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“The Leadership Institutes were amazing and fulfilling just as they were demanding.”
Nono Nyathi
I attended a 6-week Leadership Institute in Business and was hosted by Northwestern University, together with 24 other young leaders from all over Africa. The overall program covered topics on leadership, critical thinking and innovation, social entrepreneurship, developing a successful business plan and model, and marketing research, targeting and positioning. We also got involved in community service, cultural exchange programs and a lot of networking. Here are some highlights for me from the Leadership Institutes.
Leading from your strengths
Having learnt and used the SWOT analysis, it was quite interesting to me that I could put more effort into using and sharpening my strengths. As part of the leadership curriculum, I took the CliftonStrengths test to assess my strengths. My results were not so shocking but gave me an awareness of my stronger attributes that I could use more to succeed in the things I do. The CliftonStrengths has remained my greatest takeaway from Leadership Institutes because I have continued to use them and even share the concept with others.
The CliftonStrengths are comprised of 34 themes which are categorised into four main domains as pictured below.
When it comes to the work you do, you may be more of either a doer or a thinker.
The Doers: These are people with dominant Executing themes and know how to make things happen.
The Thinkers: The ones with dominant Strategic Thinking themes help teams consider what could be. They absorb and analyse information that can inform better decisions.
On the other hand, the relationships you build may be driven by motivation or feeling.
The Motivators: People with dominant Influencing themes know how to take charge, speak up, and make sure the team is heard.
The Feelers: If your dominant themes are in Relationship Building then these people have the ability to build strong relationships that can hold a team together and make the team greater than the sum of its parts.
It is important to note that one’s unique strengths doesn’t make them any less or more efficient than the next person. These themes are meant to work together, collectively, if we’re after making sustainable impact. That’s why teaming is important.
My top five themes fall into relationship building and strategic thinking, and this awareness has helped me use my strengths more effectively and also know the areas I need to collaborate with others.
Even though the focus is on using our strengths to succeed, a strength has a power and an edge. In simple terms, your strength can be your weakness if not managed well. Using your strength to its fullest capacity in order to derive maximum value for ourselves or those around us is harnessing its power. Whereas, mismanaging your talent is tapping into the edge of your strength. Achieving balance is key! For example, having a strategic strength means that I am intuitive and can see different ways of achieving a goal (power), however, I am sometimes bound to jump to quick decisions (edge). I can counter my edge by being aware of it and seeking input from, as an example, someone with an analytical strength. I hope you get the gist of it all. Click here to learn more about the CliftonStrengths and how you can use them to succeed, lead and build high performing teams.
Focus Project
As part of the program, we were required to develop Focus Project goals and implementation strategies. My “first” focus project (I say first because after the fellowship I changed my project) was on providing low-cost professional tax services to low income small businesses. I had a US-based focus project coach whom I met with as scheduled to guide me through the project. And I am happy that even though I changed my project after the Fellowship, I did partly implement my first project.
Networking
I thoroughly enjoyed the networking sessions with US-based organisations. One of my sessions led me to a conversation with IBM where I learnt about their Enterprise Design Thinking learning offering. I signed up a few days later and earned my practitioner badge.
I had also take a short course on human-centered design so this greatly complemented the foundation I had set.
Community of Practice and Ignite Talk
I joined the Technology Community of Practice where we discussed issues surrounding technological innovations and their impact on the work we do, be it, in business, civic engagement or public management. This was hosted by the University of Texas Austin and they shed light on the Austin Technology Incubator as the start-up ecosystem in Austin.
Lastly, I prepared and presented my ignite talk on the future impact of the current challenges being faced by young professionals in Zimbabwe. We have many young professionals who know a little of everything and possess very limited specialist skills. The neglect in nurturing certain specialist skills now may have a negative impact on the future workforce as we may need to import specialist skills. I left the audience with food for thought: How do we safeguard the future of our professions given the current investment into specialist profession or lack thereof?
The ignite talk project was interesting because I had to write a script first then record the talk. I learnt a lot about writing a copy, knowledge that I have adapted for interview preparations.
The Summit
A two-day summit where all 700 fellows convened concluded what I deemed to be a successful and fulfilling six-week Leadership Institute.
What an experience!
