Star-Ghana's pilot leadership development program successfully completed
Leadership has been identified as the biggest challenge to Africa's development. The continent of Africa is blessed with many natural resources and skilled labour which when harnessed by good leadership can elevate it from the pit of poverty, war and the numerous challenges into a mountain of abundance, peace and development. However, this is far from the case as all evidence have pointed to the fact that the continent of which Ghana is a force to reckon with, is in dire need of leaders to turn its fortunes around. This leadership deficit challenge would have been resolved if the schools had consciously included the subject in their curriculum. But this is not the case.
It is against this backdrop that STAR-Ghana, a multi- donor pooled funding mechanism (Funded by DFID, DANIDA, EU and USAID), in its quest to help address the leadership deficit problem in Ghana piloted a Leadership Development Program aimed at training and developing leaders capable of effecting positive change within their places of work and their communities.
The first batch of 26 participants who were selected through a carefully designed application and selection process are mostly Leaders of Civil Society Organizations in Ghana, whom STAR-Ghana has partnered by providing funding for various projects aimed at increasing the influence of civil society and Parliament in the governance of public goods and service delivery, with the ultimate goal of improving the accountability and responsiveness of Ghana’s government, traditional authorities and the private sector.
The 10 month training program under the modules "Leading Self, Leading Others, Leading the Organization", had 3 Leadership Workshops, where the participants were taken through a series of interactive training and knowledge sharing sessions coupled with group tasks and individual assignments. Interspersed with the Leadership Workshops were Coaching Sessions where each participant was assigned a coach throughout the 10 months period and Learning Circles where the participants were put into groups of 3-5 to meet on a regular basis to share learnings and experiences on their leadership development journey.
Outlining his learnings and shifts after the program facilitated by the BUSARA Leadership Training Institute, Martin Ankrah of Global Media Alliance stated that the program has been very helpful. "I am now fully aware of my emotions and triggers. Instead of blaming others and circumstances for my feelings, I now own them and decide what to allow in and what not to. Knowing myself has enlightened me further on abilities. This, coupled with emotional intelligence in leading people is helping me a lot at Global Media Alliance where effective leadership skills are needed for growth. We work with people on a daily basis and the leadership development program has made me realise that when you make people feel good about themselves, they give off their best and so in my dealings with people, I want to make sure I understand their feelings at every point in time in order to know how to relate with them to get the best results. The program has also helped me understand the power of trust and effective delegation. I now know that Leadership is not the position that one holds but rather, one's ability to influence change within the organization by first knowing self and knowing others well enough to tap into their positive feelings and emotions."
The Programs Manager of STAR-Ghana, Mr. Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu- expressed his delight at the successful completion of the Leadership Development Program. He noted that to effect the change we need in our communities we need leaders who can mobilize citizens to work together for a common good. He further stated that supporting the training and development of 'infectious' leaders in Ghana and Africa has been his dream and he is excited that the pilot has been a success. He made these remarks when he was speaking at a short awards ceremony held for the participants of the training program at the Best Western Atlantic Hotel in Takoradi where he challenged them to ensure that they pass on the knowledge to others and become first 26 disciples of good leadership in Ghana. He further urged them to go beyond their organizations and influence change within their homes and communities.
Speaking on behalf of BUSARA Group, the facilitators of the Leadership Development Program, Taaka Awori expressed her satisfaction at the obvious changes in the participants' attitude towards themselves and their approach in dealing with others. She also expressed her joy at the results of the final feedback obtained from the direct reports and supervisors of the participants, which indicated a lot of improvements, compared to what was obtained before the start of the program. She was happy about the impact of the training sessions so far and hopeful of greater results from the participants in their future endeavours. She stressed the need for participants to continue with the Learning Circles and encourage the participation of others for effective knowledge sharing and transfer.
GMA