Leadership Preparation Program

We are enthusiastic about this opportunity to collaborate with Sultanate of Oman’s Omani Authority Partnership Development benefiting Oman’s Institute of Public Administration (IPA). It would be an honor for us to participate in shaping the comprehensive design of this initiative. We would be conscientiously aligned to your vison for the project and would design the program and the business plan around a sustainable model that can be easily shaped for expansion in scope and content – and scale into the future as the flagship IPA Leadership Preparation Program (LPP) and IPA Leadership Development Center (LDC). We respect and appreciate the commitment to this process that will focus on the individuals involved as well as taking into consideration their cross-sectorial background.

Thunderbird’s expertise includes professional development programs designed to challenge future leaders to think and manage more effectively in a constantly evolving and turbulent international world. The unparalleled curriculum, the distinguished faculty and the diverse cultural and professional networking opportunities combine to create an ideal learning experience.

For businesses and governments to be among the best in the world it has been identified that entrepreneurship plays a key role in unlocking the potential in individuals that enables them to be a driving force within their organizations – leaders – who will shape economic development. For many, the entrepreneurial culture has not been introduced in schools, universities or the workplace previously and it has become clear that in order for talent to grow an often-overlooked cohort within the workforce must be cultivated - middle managers. As IPA has accurately identified, this is a particularly crucial demographic. Thunderbird is expressly experienced to partner with IPA in identifying the individuals to participate in this opportunity as they will become the inaugural cohort for this innovative Leadership Preparation Program.

In order for the LPP to be most meaningful it is essential to examine and understand the development needs of the local culture and environment. By doing so, the community persona is embedded into the

offerings ensuring that an authentic representation of the program is representative of the local challenges and development needs. These observations can be drawn from local case studies and through interactions with the partnership with IPA. It is also important that the content experts presenting these programs be experienced with the local culture as the nuanced nature of communications must be represented. Additionally, as the duality of language plays a key role, the courses will be offered in English (with Arabic translation of content made available) in the new IPA facility in Muscat, Oman.

The initial rollout of the Leadership Preparation Program is envisioned to consist of two groups, of up to 30 participants each, who will either be current middle managers or those positioned for promotion in the near future. Participants will be selected by combining the best from general psychometric standards with a collaboratively informed, locally relevant standard for key leadership potential indicators, including social, psychological, and intellectual capital, enterprising orientation, collective collaboration will, and curiosity for new discovery. Through the LPP these individuals will develop a mindset that shapes leadership through creativity, responsibility, innovation, and excellence, and will sharpen their abilities to think through problems in order to plan effective solutions.

The development areas that IPA identified are parallel to the skills cultivation aligned with the Global Mindset approach and its importance to managers in cross-cultural, cross-competency roles. The Global Mindset takes into consideration the profiles of the participants. As global business is the norm, learning how the cultures of diverse countries and the diversity of communication styles in those cultures will have an impact is essential to be ‘globe smart’ in order to build a dynamic and trust-centered working culture.

Identifying competencies for middle managers will be integral to the process. The skills, abilities and knowledge that the candidates will need in order to excel in their respective and new positions must be mapped in order to identify the current strengths and the observed weaknesses, thus creating an inventory assessment within the cohort. This will allow the program to specifically address the areas of need. The LPP design then becomes a relevant tool based on authentic deliverables that will build and enhance the individuals’ personal levels exponentially. Each of the identified development areas and the current identified challenges will be woven into the learning modules, and their respective relevancies will align with the module formats.

The Key Management Competencies (KMCs) identified in the RFP clearly address the scope and depth of program goals and will be important in the planning phase in consultation with IPA to be finalized by Lenco. As each module is developed and refined these will include in Module 1 Unit 1A, Overview and Organizational Competencies, an introduction and overview that explores the role of public administration and management from various perspectives: the public, the private sector, and the government as well as the leadership and management objectives.

Module 1 | Unit 1B

In Module 1 Unit 1B, this teaching module aims to develop and refine participants’ abilities to manage employees and work units in a strategic way, including using performance information, metrics and data to set goals, evaluate individual and team performance, ensure organizational learning, and collect systematic feedback for self-improvement. The module combines science-based introductions to strategic performance management, goal-setting theory, pay-for-performance, and organizational learning systems with active learning exercises that immerse participants in simulated experiences of how to strategically manage for better results and develop organization capabilities.

Key Mapped Competencies:

• Strategic Orientation • Results Orientation • Developing Organization Capabilities

Survey of content:

• Goal setting and vision building • Goal conflicts, stakeholders, and ambiguity • Performance information and metrics • Performance evaluations • Contingent reward and extrinsic motivation • Organizational learning

Active Learning Components:

• Goal setting and stakeholder exercise based on local Omani case • Selecting good performance metrics • Pay for performance team project – role-playing exercise • Performance evaluation exercises based on local Omani case

Module 2 | Unit 2A

The proposed content for Module 2, Unit 2A represents a teaching module that aims to enhance participants’ personal leadership competencies. This includes active reflection and identification of areas for development. This module explores topics such as leadership and personality, biases in self-assessments and decision-making, and motivations for working in the public sector. Finally, the module also covers various aspects of leadership in and of teams. The module combines science-based introductions to leadership trait

theory, work motivation theories, heuristics and biases, and team leadership with active learning exercises that immerse participants in simulated experiences of how to ensure inclusiveness and collaboration when leading teams.

