Leaders in Global Development
The survival of our beautiful coral reef ecosystems depends on strong and effective leadership at all levels. This course will introduce learners to key leadership theories and concepts that you will need to be an effective leader in the development context and beyond. This course is skills focused and requires learners to apply the course learnings to their own context. Learners are supported to do this through a personalised leadership plan developed iteratively as you progress through the course.
You'll learn about:
- Key leadership theories and concepts that you will need to be an effective leader and manager.
- The differences between leadership and management.
- Practical skills needed to build a shared vision, and lead across boundaries. Y
- Recognising your own leadership style, and the leadership styles of others.
- Different types of power, and tools for gaining legitimacy in your development work.
Use case example:
Juan works as a dive instructor for a tourism operation that takes tourists on diving excursions to the local reef. Over the years Juan has noticed the deterioration of the local reef, which he believes is in part caused by the levels of unsustainable tourism taking place. He has previously tried to discuss the matter with operation management, but his concerns were ignored.
He has recently completed the Leaders in Global Development MOOC. In the course Juan learned that anyone can be a leader regardless of their level or position. Juan used the 'leading across boundaries' skills he learned in the course to share his concerns with his fellow dive instructors and other field based colleagues creating a shared understanding of a problem. As a larger group, they were able to approach the office based management team with their concerns about unsustainable tourism damaging the reef. The tourist operation did have commitments to sustainable tourism as part of their policies. With he upward pressure from the field staff lead by Juan, the management team agreed to implement more sustainable tourism practices.