Strategic Leadership Course Purpose
To develop innovative strategic thinkers and change agents who can create and lead agile organizations to attain and maintain a
competitive advantage in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous strategic environment.
Strategic Leadership Course Objectives
- Evaluate, analyze, and synthesize strategic leader competencies, to include technical, conceptual, and interpersonal competencies as they relate to transformational leadership and transforming and changing organizations. (LA #2,5)
- Evaluate, develop and apply the tools of strategic leadership for implementing coherent strategies to lead organizational transformation in joint, interagency, multinational, and cross-cultural environments. (LA #5)
- Evaluate the moral, social, and ethical impact of leading in the 21st century information age organization. (LA #5)
- Enhance self-awareness and engage in continuous self-assessment, development, and life-long learning. (LA #5)
Strategic Leadership Course Threads
This course addresses the challenges of strategic leadership. The concept of strategic leadership serves as the overarching framework for the course and provides intellectual underpinnings in four specific areas: The strategic environmental context; strategic leader competencies; organizational change; and creating resilient and effective organizations.
Key threads that dominate the leadership curriculum during the academic year comprise:
- an understanding of environmental complexity (internal and external),
- key strategic leadership competencies and skills,
- creative, critical and systems thinking,
- meeting ethical challenges inherent in operating at the strategic level,
- leading change and transformation,
- promoting competitive advantage,
- enhancing self development, and
- meeting the challenges of information age national security and private sector organizations and industries.
Executive Assessment and Development
As part of the Strategic Leadership Course, you will have the opportunity to participate in one of two possible individual leadership assessment and development opportunities. U.S. students and native English speakers can take advantage of the leading-edge Executive Assessment and Development Program (EADP). Students who are not native English speakers can take the Discovery Insights instrument. The purpose of these two programs is to increase your awareness of your strengths and weaknesses, and help you develop the skills needed to become effective, successful strategic leaders and change agents in the 21st century.
The feedback from your counselor will provide you with the basis for continued reflection and development during your year at ICAF. While there is no formal treatment of the EADP or Insights Discovery after the SL course ends, there are two things you might keep in mind. First, your feedback counselor is available to continue to meet with you at your convenience throughout the academic year to talk about your continued development. Second, as you observe successful leaders of industry during the Industry Study Program later in the academic year, continue to pay attention to the modeling of competencies that they demonstrate in leading their organizations, and assess your own growth and development of the things you will need for continued success in your professional career and in your personal life.
One of the major goals of the EADP and Insights Discovery is to facilitate guided self–development. An important way to grow and develop the capability to meet future challenges is through a structured approach. Learning by trial–and–error can be very costly as you move on to positions of greater responsibility in your organization. Further development requires awareness, which can only come through an assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. As you get a better idea of those areas that represent strengths for you, as well as those areas where it might be beneficial to work on developing skills or capabilities, you can continue to target your self-development into the areas that will be the most beneficial for you. The EADP and Insights Discovery may help you to determine which skills to work on and the Leadership Architect software offers practical suggestions on further skill development. But, it is important to remember development ultimately is an individual responsibility.
Please take advantage of all the resources available to you to further your own growth in strategic leadership, both while attending ICAF and following graduation.
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