Key Mapped Competencies:

• Inclusiveness • Collaboration and Influence • Team Leadership

Survey of content:

• Motivations for working in the public sector: Extrinsic, intrinsic and prosocial • Bias and heuristics in evaluations and decision making • 360-degree feedback and self-other agreement • Leadership and personality • Leadership in teams

Active learning components:

• Work motivation exercise based on local Omani case • Biases in decision-making based on local Omani case – role-playing exercise • 360-degree feedback reports – personalized to participants as vehicle for identifying areas of selfdevelopment – basis for building “leadership action plan”. • Personality assessments and leadership mapping exercise • Role-playing exercise to illustrate do’s and don’ts of team leadership

Module 2 | Unit 2B

Further, the content for Description of proposed content for Module 2, Unit 2B will focus on enhancing and refining participants’ written and verbal communication skills. Participants will be introduced to and work with communication tactics that have proven to be useful tools for conveying inspiration and motivation around an organizational mission. Effective communication is a key leadership skill, and this module will develop participants’ abilities to craft messages – both verbal and written – that instill motivation in their followers and arouse commitment to the mission of their organization. This module takes participants through a series of active learning activities designed to provide participants with opportunities to practice effective communication, receive verbal and video feedback, and to be inspired by their peers.

Key Mapped Competencies:

• Effective communication • Charismatic communication tactics

Survey of content:

• Vision and values • Charismatic and transformational leadership • Rhetorical techniques and charismatic leadership tactics • Verbal and nonverbal communication cues • Media-richness and selection of media

Active learning components:

• Crafting leadership speech using charismatic leadership tactics • Enacting leadership speech in groups and individually • Instructor and peer feedback using pre-and post-video recordings • Selecting the right media for different messages – case exercise based on local Omani scenarios

Module 3

Module 3, that addresses change management and the business perspective. Unit 3A and Unit 3B examines the influences that cause change and the skills needed to leverage decision-making abilities to capture and manage that momentum and business perspectives and inter-sector expectations.

Technologies are reshaping individual lives, transforming business processes, changing societal dynamics, and influencing government policies. The effects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are both substantial and unpredictable–and they will impact businesses, lives and environments. These changes require a revitalized brand of global leader.

Key Mapped Competencies:

• Future work activities will require social and emotional skills • Advanced cognitive capabilities, including high-level logical reasoning – capabilities that are required today for only a limited number of jobs.

Survey of content:

• This will be a challenge for education, training, and skills assessment models, which currently do not always emphasize soft skills such as social and emotional reasoning and sensing. • These are skill sets that are developed through the various Thunderbird methodologies. • To be among the best in the world of business, leading identifiers include innovation, entrepreneurship and R&D indicators.

Active learning components:

• More work activities will require social and emotional skills and advanced cognitive capabilities, such as high-level logical reasoning – capabilities that are required today for only a limited number of jobs. • This will be a challenge for education, training, and skills assessment models, which currently do not always emphasize soft skills such as social and emotional reasoning and sensing. • Participants will role play interactions between public/private sector clients. • Public and private sectors are compared and contrasted.

Module 4

Cross-sector Engagement and Capstone

Unit 4A – Cross-sector Visits and Interviews will be central to this closing phase of the training as students used applied learning methodologies to demonstrate competency. As participants are introduced to public sector agencies, they will also engage in a mock inter-agency exercise that illustrates and clarifies effective responsiveness and cooperation.

Unit 4B – LPP Capstone – As the title suggests, this is the moment for the students to bring together all the various modules in the program. Team activities will be implemented in order for the student to experience simulation in a more realistic manner by taking on roles of other agencies in the public sector. This active learning style is most effective and ensures that these skills are retained and applied as these participants move into new roles.

Summary: The overarching goal of this Leadership Preparation Program is to present a comprehensive array of coursework that endeavors to both train the students and to prepare them to be future trainers as they will lead by example. The middle manager is an extremely valuable human resource and the time and investment to cultivate their talents is vital to be able to source talent for the future of the various sectors where they will work and develop into successful lead managers moving forward. As any strong program, the LPP will be systematically refined to examine the skills, abilities and knowledge that the candidates will need to thrive in these leadership roles. The key pillars outlined in this RFP for the Leadership Preparation Program are the core elements needed to establish this flagship program. The most outstanding feature will be the development of experienced Omani trainers at the end of the project.

The Thunderbird team will diligently monitor all program completion requirements established jointly with the client. Our dedicated program staff will provide regular updates capturing group learning progress via appropriate measurement criteria and capture tools. Representative examples may include progress and completion reports, periodic updates or assessments administered at a certain program interval. Upon completion of all program requirements, Thunderbird will issue a certificate of completion to each program participant who successfully met the mutually-agreed on criteria.

A New Kind of Enterprise Leader