The Leadership Foundations Program is a once in a life time opportunity to develop your confidence, skills and leadership effectiveness. If you want to make a difference in your community or in the world then this is the course for you. A 6-day program through which you can learn your potential by gaining deep insights into your purpose in life, and by developing the skills required to lead effectively for the good of all. 

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Next courses

South Africa, 3-10th September 2011

Who should attend

To be selected for the Leadership Foundations program you will need to show some evidence of your commitment to the development of your own community or society, through schemes, projects or individual action. Lucca Leadership is looking for people who are making positive change in the world or who are ready to take that step forward.  You will also need to submit an idea for how you will make the difference on your return that you believe will uplift your world. Whether you're volunteering for a small grassroots community project, running a large organisation, creating art that inspires and uplifts or just lightening the lives of those around you, we're looking for people who believe in service and filling the needs around them, people who want to change the world in whatever way they can. Although the programs are international and Lucca Leadership welcome applicants from a diverse range of backgrounds and nations, you need to be able to speak English to participate.

Duration of the course

This is a 6-day residential program, with participants arriving the evening before we formally start the program and leaving the morning after the last day. 

Program content

The program offers these skills through highly innovative experiential tasks that are specifically designed for leadership training and development. The learning from these leadership experiences can then be implemented into the participant’s own lives, social projects, organizations and companies, thereby equipping them with the skills and confidence to see and meet the needs around them. 

Day 1

Transformational Leadership

What is leadership and why is it important? This session looks at the issue  of leadership, the qualities of a great leader, and at what the differences are between the qualities of a great leader, and those of a great human being. We also look at what we mean by “Transformational Leadership” - the ability to bring about change which uplifts and benefits humanity, through meeting its needs, and developing its capabilities.

The Human Framework

Our feelings, thoughts and actions are constantly at play, interacting and reacting to each other. Why is understanding this important in terms of leadership? What are our own individual default mechanisms? Are they always useful? How can we become aware of them and avoid them if we need to? This session looks at 4 aspects of the human being: Awareness, Feeling, Thinking, Doing, and at how, once we are aware of what is happening in these areas, in ourselves and in others, we can make better choices about what is needed. 

Emotional Intelligence

Taking Daniel Goleman's work on Emotional Intelligence we incorporate the key concepts into our leadership training by giving simple, practical exercises in mindfulness that helps us develop our awareness so we can be more aware of the needs around us as leaders. Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence framework can be distilled into these four areas:

Self-awareness – the ability to read one's emotions and recognise their impact while using gut feelings to guide decisions.

Self-management – involves controlling one's emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances.

Social awareness – the ability to sense, understand, and react to others' emotions while comprehending social networks.

Relationship management – the ability to inspire, influence, and develop others while managing conflict.

The Energies

How do we need to “be” in order to “do”? What impact does our energy and that of those around us have on the task at hand? How can we use our energy more effectively to shape the environment we are in, and inspire or focus others?

Taking the Lead

This session opens up the “doing” side of leadership. When you find yourself in a position of leadership, where should you start? This session introduces a simple framework on what steps we need to take in order to take the lead in any situation.

Decision Making 

What impact do our decisions have on those around us? Who do we consider when we make decisions? What happens when we extend that consideration wider? What happens when we don’t? We are constantly making decisions. The Decision Tree provides a tool to help us consider how to make those decisions as wisely as possible.

Day 2

Great Communication

Great communication is a key part of leadership, but it is not just about telling and the grand speeches. This session looks at the 4 key tools of dialogue developed by William Isaacs in his book "Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together": Listening, Respecting, Suspending, Voicing and at how to apply them to resolve conflict through thinking collectively.

Personal Mastery

We already have at our disposal all the core resources we need to achieve great things. We just need to make a conscious decision to develop and cultivate those resources. The Personal Mastery session looks at what we as individuals need to develop in ourselves in order to meet the needs we see in front of us, and at how we can put in place simple, practical steps to do so. We look at some examples of leaders such as Nelson Madella and how they used the tools of Personal Mastery to be effective leaders.

Day 3

Leadership Styles

We look at Daniel Goleman's leadership styles developed at Harvard Business School to develop the tool kit of our participants so they can use their awareness to meet the needs of the situation and use the leadership styles which will bring about the most effective results.

Day 4

Case Study

We also take a trip to Robben Island with Eddie Daniels or Ahmed Kathrada, two great leaders of South Africa and good friends with Mandela who shared time in prison with him and maintain close contact. We also have the pleasure of meeting Di Oliver, integral member of the women's anti-aparthead group, The Black Sash.

Day 5

Intent and Vision

This workshop is about creating space for personal reflection, where participants will work individually, in pairs and with their leadership coaches to reflect on what is it that we are really passionate about? How can we connect with that and use it to develop a personal vision for change in the world?

Day 6

Making a Difference

Consolidating all their learning from the program, participants will now look at the tools needed to implement projects or change of behaviours in their own communities and how they can translate this into action, either through individual actions or group projects designed to address one or more of the needs they have identified.

Feedback from previous participants

“The most remarkable leadership programme in 30 years of attending leadership training” Professor Gary Heusel, Character Counts!

Cost of the course

North America USD $895 full price, $750 for students & employees of non-profits. There is a $60 discount for anyone who applies before April 17th 2009.

Europe (Ireland and Italy) €650

Australia  Corporate AU$2,500;  Full-time employed (self-funding) AU$845;  Students AU$545;  A limited number of scholarships are available. 

South Africa Rand R5,500

We ask everyone to contribute what they can towards the cost of these courses, but when needed and possible we sometimes provide assistance for those who need it.

Location of the course

The Leadership Foundations programs are currently run in Ireland, Italy, Australia, North America and South Africa. We rent out different venues for our programs. 

Please also note that the programs in Europe are run as vegetarian programs. In order to cater for our international participants from many different cultures and religions we feel that vegetarian food will offend no one's culture or religion. If you have any other dietary requirements please let us know.

Additional information

We empower people to make a difference in their communities. We specialize in facilitating courses that increase participants' confidence, awareness and effectiveness in leading positive change. We offer a limited number of program and travel bursaries, but do not support people or projects financially beyond this. We offer coaching during and mentoring directly after programmes. We do not provide ongoing counselling. There are a number of other great organisations that offer funding, counselling and other support, some of which can be found on our Links page.