Welcome To Your Learning Academy
INNOVATIVE LEADERSHIP
LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
The Mountain Mindset Leadership Academy brings together the leadership qualities of medicine, military, mountain guides, and business leaders to create a dedicated and balanced leadership framework.
Our leadership courses are accredited by the Institute of Leadership and Management.
This framework is underpinned by five principles:
Leading from the front
Care to lead
Conflict management
Team resilience
Celebrating success
Each of these principles is supported by specific leadership qualities for the aspiring leader.
Is This Course For Me?
Application of this framework will enable leaders to lead a positive team focused on improving team capability whilst preparing for their next leadership role within their given profession.
This course is aimed at middle to senior managers who have a basic grounding in leadership but aspiring future business leaders should consider this course as a route to improved leadership capability and development.
Our overall learning objective is to enhance leadership capability to improve team performance through successful team-working.
What to Expect
Our course takes delegates away from the traditional, stuffy classroom approach to training and instead we explore the French Alps, Snowdonia / Eryri National Park, or South Africa’s Table Mountain region.
We use outdoor activities specifically designed to explore the principles and qualities of the Mountain Mindset leadership framework, including hiking, surfing (SA only), rafting and climbing. No previous delegate experience of these activities is required.
Our activity days have challenging scenarios built in to test the individual and explore delegates' strengths, weaknesses and blind spots, whilst our facilitators bring the learning back to the real world of work during reflection periods.
Scenarios used to explore our leadership framework include examples such leading an avalanche search and rescue team, showing moral courage by intervening in an unsafe event in the mountains, and emulating a mountain guide. Details of the scenarios, learning objectives and outcomes can be found in the description of our activity days.
Objectives and Learning Outcomes
Leading From The Front
Activity Half Day 1
Overview
The ability to set a positive leadership example by leading from the front is the cornerstone of effective leadership. This determines the tone of the team output and service.
Rock climbing leaders will take the team for a climb at one of our beautiful mountain crag locations.
During the climb the guides will role model leadership behaviours including communication of the situation, training colleagues to succeed, collaborating with the team to generate a plan, and taking responsibility for team actions.
Delegates will be asked to look out for the leadership qualities being demonstrated and to be prepared to discuss their observations.
Institute of Leadership and Management Alignment dimensions:
Integrity, Supporting, Challenging, Evaluating Risk, Inspiring, Developing, Taking Initiative, Communicating.
Objectives
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Once at the discussion location, delegates will reflect on the leadership qualities observed and discuss how each of them could be demonstrated in the workplace.
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During the climb or hike, delegates will be asked to pause and reflect on an incident during their working lives where they have displayed a positive leadership example or an occasion where they might have acted differently based on what they have learnt.
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On return to the base camp, delegates will be asked to share what they will take back to the workplace.
Outcomes
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Delegates will explore and gain a clear understanding of the principles of leading from the front through climbing and hiking in the mountains.
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Delegates will gain an appreciation of the importance of setting a positive leadership example for the team to follow.
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Delegates will understand the benefits of being prepared and demonstrate an understanding of colleague roles through participation in their tasks or actions.
Care to Lead
Activity Half Day 2
Overview
Care to lead is an adaptation of the British Army’s ‘serve to lead’ principle. It highlights the importance of caring for the team and their personal objectives not just at work but also in their personal lives. It helps the leader to understand the lens through which colleagues see their life and work.
This insight into an individual team member’s situation allows the leader to tailor their leadership style more specifically to the needs of their team, thus helping team members to succeed in their individual goals and team activities.
This activity half day will be spread over a long, relaxing hike or snowshoe into the mountains to allow for time to reflect on how caring for the team can improve team performance.
Institute of Leadership and Management Alignment dimensions:
Ethics, Conversation, Supporting, Aligning Values, Building Trust, Coaching, Empowering, Building Networks, Appreciating Diversity and Different Cultures.
Objectives
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To learn and explore the principle of caring to lead.
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To understand the positive impact that care to lead can have on team cohesion and its contribution to motivating and retaining employees.
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To highlight how caring for employees helps to build the team’s confidence in the leader and encourages collaboration during crisis.
Outcomes
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Our international mountain leaders and leadership experts will take the delegates on a hike/snowshoe into a remote mountain location where delegates will be taught Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and explore how different individuals define each need in a different way.
