The Strategic Leadership Institute​ ​

SLI Masterclasses 

Our masterclasses are targeted at the needs of existing leaders at tactical and strategic level. Each focus on specific leadership skills and competencies known to be critical for individual, team and organizational success at this level and incorporates principles and practices from neuro-based leadership and positive psychology with innovative leadership– and management–theory and practice in an innovative, exciting and mind-expanding manner.​
​​If you aim to equip your senior leadership team with the skill, insight and  ability to to manage their own challenges while leading others in ways that will improve engagement and performance, these masterclasses are exactly what you're looking for.
LIST OF MASTERCLASSES:
  • Leading with the Brain in Mind
  • Leading Change with the Brain in Mind
  • Building Individual and Team Resilience with the Brain in Mind
  • Leading Safety with the Brain in Mind
  • High Reliability Organizing (HRO)
  • Igniting Employee Engagement with the Brain in Mind
  • Brain-Minded Cultural Diversity Management.
​DOWNLOAD A COPY OF OUR PROFILE & CATALOGUE​​:

Detailed Masterclass Descriptions

Detailed Masterclass Descriptions

 Leading with the Brain in Mind​​​​
· DURATION: 2 Days face-to-face interaction  · MAX ATTENDEES: 12

This ground-breaking masterclass on the neuroscience of leadership equips participants to vastly improve their influence and impact as leaders in the 21st Century workplace. It combines the latest leadership theory and practice with new insight into the workings of the human brain, enabling participants to avoid typical leadership pitfalls and lead people in ways which are motivational, increases engagement and drives performance.

Leading With the Brain in Mind starts by familiarizing participants with the external and internal challenges of working in a fast-paced world where traditional approaches to leadership and management are no longer effective. They are introduced to the emerging field of social neuroscience (neural processes which drives our  social behaviour and thinking) and shown how key findings from this field apply to leadership practice.

Specific focuses include the role of leaders in the formation of group culture; how brain-minded leadership can enhance motivation and employee engagement; the importance of trust and empathy in facilitating collaboration; and the critical importance of mindful communication. To help leaders apply what they discover in this masterclass, the results from the pre-event CAMPERSTM Employee Engagement Survey and their personal CARESTM Profile is integrated to provide specific pointers for leadership improvement. In structure the program integrates academic input, experiential learning and practical discovery.

Expected Outcomes
This masterclass will help leaders to...
  • understand the challenges of 21st Century leadership and how to overcome them;
  • understand the primary driving forces of the brain in social situations (e.g. when leading people);
  • understand and apply brain-based leadership influence to maximise performance;
  • improve their cross-cultural and diversity leadership skills; and
  • improve their ability to manage stress,  collaborate with others and work in teams.
​

Leading Change with the Brain in Mind
· DURATION: 2 Days face-to-face interaction  · MAX ATTENDEES: 12

It is no secret that leaders are struggling to keep up in a world where change has become the only constant. As the rate of change is still increasing, leaders need to stay focused on pursuing their long-term goals, while at the same time dealing with the challenges of volatility, instability and uncertainty.

Leading Change with the Brain in Mind equips leaders to understand and effectively manage the effect of constant change on themselves and the people they lead. Participants are helped to understand the drivers of change (internal, organizational, local, national and global) and how this requires new skills and approaches in leadership. This masterclass also provides participants with unique and revelational insight into the workings of the human brain when faced with constant change and how this could be applied to be more effective in dealing with the impact of change on themselves and others. The masterclass integrates academic input; experiential learning; and practical discovery in a proven formula.

Expected Outcomes
The masterclass will help participants to...
  • understand the effect and implications of constant change;
  • understand the internal and external drivers and domains of change;
  • understand the difference between change management and change leadership;
  • learn about the human brain’s natural response to change and how to manage this in themselves and in others;
  • learn the basics of brain-friendly change leadership; and
  • improve their overall change leadership competence.

     
Building Resilience with the Brain in Mind
· DURATION: 1 Days face-to-face interaction  · MAX ATTENDEES: 12

Ask a hundred people if they feel that their lives are under control, if things at work are running as it should  and if their stress levels are manageable. If three says yes at least one of them wasn’t paying attention to your question… . We live in a world where the rate of change has become exponential and many of us struggle to keep up with ever-increasing demands in our personal and professional lives. More than ever before we need resilience - the
ability to recover from setbacks, adapt well to change, and keep going in the face of adversity.

Building Resilience with the Brain in Mind equips participants to deal with the demands of a volatile and constantly changing world by building individual and team resilience. Before the workshop, participants are invited to complete the online Resilience Level Indicator (RLI). During the workshop participants are helped to understand how the rate of change has changed exponentially and how this often leads to “neuro-overload” in the brain. They are introduced to three key findings from social neuroscience which helps them understand that new strategies are needed to deal with the effects of constant change, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. The basic principles of resilience and mindfulness is shared and the results of the RLI assessment is used as a platform for discussion and further development after the workshop. Finally, six science-based actions on how to improve brain health and resilience is shared.

Expected Outcomes
The masterclass will help participants to...
  • understand the impact and challenges of living with constant change;
  • understand how the brain responds to change and neuro-overload;
  • discover how mindfulness can help to increase individual and team resilience; and
  • learn how to improve and manage brain health.
 
  
Leading Safety with the Brain in Mind
· DURATION: 2 Days face-to-face interaction  · MAX ATTENDEES: 12

There is a serious flaw in how most companies think about safety. Many still cling to safety concepts dating back to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. They rely on systems, structures and processes that had become outdated and obsolete in the "VUCA"-world (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) we work and live in.

