Integrated Leadership Program Advanced level

Leadership has both a hard and a soft side, and at the advanced level we work on both at once. Alongside expanding the leadership toolkit, equal emphasis is placed on mental stamina and burnout prevention, because if leaders cannot look after their own emotional balance and sustain their inner strength, they will struggle to keep their team on course.

Many leaders handle stress well, and some even enjoy the storms: they hit peak form under pressure and, through their inner attitude, turn crises into opportunities. The question is how to sustain this for decades, how to keep employees motivated and how to manage resources well. This takes resilience, the capacity to carry a load and flexibility, which is why one of the program's modules is a resilience module focused on self-awareness.

Blended process

The training sessions are embedded in a blended process, supported by Thod, GROW's own gamified learning support system. Between the in-person sessions, participants receive individual, small-group and large-group assignments to deepen what they have learned and try it out in everyday work; the assignments are not mandatory but strongly recommended, and each takes 1–2 hours.

The modules

Module 1: Performance management

The aim of the module is to provide theoretical knowledge and practical tools that enable leaders to recognize their employees' current levels of readiness and motivation and to support the organization's performance through personalized, deliberate performance management.

Main topics of the module:

• performance culture as a mindset
• the leader's responsibility in performance management
• the components of individual performance
• the logic of cascading goals in how the organization works
• the performance appraisal cycle: goal setting, the feedback system, performance monitoring, the appraisal conversation
• the importance of recognition and strategies for it
• leadership motivation in the performance cycle
• using AI in performance management.

Module trainer: Nikitscher Péter

Module 2: Leadership resilience and burnout prevention, developing sustainable mental stamina

An innate “bounce-back gene” is an exceptional gift: most people develop this inner stability, and flexibility with it, over the course of their lives. If you want to stay healthy in body and mind today, you need to know and manage yourself well. It is worth understanding how we can recharge our personal reserves and how far we can push our limits in the long run. This module offers guidance for this kind of conscious self-development.

Key questions of the module:

• What does health management mean in corporate strategy?
• How can mental fitness be strengthened in the way we approach change?
• How can we prevent our own burnout and that of our employees?
• How can negative experiences be put to work for our own effectiveness?
• How can leaders maintain a positive vision of the future for themselves and their organization?
• How can leaders support the resilience of their employees and their organization?

In the module, we show the resources that emotional resilience draws on. We get to know the components of the GROW Resilience Model (GRM), and everyone assesses where their own strengths lie and where they need to replenish their reserves. We also point the way to how each person can strengthen their emotional stamina and prevent burnout.

Module trainer: Laposa Laura

Module 3: The leader as change manager

Day 1: A compass for the VUCA world

One change has barely ended when the next one arrives; in fact, several change initiatives often run at the same time, which ideally serve one goal and are aligned, but in reality tend to follow competing priorities. Meanwhile, leaders are expected to create a motivating environment that looks stable, inspires employees' performance and commitment, and enables the team to renew itself and change continuously. The VUCA world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) presents leaders with new challenges that are not easy to meet. The module helps you understand the dynamics of change, and by practicing change management methods and tools on your own cases, it gives you practical guidance for leading successfully.

Main topics of the day:

• the world we live in: what VUCA means and how it affects us at the individual, team and organizational level
• understanding the dynamics of change
• the characteristics of change and the stages of the change curve, supporting employees
• the leader as change manager: leadership roles and skills in change
• the change management toolkit: the CAFE framework
• strengthening an agile mindset in the team.

Day 2: A compass for generational diversity

Four generations work side by side in today's labor market, which leads to unprecedented situations, misunderstandings and experiences, and, as a result, to conflicts. It is useful for leaders to know which problems stem from generational differences and which from something else, such as structural, capability-related or system-level causes. Understanding how the younger generation works, what it needs and what motivates it is also an important consideration in succession planning, from successful leadership selection through building HR systems to shaping strategy.

Key questions of the day:

• What is the basis of generational theory, and where do the differences and the problems people experience come from?
• Which generations are we talking about, and what are their characteristics?
• What are the conflict topics and flashpoints?
• How can the difficulties arising from very different generational ways of working be resolved?

Module trainer: Meretei Barbara

Module 4: Problem solving and decision making in complex systems

Decision making and problem solving that fit the strategy are an everyday challenge of leadership. The aim of the module is to strengthen more deliberate, structured personal problem solving and decision making, and through that the organization's decision-making capability. We look at the typical errors in decision making, whether they stem from the psychology of information processing or from a lack of awareness, and at how they can be managed. We also provide concrete techniques from the broad practical toolkit of problem solving, systems thinking and decision making.

Main topics of the module:

• the internal and external conditions of problem solving and decision making: the traps of our thinking (interpretation versus facts), the Cynefin framework and the agile mindset
• applied tools: from 5W1H through the fishbone diagram to root cause analysis and beyond
• breaking routine and “thinking outside the box”
• solution-focused and problem-oriented approaches
• methods and tools in decision making
• rational and intuitive decisions
• individual and group decision making
• the basics of systems thinking: creating your own system map
• simulations and situational exercises: problem solving and decision making in complex systems
• using AI in problem solving and decision-making situations.

Module trainer: Nikitscher Péter

Application and practicalities

The program starts twice a year, so if one of the announced dates doesn't suit you, we try to offer a make-up option in the same module of the next program, if there is a free place in the group. The participation fee includes the training, the learning materials, and the cost of the venue and coffee breaks.

Participants receive a certificate on completing the program.

Venue and contact

Venue: GROW Training Room, 1037 Budapest, Montevideo u. 3/A.

If you have a question or would like to sign up, contact Sándor Orsolya: +36 20 207 0425, sandor.orsolya@grow-group.com

Contact person Sándor Orsolya sandor.orsolya@grow-group.com +36 20 207 0425