Course 2020-2021 a.y.

According to the overall mission of the course Global Leadership addresses the concepts and competences that are mostly critical to operate effectively in a leadership role in a global environment, within virtual teams and with a focus on sustainability. The goal of the course is to support the development of both knowledge and actual competence to lead. The former to better frame the emerging leadership issues, and the latter to solve concrete leadership problems. The contents of the course are organized in three sub-sections: Setting the stage for leadership development, Leading self and Leading others.

Setting the stage for leadership development:understanding leadership, its dynamics and personal and interpersonal challenges;

enhancing self-awareness for leadership development: motives, values, strengths and learning styles

Leading self : understanding the determinants of optimal performance and learning; assertive communication styles; enhancing personal impact through effective public speaking

Leading others: the determinants of engagement and empowerment, building and managing teams in face-to-face and virtual settings, influence, networking and power management.

Two are the main assumptions on which the course is being designed.

The first, leaders who focus on bringing out the best in themselves and in people in the context in which they operate, can transform the way their organizations functions achieving great results in a sustainable way.

The second one, leadership competencies are built upon self-awareness and self-leadership abilities. This is the reason why participants are provided with opportunities to reflect on themselves and on their interpersonal styles both through self-assessment, class discussions and peer coaching session.

• Know and understand leadership concepts
• Know and better understand individual characteristics and dynamics for enhanced self leadership and impact (personality, values, motives, cognitive styles, interpersonal behaviors and proclivity to biases that may dampen leadership potential) and to find one'spersonal way to leadership
• Understand the main challenges of acting and leading in different global, face to face and virtual situations.
• Understand the process of leadership development and growth

• Choose the most appropriate leadership style given the situation
• Manage oneself for optimal individual performance (coping with stress, emotional agility, cognitive and learning styles)
• Manage interpersonal relationships assertively and constructively
• Enable empowerment and engagement within interpersonal relationships
• Build credibility and trust in interpersonal settings.
• Craft high impact communication styles (one on one and one to many)
• Develop sensitivity to different cultures.
• Master the challenges associated with teamwork in global and virtual settings
• Identify paths for leadership development

• Online lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Group assignments
• Interactive class activities (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

The course has been designed to enable learning from experience and therefore spaces are created during the sessions for learning through action, observation and reflection.

• Self-assessment tools will be used to enable increased self-awareness.
• Team assignments and exercises are meant to enhance learning from experience through the activation of  the Action-Observation-Reflection cycle 
• Case studies, Critical incidents will be used to create a safe context for experimentation and learning from experience
• Guest speakers' talks are meant to provide insights on how leadership "works" in real life and to enable meeting with relevant role models

• Small Group Assignment (60%): it represents a fundamental component of the learning process according to the mission and goals of the course. The small group assignment is in fact an opportunity to deepen the understanding of one of the most up to date emerging issues in leadership and to practice one’s leadership skills within a team that is by nature global. The rigour and appropriate application of tools and concepts discussed during the course will be evaluated together with the overall effectiveness of the presentation of the main concepts and implication.

• Continuous assessment via periodic open/closed questions on bibliographical material (40%)

Written exam (multiple choice and open ended questions) meant to verify the acquisition and the ability to effectively represent and discuss the main concepts about leading in global environment described in the book (see Teaching Materials)

• Slides and bibliographical materials uploaded on BBoard or to be searched for (Library or web)
• Material provided by external guests and available on BBoard
• Video available on BBoard
• Personal notes

• Hughes, Ginnet, Curphy, Leadership. Enhancing Lessons from Experience, McGrawHill 2019