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Delegates will have a clear understanding of the hierarchy of needs and an insight into the impact on team members when those needs are not met.
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Delegates will be given strategies for helping individual team members to fulfil each need, from the basic needs such as security to the more self-affirming needs of success.
Conflict Management Within The Team
Activity Half Day 3
Overview
This activity half-day is mountain based with delegates taken on a walking adventure in the mountains.
Along the route delegates will be nominated as team leaders and deputy team leaders.
The team of delegates will be exposed to various scenarios that test their conflict management, negotiation, feedback and collaboration skills.
The scenarios will explore general leadership qualities with a particular focus on the ability to manage conflict.
At the end of the day delegates will be asked to discuss how the scenario learning might be translated into their place of work.
This day will also draw out the connections with care to lead and how effective care to lead practice will help minimise conflict.
Institute of Leadership and Management Alignment dimensions:
Conversation, Challenging, Managing Performance, Managing Upwards, Critical Reflection, Negotiating, Communicating, Dealing with conflict.
Conflict scenarios include:
Disgruntled border guard
Unsafe event in the mountains
Drink driving incident
Helicopter down
Refusing to participate
We’ve gone the wrong way
Objectives
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To improve delegates' capability in managing potential conflict situations within the team.
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To expose delegates to scenarios which test their ability to manage conflict situations.
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To improve delegates negotiation and feedback skills.
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On return to base camp, delegates will be asked to discuss how the lessons of the day will fit into their daily challenges in the workplace.
Outcomes
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Delegates will have improved negotiation skills.
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Delegates will be better at collaborating in conflict situations.
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Delegates will be better at giving feedback to employees particularly feedback which identifies poor performance and the need for improvement.
Developing Team Resilience
Activity Half Day 4
Overview
This activity day will focus on the importance of generating team resilience through positive leadership and the power of rest.
Activities will be more relaxed on this day and will focus on how to build resilient teams including how to provide the opportunity for rest within a lean team that might be overworked and close to burning out.
Institute of Leadership and Management Alignment dimensions:
Self-Awareness, Supporting, The Healthy Workplace, Resilience, Time Management.
Objectives
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To provide an opportunity to reflect on what makes individual leaders resilient and how they can teach others to be resilient.
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To highlight the dangers of individual and team burnout and how it impacts the organisation’s ability to retain key talent.
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To highlight signs and symptoms of individual and team burnout.
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To discuss the strategies available to avoid burnout before the signs and symptoms appear in the team.
Outcomes
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Delegates will recognise the uniqueness of their own business and how it develops resilient leaders naturally through the delivery of lean and often under-resourced services, and potentially unpleasant or highly stressful working environments.
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Delegates will be able to recognise the signs and symptoms of burnout in themselves, their colleagues and the wider team.
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Delegates will understand the importance of rest and recuperation and be provided with strategies for enabling rest in an already lean working environment.
Encouraging and Celebrating Success
Activity Half Day 5
Overview
On the last day of the course we take the opportunity to discuss the importance of celebrating success by recognising delegates’ completion of the course.
The activity will give delegates the opportunity to celebrate together before discussing strategies for acknowledging success at every level within the team.
Institute of Leadership and Management Alignment dimensions:
Building Trust, Inspiring, Managing Performance, Developing Talent, Empowering, Teamworking, Communicating.
Objectives
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To highlight how celebrating success can promote positive team morale and improve team cohesion.
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To highlight the importance of celebrating partial success where an individual or team has done all they can to succeed but circumstance have prevented ultimate project or activity success.
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To highlight the importance of celebrating the little things as part of the bigger picture.
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To provide strategies for celebrating success.
Outcomes
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Delegates will understand how celebrating success at every level, including partial success, contributes to the team and individual morale.
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Delegates will develop strategies for celebrating success in the workplace.
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Delegates will celebrate their own success and will be awarded their course completion certificate.
LUXURY ACCOMODATION
Our chalet-style fully catered accommodation provides and informal atmosphere encouraging delegates to integrate, share experiences and network together.
Theory lessons are held within the grounds of the accommodation before heading out into the mountains for our activities.
All rooms are allocated on a single occupancy basis and have private facilities.
