SAL-INSEAD LEGAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME

PROGRAMME CONTENT & LEARNING MODEL

The programme is organised around two main themes which leaders at law firms should focus on to be successful in the increasingly competitive and disrupted environment:

Leading Organisations and Leading Self & Teams

LEADING ORGANISATIONS

We start the programme with an introduction session to make sure everyone is aligned on ‘Why are we here and what can we expect”? We will also discuss the different roles or ‘personas’ participants may have as they come into the programme. Through the discussion of key leadership challenges that participants experience, we can tailor the rest of the sessions based on participants’ needs. After the introduction, we will begin addressing the challenge of transitioning to leadership roles — individually and in one’s organization. Leading effectively requires the capacity to “grow” with one’s organization, adapt flexibly to the changing demands of the company and its task environment, and continue to develop and learn. Importantly, it requires one to master the psychology of power in leadership— the ability to navigate organizational landscapes and lead without formal authority. The ability to do so will help leaders generate value for the organization, their teams, and themselves. We will also discuss about positive workplace culture. How do legal leaders develop a culture that fosters personal and professional growth and psychological safety. Another prevalent issue leaders face today, which we will explore, is how to mentor and lead younger team members (e.g. Gen-Z). Understand their psychology and motivations will help leaders better manage and nurture such talent.

In this session, we will discuss everything on change and navigating organizational politics. Using a real-world case and Power and Influence stimulation, Participants will delve into the dynamic world of organizational change.

In this session, we address the constant nature of change in life and business, acknowledging its challenges for even the most seasoned leaders due to the psychology of change, which triggers fear, anxiety, and uncertainty among employees. Change disrupts organizational systems and team dynamics, making it crucial for leaders to understand and manage it effectively. The session's objectives are threefold: (i) grasp the psychology of change, (ii) analyze the necessary political and cultural systems for effective change leadership, and (iii) learn to initiate and drive change initiatives. By exploring psychological barriers and real-world case studies, participants will gain insights into navigating organizational politics and people dynamics. This multifaceted session employs lectures, case studies, and presentations to equip leaders with strategies for overcoming the complexities of driving change.

LEADING SELF & TEAMS

This session focuses on strategies and concepts related to the social processes of influencing individuals and teams beyond reliance on authority. Influence is a key activity in most leadership and business contexts where decisions, change, and innovation happen. We will think of ways to develop and apply interpersonal persuasion skills and will highlight the importance of strategy formulation, communication, inspirational leadership, managerial improvisation, and emotional intelligence. The value of having and implementing an effective and ethical influence strategy will be emphasized. We will also consider how the role of observation and reflection can improve one’s understanding of social landscapes and how that can inform one’s strategy and approach in a given influence situation. During the session, you will be encouraged to apply these influence tactics to the challenge of diagnosing the agendas and requirements of key stakeholders internal and external to your organisation, and recommending specific actions to take in order to align their agenda more closely with yours.

Learning goals for this session:
1. Become more effective at influencing others without reliance on authority
2. Learn a variety of influence tactics at one’s disposal and understand how to strategically deploy them
3. Explore how to influence others in ethical ways by building long-term trusting relationships
4. Discuss the importance of follower engagement and team empowerment and how to best put this into practice
5. Understand the consequences of majorities, minorities, and authorities and how influence can be either positively or negatively affected in each of these contexts .

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.—Helen Keller

The ability to lead teams and collaborate across business units is fundamental for leaders. Leaders need to be able to draw on the expertise, experience, and insights from diverse individuals to find cutting-edge solutions to overcome the complex challenges in today’s business world. It involves being able to find ways to make teams with diverse expertise work effectively by minimizing interpersonal conflict while simultaneously leveraging the abilities and opinions of the team and its members. Accomplishing both requires that we develop the ability to deal with both the content and the process of collaborative teamwork, and to navigate the difficulties that working in intense work groups inevitably entails. 

In this session we will use a team decision-making exercise as a basis for allowing us to explore how groups that are made up of individuals from diverse functions, expertise and backgrounds typically function, and what are some of the common pitfalls of working in such collaborative group situations. This will lead to a discussion on strategies and techniques for optimizing group performance, how to empower others in your group, how to lead by example, and how to align individual and group objectives.

Case studies, lectures, classroom discussions, and small group discussions will provide participants opportunities to deliberate on the determinants of sustained success. Exposure to real-world issues will help participants work through possible approaches and solutions to the problems that leaders of professional service firms including law firms confront on a daily basis. The anticipated time commitment that participants should consider investing in pre-programme readings is expected to be approximately 5-6 hours.

DEVELOPED BY

15.5 Public CPD Points (TBC)
Day 1 - 8 Public CPD Points
Day 2 - 7.5 Public CPD Points

Practice Area:
Professional Skills

Training Category:
Advanced

Participants who wish to obtain CPD Points must comply strictly with the Attendance Policy set out in the CPD Guidelines. For this activity, participants are reminded to sign in on arrival and sign out at the conclusion of each day of the event in the manner required by the organiser. Participants must not be absent from each day of the event for more than 15 minutes. Participants who attend Day 1 and comply strictly with the Attendance Policy on that day may obtain 8 Public CPD Points. Participants who attend Day 2 and comply strictly with the Attendance Policy on that day may obtain 7.5 Public CPD Points. Participants who do not comply with the Attendance Policy on any particular day of the event will not be able to obtain CPD Points for that day. Please refer to http://www.sileCPDcentre.sg for more information.