In this trail-blazing 2-day masterclass specially tailored for executives, senior leaders and safety professionals in industry, we integrate new insights from research in social neuroscience, safety engineering and leadership to show why we can no longer afford to lead and manage safety as we did in the past. Participants will understand why working in environments characterized by fear of failure and retribution severely impairs the human brain’s ability for effective decision making; problem solving; communication; recalling information; creativity and discerning between right and wrong.

As an alternative, we propose a leadership model based on neuroscientific research that will help foster inter-personal relationships and create brain-friendly environments and safety cultures that will optimize individual and team performance, productivity and ultimately, safety. Specific focuses include the role of leaders in the formation of a safety culture; how brain-minded leadership can enhance motivation and employee engagement; the neuroscience of decision-making in dangerous environments; and the critical importance of mindful communication.
  
Expected Outcomes
This masterclass will help leaders to...
  • understand the challenges of leading in the 21st Century;
  • appreciate the futility of only relying on traditional approaches to safety;
  • understand the principles of brain-based influence;
  • understand the critical role of leaders in creating sustainable safety cultures; and
  • improve your ability to collaborate and to facilitate collaboration.

   
High Reliability Organizing (HRO)
· DURATION: 2 Days face-to-face interaction  · MAX ATTENDEES: 12

Events and surprises in the workplace are inevitable but the reason they often catch us off-guard is because we treat the early warning signs of things that “never happened before” as if they are familiar or normal. High Reliability Organizing (HRO) is the ability to apply preventive organizing where people are more attentive to early weak signals, are better able to manage unexpected events in real time and have the ability to learn collectively. In the simplest terms, high reliability is achieved when we take the necessary actions to keep surprises from becoming events. A reliable system is one that can spot an action going wrong, in stead of just responding to an action gone wrong.

In this 2-day masterclass specially tailored for executives, senior leaders and safety professionals in all industries, we integrate the insights from research in resilience engineering, behaviour psychology, human factors engineering and high reliability organizing to create a better understanding of the human-machine interface and inter-personal  challenges faced by your workers everyday. Participants will come to understand that it is a misperception that high reliability is based on “some absolute, and static, standard of performance”, a label of excellence. HRO is not something an organization can “become”, and then  move on to other things. In stead, it is produced by ongoing operations, processes, sequences of actions and dynamic management. Higher reliability is transient, it waxes and wanes and evolves.

The masterclass will share valuable insight from research done in six settings and organizations: wildland fires, air traffic control, space shuttles, aircraft carriers, emergency medical transport, and nuclear power generation. These settings are complex, they are under constant time pressure, they conduct risky operations, have different authority structures, have high tempo and emergency times and yet are nearly failure free. Participants

Expected Outcomes
This masterclass will help leaders to...
  • understand the concept of high reliability organizing and how to apply it in their work settings;
  • appreciate the futility of only relying on the traditional approach to safety management;
  • understand the principles and conditions of high reliability organizing and how to measure it; and
  • adjust their organisational processes to become more resilient and reliable.

  
Igniting Employee Engagement with the Brain in Mind
 · DURATION: 1 Days face-to-face interaction  · MAX ATTENDEES: 12

As the internet and other communication technology drives constant change in the local and global arena, organizations need their employees to be actively engaged and motivated in order to succeed. This means that the role of leaders have changed irrevocably from the old "command-and-control" autocrats to that of skilled facilitators who are able to motivate, collaborate and engage people without losing sight of the vision or end goal.

This masterclass helps established and emerging leaders understand the vital importance of employee engagement and motivation for success in any group or organization. An established model and results from recent studies are used to reveal the driving forces for motivation and engagement. Special attention is given to the importance of effective communication in the motivation process. As with all our programs this masterclass also incorporates scientific insight into the workings of the human brain and participants are guided to understand how this could be applied to improve motivation and engagement.

Expected Outcomes
The masterclass will help leaders to...
  • understand the critical need for employee engagement;
  • understand the principles and driving forces of engagement and motivation;
  • identify and manage differences in what drives individual people;
  • improve their leadership communication skills;
  • develop strategies  to  deal with demotivated and disengaged employees; and
  • build a motivational culture and create the conditions for success and pride in the workplace.


Brain-Minded Diversity Management
· DURATION: 2 Days face-to-face interaction  · MAX ATTENDEES: 12

In recent decades the world has become an inter-connected “global village” where diversity, variety and constant change have become the norm. In this new environment the role of leaders have changed from the old "command-and-control" autocrats to that of skilled facilitators who are able to motivate, collaborate and engage people for optimum results. To do so effectively, cross-cultural competency has become a key success factor.

This masterclass uses an established model to help participants understand culture and its influence in the workplace. It also provides participants with unique and revelational insight into the workings of the human brain when interacting in multicultural and other diverse environments. Participants are guided to recognize how this could be applied to improve their impact and effectiveness when working with individuals and groups from different backgrounds and orientations. The masterclass integrates academic input, experiential learning and practical discovery in a proven formula.

Expected Outcomes
The masterclass will help participants to...
  • understand the difference between cultural stereotypes and tendencies;
  • understand culture and its impact in the workplace;
  • understand how our attitude towards ‘in-groups’ and ‘out-groups’ are formed in the brain;
  • apply an appropriate strategy to deal with cultural differences; and
  • improve their overall cultural competency and diversity management skills.

Start the journey towards brain-engaging leadership today...

"He who influences the thought of his times, influences all the times that follow.
​He has made his impress on eternity."
- Hypatia (370-415 AD)
DOWNLOAD A COPY OF OUR PROFILE & CATALOGUE: