The approach of the Fast Track Leadership Development Program is to recognise that the leadership team of an organisation holds most of the knowledge necessary to lead that organisation successfully. The problem that most leaders face; however, is that they are inundated with other demands on their time. This tends to mean that they do not get the time to develop their own skills, let alone contribute to the development of others.

Each person’s journey through the program will be quite different, but below are some case studies and comments from participants. NB: Real names are not used as participants’ confidentiality needs to be protected.

Case study 1 – Lisa

Lisa had 'worked up' the ladder in the organisation with no formal qualifications. She had left school at 16 and had traveled around the world before joining the organisation.

But here she had found her home. She was hard-working, motivated and a pleasure to work with – but it was obvious that the lack of formal tertiary education would hold her back.

Diligent as always, Lisa had researched some options and found an Advanced Diploma in Management – which the organisation supported.

Lisa went to her manager to discuss the possibility of attending the program. He advised her that in his opinion she was wasting her time and that she needed to obtain a formal degree.

Crestfallen, Lisa did not know what to do. She knew that a formal degree would not fit with her learning styles (one of the reasons she had left school at 16 in the first place!)

Ultimately she decided to take some time with her leadership syndicate to explore the problem.

Through the discussion and support in her leadership syndicate, she had her initial view reconfirmed – that the management diploma really was the way for her to go.

In the syndicate, she practiced ways of communicating with her boss to improve her chances of getting him to see her perspective.

With her confidence buoyed up – and having refined the arguments about why the diploma made sense for her (and having used the syndicate as a role play for the discussion) – she went back to her manager and convinced him that this was the best course for her.

This time her manager agreed.

She has since successfully finished the course and is getting promoted.

This shows how using a Syndicate to refine ideas and arguments – and even rehearse negotiations can pay off. It also shows how leadership syndicates can improve confidence.

Case study 2 – Zoë

Zoë is a manager and was considering who she should use to support her as a coach. Zoë always likes to approach decisions in a very measured way – but this sometimes holds her back from making decisions.

She decided that she would use part of her time with the Leadership Syndicate to explore what was important to her about a coach – and the views others had as to the attributes they would look for.

The whole process helped her to come to a considered decision: to take action and appoint an appropriate coach.

Case study 3 – Kylie

Kylie is an accomplished manager, who had been studying a Masters Degree on a part-time basis for many years.

Managing the balance between work, family and study is always difficult, but as a manager, that conflict can be even harder to manage.

Kylie felt distressed that although she had the technical ability to complete her Masters, she lacked the necessary structure to provide the momentum to complete her course.

At one syndicate meeting she explained her problem.

Through discussion it was suggested that at each syndicate meeting the group should enquire 'how is the Masters going?'

This had the effect of setting up each syndicate meeting as a milestone. Kylie would occasionally comment 'by the next meeting I intend to complete an assignment'. In less than a year, she completed her Masters Degree and came to the next syndicate meeting with a bottle of Champagne – which we all enjoyed.

In part of her feedback, she was convinced that had it not been for the regular syndicate meetings – she would not have completed her course.

Note that the syndicate members here provided no technical input to Kylie’s Masters Degree; it was purely process and moral support.

This shows that Syndicates can be used as milestones to support the achievement of personal goals.

Case study 4 – Max

Max was a manager and a very experienced educator for students with learning difficulties. Unfortunately his area had performed poorly and as a result had been 'decentralised' across the business areas. He had not lost his job, but he had lost confidence (not surprisingly!)
 
In syndicate meetings, Max explored where his strengths and weaknesses lay, why his area had performed poorly and where he might find himself a new role.

He reconfirmed for himself that he did have good technical skills, although perhaps management was not the best use of these skills.

Again, in less than a year, Max went from being a demoralised shell to realising that he had value to offer.

Despite being a very experienced educationalist, Max viewed the Syndicate as being one of the most powerful interventions that he had been involved in – it changed his life!

In this instance we can see how syndicates provide the opportunity to rebuild individuals, even when they are in situations that appear to be irretrievable!