what we do and how we will do it. Our aim is to ensure that the investment you will make in developing your future leaders is at least self-funding and preferably value-generative.

EXAMPLES OF ‘LEARNING THREADS’
WE CAN DEPLOY IN YOUR DESIGN

• Sensei Breakthrough Coaching
• Leadership Journeys
• Community Value Projects
• Strategic Deep Dives
• Participant Mentoring
• Operational Value Performance Projects
• Study Sessions
• Participant Skill Share Sessions
• Visit and Learn Experiences
• Team Stretch Activities
• Modular Highly Interactive Workshops
• Culminating in a ‘Leaders of the Future Conference’ - the participants’ chance to share what they have achieved with your executive team.

We will take your current view of the challenges your organisation will face in the future and mix it with our view of the challenges you may face. This approach, derived from helping some of the world’s leading organisations, will enable us to develop a unique and bespoke design that we can be confident will really take hold in your organisation’s DNA.

A co-designed approach of this kind is a long way from the ‘plug and play’ programmes that are now so common in the leadership development and training marketplace. In the Sensei design our consulting expertise complements our training and facilitation skills to ensure your leaders are exposed to a learning experience that really resonates and prepares them for the future.

The duration and the ‘learning threads’ deployed will vary to suit your organisation’s reality, degree of ambition and current operating constraints. Topics covered may be as diverse as:

• The art of leadership and what history can really teach us
• How to liberate the latent passion for change and tap the hidden productivity that is discretionary effort
• How to lead global, geographically dispersed, virtually connected teams
• What style of leadership has succeeded in your organisation in the past and what the future requires
• The role of the leader in reshaping and changing the prevailing operating culture to make it fit for the future
• Making the most of the globally connected, network savvy and internet enabled talent that is the current generation of graduates entering your organisation.

LEADERS OF THE FUTURE at a glance...

Sensei’s ‘Leaders of the Future’ service has elements of both give and take. Each participant will be exposed to leading edge personal development experiences that will equip them for life. In return they will be expected to give something back, both to your organisation and to the community.

Each student will have to complete at least one ‘Leadership in Action’ project that will be scoped and selected at the start and designed to deliver significant value to your organisation. They will also take a leading role in designing and completing a project that is of genuine benefit to local residents.

In this way Sensei’s innovative ‘Leaders of the Future’ service will contribute a real and sustainable ROI for your organisation as well as providing a positive impact in the local community.

WATCH MALCOLM'S LEADERS OF THE FUTURE VIDEO

CASE STUDY - BENEFITS AND RETURN ON INVESTMENT

One of our International clients headquartered in the UK had a substantial and growing business in Asia. They recognised that if they could develop their country leaders to a point where they could take on a regional EVP role, this would save them the cost of their current expatriate packages of around USD 750k each. The design we co-created took 8 country GMs through a 12 month learning experience and produced three leaders capable of taking up EVP positions. The ROI was never in doubt.

OUR EXPERIENCE

We have helped clients such as Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, British American Tobacco, Maersk and Homeserve to create leadership development programmes that deliver real value, as well as a leadership pipeline that helps future proof their organisation.