High Impact Corporate Leadership
Since our launch in 1980, our team has assessed the leadership competencies, thought leadership, emotional maturity, cognitive abilities, personality, styles and interests of around 10 000 leaders from 500+ organisations in more than 30 countries. In the process we have been exposed to good and bad leaders in organisations with both high and low growth indicators. Using data gathered from these assessments, plus a dedicated research study involving 300 CEOs of high performance organisations, we have developed a bespoke programme for the assessment and development of high impact corporate leaders in the modern world of work.
As part of our research we studied the characteristics of those executives who had escalated to senior roles and had had significant impact on their organisations. We unpacked these observations to isolate the generic competencies, thought processes, behavioural patterns, personality traits, managerial styles, management processes and practices of highly successful, top-level business leaders and managers, who we call high impact corporate leaders. At a sufficient level of abstraction, these business leaders and their organisations have a lot in common with each other, irrespective of country of operation, job type or industry.
Our theory on high impact corporate leadership serves as the foundation upon which the Evalex Leadership Assessment Programme and Masters of Management Programme were modelled.
Leadership Development Process
At Evalex we have been developing high performance leaders, teams and companies since 1980. Our exposure to the phenomenon of high performance has allowed us to conceptualise, develop and hone effective processes that have evolved over time based on research and experience.
Whether applied to the individual, the team or the company, the test of time has proven to be effective and impactful.
Team Performance Workshops are one of the ways in which we gather data and teach individuals how to apply the theory of high performance into their specific workplace scenarios.
The actual career track record of an individual – the progression from one level of work to the next level of complexity, combined with the staying power at that next level, only to be promoted to deal with an even higher level of complexity – may well be the ultimate measure of leadership success.
In analysing the characteristics of close on 1 000 CEOs, COOs and executive committee members with a proven track record of business leadership, we extracted the distilled essence of what catalysed them to become high impact corporate leaders. The commonality in their leadership competence, thought leadership, personalities, management styles, values and interests were isolated and reconstructed as a model of the composition of the psychological make-up of those who escalate to the top levels in organisations.
This model serves as the basis for the Evalex Leadership Assessment Solution, the Masters of Management Development Programme, the Evalex Coaching Programme and our 360 Leadership Assessment.
Masters of Management Programme
In researching the CEOs and management teams of organisations with high growth indicators (revenue growth, profit growth, return on sales and return on assets), and comparing them with those organisations with low growth or declining indicators, Evalex has been able to isolate the generic competencies, thought processes, behavioural patterns, personality traits, managerial styles, management processes and practices of highly successful top level business leaders and managers. At a sufficient level of abstraction, these business leaders and their organisations have a lot in common, irrespective of country of operation or type of industry.
This valuable information has been put into a management development programme, called the Masters of Management Programme (MMP).
The objective of this programme is to expose delegates to the management practices that these “masters of management” – successful business leaders and managers – use to deal with the critical management issues of:
- Problem solving and decision making (leadership in problematic and challenging situations: covers dimensions such as problem analysis and fact finding, reasoning ability and judgement)
- General management (leadership in a business, portfolio or function: covers dimensions such as initiative, managerial insight and understanding, judgement, delegation, decisiveness, planning and organising)
- Project management (leadership in projects: covers dimensions such as organisation, utilisation of staff, understanding and judgement)
- Staff management (leadership in one-on-one interactive situations: covers dimensions such as motivational behaviour, task structuring, customer sensitivity, emotional intelligence and charisma)
- Meeting management (leadership in group interactive situations: covers dimensions such as influence, directional behaviour, reasoning ability, insight into business issues)
- Managerial and strategic thought processes (intellectual leadership of the thought processes within an organisation: covers dimensions such as systems thinking)
In addition, the profile of their typical personality characteristics, managerial styles, interests and values are discussed.
During the programme:
- Delegates are given relevant theoretical inputs on each of the above topics, based on the research to date
- By practical means, delegates develop a thorough and comprehensive conceptual framework and understanding according to which they will be able to evaluate and negotiate managerial situations
- Delegates are then asked to participate in and study a number of management simulations and case studies to establish their current level of functioning
- They are then given the opportunity to develop the desired thought processes, competencies and management practices through further management simulations and case study exercises
This programme is unique, in that it does not put across out-dated management concepts that are removed from reality and only exist in textbooks. It puts across the latest and freshest observations of executives functioning within a business context, which is highly relevant to today and based on the reality of what executives are actually doing (practical), not what they should be doing (theoretical).
Obviously, certain trends are observed that do indicate direction in terms of what we could do better or should do differently. These are considered and discussed.
Due to its intense nature and the quality time awarded to each delegate, only eight managers can participate in each programme. The MMP is a seven-day programme, scheduled either on seven consecutive days, or on three/four consecutive days per month over a two month period, or two consecutive days per month over a three month period and then day seven in the fourth month.
The MMP is aimed at key middle to senior managers or high potential junior managers requiring exposure to a special development opportunity.
Once the programme is scheduled it is imperative that all those nominated attend every day of the training. This is due to the fact that each manager’s development is dependent on an intense interactive process. Non-attendance could adversely affect group dynamics