Leadership Development is Experiential.

Recently, we had two cohorts graduate from Leadership Essentials at Elevated; as the facilitator it’s always bittersweet. We run an experiential course over the period of 8 to 9 weeks, and the growth is always extraordinary. I see the impact each time, and I know they have the foundations to show up as a great leader…if they want to.

That’s the thing about Leadership Development; you can learn frameworks and fundamentals, but they will only make a positive impact if the person chooses to implement the knowledge. Leading means making a conscious choice about your intentions AND your impact. I don’t think it’s a surprise that we go through life 90-95% of the time unconscious (and that number might be low!) But it’s the only way we can do life. Even thinking about the letters I’m typing right now is technically out of my consciousness (fun fact, I get slower each time I think about the letter I’m going to push next!)

Leadership Essentials begins with educating leaders (regardless of rank or title) on the fundamental 3 C’s: Consciousness, Commitment and Consistency. We repeat this over and over again; with concepts, theories and stories. We thread it through how to find the right team members (recruitment), how to give and receive feedback (performance management), how to engage your team members (growth and learning) and eventually how to say goodbye (terminations). We bring further consciousness to our biases and commit to making changes; to show up in a way that peers, team members, friends and family can truly feel like they belong.

We dissect and challenge traditional approaches and ultimately, at the very end of the course, each leader makes a public commitment. And now – their results are theirs to own.

Leadership Development learning opportunities are all around us. The market is certainly saturated. But if there is one thing I think we do well, is the experiential component. These leaders don’t just leave after a day or two and say: “Great, I’m a leader now.” Rather, they leave with a deep consciousness of what happens if they don’t elevate their leadership skills.