Purpose and process
Sixteen participants from five organizations met in Dar es salaam from 4th to 8th April for a five-day leadership course training. This being the fourth cohort after, an online one, we were excited to be able to host them physically as the COVID-19 measures had been eased by then. Three Executive Directors joined us for this particular cohort. The training was held at APC hotel and conference centre which we used for the second time because of its distance from town and conducive learning environment.
The first module is an introductory module that exposes participants to the core principles and values that underpin leadership in a civil society context. It also enables them to critically analyse the context in which they are operating and its implications on their respective institutions, civil society and the role of leadership. This is followed by skills-oriented modules that will equip them with leadership skills and the ability to manage themselves.
New learning included:
- Self-assessment is key in leadership (Identify your own strength and weaknesses and put emphasis on working on improving the weakness).
- A leader needs to have a personal mission in leadership. For this, I need to be clear with my outcome and strategies of reaching my mission outcome.
- Feedback is one of the arms leading to the leader’s growth. Accept feedback in good faith and work of the identified weaknesses. Feedback if it warrants giving to the followers, should be: Clear, Owned, Relevant, Balanced and Specific (CORBS)
- Concerning leadership, the application of theory x and y, stood out to me in terms of what you believe in influencing one’s style of leadership.
- The chance to get to know principles and values of other organisations through the group sharing was very helpful to me. I was also exposed to knowing their ethics and conducts which I couldn’t otherwise have known, for example, how some organizations worked with unethical behaviour and resolved them.
- Everyone on the team brings something valuable to the institution
Some participant’s personal feedback
It’s difficult for me to pinpoint instances when I excel at something. I analyze myself regularly and always look at the bad aspects of things and how I may improve. That is most likely the reason for not being able to pin point exactly who I am. I’ve found personal areas for growth, but when shared with others, they don’t appear to be growth areas. I come out as if I have already excelled at them.
In this training I realized my weakness especially interrupting others while they are still talking. Am yet to practice and act on this, though I know I will have challenges working on it.
In communication skills, I would say I acquired skills on presentation while at the training, honestly, I took most of my time understanding and observing the different approaches (the use of stage, tools, examples displayed, basically how to get the audience engaged), by the three facilitators.
