Digital leadership training on demand
Spend ten minutes in an app every day for eight weeks and become a better manager. Does that sound too easy to be true? Not necessarily. Centre for Owned-Managed Businesses has teamed up with researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Aarhus University for a research project that is based on the development of a leadership developing app that is finally about to be ready.
The iLEAD app is aimed at managers in small and medium-sized businesses with between 10-250 employees. The manager, who must have management responsibility for at least 5 employees, uses with the app for at least ten minutes each day. In the app, the manager chooses one out of four goals which he/she wishes to improve: To strengthen the use of human resources, enhance the use of data and information, improve internal collaboration, or optimize workflow in the business. Using podcasts, videos and reflection tasks, the manager works with his/her goal on a daily basis, and the training is thus brought into the company. "Our intention with a management development tool like the app is for SME managers to have the opportunity to do the primary training in the company," Anne Bøllingtoft, Associate Professor at the Department of Management at Aarhus University and one of the researchers behind the project explains.
Niels Westergård-Nielsen, head of the Centre for Owner Managed Businesses, also believes that the flexibility of the app is important. "The idea is that managers need about 10 minutes a day using the app. What they learn must be used right away - and then they also give feedback via the app. It can be very difficult for managers to have time to "go back to the school bench" because they are busy. Now we will try with new means to see if we can reach them with an app, which they can use directly in their company,” Niels Westergård-Nielsen explains.
The course starts in March or May 2019 depending on which team start you are assigned. The course is free because it is part of a research project. The participating manager and at least 5 of his/her employees must expect to answer a questionnaire before, during and after the course. Sign up or read more at www.ilead.digital