The leadership of organizations requires not only a capacity for direction or management focused on results. The reality of more than 10 years of Experiential Training in Spain shows that the creation of values and the promotion of changes and improvements are fundamental pieces of the work of a leader.
For some years now, Experiential Training has been introduced in our country as an effective and measurable way of promoting change within organizations. Basically, Experiential Training acts in the field of changes in people's attitudes and provoking the creation of learning in a deep and lasting way through a 4-part process:
- Experimentation, by the participant, of a specific activity or situation. Reflective observation of the activity carried out. This phase is carried out with the support of a facilitator, who helps and guides the reflection based on the specific objectives of the action and which have been previously detected and analyzed. Interpretation or abstract conceptualization of what happened during the experience. This is the moment of creation, because the participants create their own learnings. Experimentation of the learning created during professional activity.
If, as is the case in this article, our interest is focused on people who fulfill the functions of leaders in organizations, Experiential Training has a clear objective: the development of leadership skills from direct experimentation. And it is that, from an integrative leadership model, the competencies that a leader must display do not refer only to those related to a manager or director, who focuses solely on achieving the results established by the organization. The leader, the good leader, pursues four main goals:
- Achieve the marked results Develop the people who are part of your team Respect the values and culture of the company Manage and promote change in the organization.
And it is that we must begin to be aware once and for all that companies are something more than wealth-generating structures: they are human structures, possessing a culture and set of their own values that configure their identity. Therefore, it is crucial to enhance within that culture, that network that orders the life of companies, the response capacity of people in each of the situations that the organization lives. It is necessary to create situations that provide the members of the companies with adequate tools for change, and in this the leaders have to mark the ground and play a fundamental role.
This role is based on two types of beliefs:
- Limiting beliefs. Throughout our activity we have come across situations in which, for example, the leader of an organization thinks that the people under his charge cannot respond to the change desired by their superiors or that it is impossible for them to do so well As the. Changing these beliefs means that the leader is able to develop the people in his charge, making them improve professionally, and progress in their career plan. In this sense, Experiential Training has shown us that it can break established habits and encourage the expression of individual potential is the way. Enabling beliefs. Another common example in organizations that require Experiential Training actions is that of the leader who thinks that the people in her charge are brilliant,.they have great potential and it is worth investing time and resources to grow them. The Experiential Training has shown that it can reinforce this idea and that the best contribution to the progress of others (unequivocal mission of a leader) comes from the ability to inspire, motivate and share.
INDIVIDUAL LEVEL AND SYSTEMIC LEVEL
We must not forget, on the other hand, that a leader is always a leader within a system, within a work team. For this reason, Experiential Training offers a unique space for reflection so that the leader can identify their strengths, and also their areas for improvement, from a double perspective: individual and systemic.
- Individually, developing processes of personal accompaniment or coaching, where the facilitator or coach helps the person to make their needs and areas of growth aware. To do this, some objectives must be established in advance, since only then can the main learnings necessary to achieve this objective be made aware, systemically, developing actions in which the leader's work team participates, and the leader performs a learning process in reference to the organization in which you carry out your work as a professional.
This double perspective (individual and systemic) of Experiential Training constitutes a unique and global process. These are complementary actions that help the development of the person from a humanistic and experiential perspective, exerting a multiplier effect in the personal development process and producing two-way feedback. In any case, whatever the format of the action, Experiential Training shows that the participant is ultimately responsible for their own development. It thus becomes the active agent in the learning process, and this constitutes a differential value of enormous interest.
