A national school of government
An ongoing, long-term collaboration with a school of government aimed at grooming future public sector leaders.
The government was looking for leadership development to help the country become more effective. In collaboration with KDVI, the objective as to get “expertise on leadership” and bring leadership competences to senior civil servants in the private sector. Another goal was to reshape the civil service sector as a whole by bringing in the practice of leadership development and group coaching.
A multiyear intervention of senior civil servants consisting of master of classes and two-module workshops with 2 KDVI Associates.
Manfred Kets de Vries delivered master classes on "The Challenge of Leadership’ to 80-100 senior level servants who had direct reporting to the minister (e.g. Chief of Staff, Director of Health, etc), once or twice a year. This was accompanied by 2-module programmes delivered to 5 cohorts of 12-24 participants over a period of 5 years.
Module I—The first module, which lasted 3.5 days, focused on self awareness and individual leadership behaviours using 360° feedback from the GELI and PA™, followed by group and individual coaching as well as building coaching as a leadership skill.
Module 2—The second module focused on teams and organization, using the LAQ™. Managing transitions, or what happens to organisations during periods of change, was also addressed as well as what makes for a high performing organisation. Groups had to deliver recommendations to their respective Ministry at the end of the programme, which they would take responsibility for as a cohort to bring about change in the civil service.
KDVI faculty provide follow up a couple of week after the programme to check progress. The organisation has also taken ownership and put processes and practices in place to ensure continued commitment to the change agenda.
With each iteration, KDVI was able to continuously improve and update its methodology in accordance with the needs of the school, as well as building on the experience gained from prior interventions.
Leaders went away with personal as well as team action plans. They also returned to observers and superiors to discuss the feedback, essentially bringing the organisation into the process. Recommendations were also made for the civil service and presented within their respective ministries. The experience also allowed the civil servants to come together and share experiences and learning, to connect and to build a community. At a broader level, the long-term relationship between KDVI and the organisation has helped reshape the country’s civil service by bringing in leadership development into the sector. To build on the group dynamics, an alumni session involving all cohorts was formalised, and reinforced by the organisation, so as to create a community for continuous impact and change.
