The Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) is an integrative leadership development course designed specifically for new managers or those preparing for this important transition. As research shows, the process of transitioning from a high-performing individual to an effective "manager of others" is one of the most challenging experiences in a professional's career. This course provides the fundamental skills and knowledge needed to make this transition a rewarding experience for our next generation of leaders.
Who Should Apply
The ELP is created for professionals with at least five years of experience who are on the path to become a manager or who have recently transitioned to their first managerial role.
Sample titles of past participants include:
- Manager
- Director
- Supervisor or Superintendent
- Team leader
- Engineer
- Analyst
Participants in our program come from a wide range of industries and functions and from small, medium and large sized organizations. We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds who are motivated to join an intense and rigorous two-week leadership development experience.
“Excellent for your intended audience - as I am about to begin my first leadership role I found the course very appropriate.”
| Participating Companies |
Aramco
Bredero Shaw
Chevron
NRG Energy
Oceaneering International |
Panalpina
Pierpont Communications
Sulzer
Wyle Laboratories |
| |
|
Results You Can Expect
Becoming an effective manager today involves developing a balanced combination of business and interpersonal-oriented skills.
The ELP will strengthen your ability to produce business results by enhancing your understanding of:
- How to formulate and execute value-creating strategies for your team and organization.
- How to use various accounting statements and methods to make sound business decisions.
- How to evaluate profitability in terms of factors that impact financial risk and return.
- How to organize and structure your business for optimal performance.
The ELP will strengthen your ability to produce results by enhancing your understanding of:
- How your personality and leadership style impact your relationships with others.
- How to create and implement high performing teams.
- How to negotiate effectively with others and avoid the common traps that lead to poor decision making and poor judgment.
- How to communicate in order to impact a variety of relationships and situations.
- How to lead organizational change.
“Quite a laudable program. The session on leadership and the coaching sessions revealed my own limitations and identified what to focus on in order to improve my leadership skills.”
Curriculum
The content of the Emerging Leaders Program is divided into multidisciplinary modules that are taught individually but are then integrated through a variety of learning activities. Each of these topics draw from the core academic disciplines of the Jones Graduate School of Business and are chosen to provide emerging leaders with the core skills and knowledge they need to become driving forces for business results in their organizations. The program balances an emphasis on business-oriented skills as well as people-oriented skills.
Areas of Focus
Developing the capacity to make a meaningful impact in organizations involves a combination of skills that are both inward and outward focused: Effective leaders know themselves well but are also well-tuned to the demands of their environments and situations. The ELP sessions will explore the meaning of leadership and how one becomes a unique and effective leader. The overall goal of these sessions is to enable participants to learn how they can energize and inspire others toward achieving their firm's strategic goals.
Sample topics include:
- What it means to lead others and how to think like a leader.
- How to develop your own leadership strengths and style compared to the personal qualities of effective leaders.
- How to adapt your leadership style to specific demands of your situation.
- How to build power and exercise influence in organizations.
- How to motivate, coach, and counsel others.
Virtually all work in organizations occurs in small groups. Learning how to harness the power of these groups is the focus of this module. This session will continue on to explore how leaders create, launch, and maintain high-performing teams that are aligned with larger strategic priorities. Building on the latest research, participants will learn how to manage the critical success factors that differentiate teams that "get things done" from those that don't.
Sample topics include:
- How positive interpersonal relationships form the foundation of teams.
- How a "working group of individuals" is differentiated from a collaborative, cohesive, and effective team.
- How to diagnose, monitor, and solve problems in teams.
- How to make high-quality group decisions by encouraging constructive forms of group conflict.
- How to gain fresh and creative ideas through the use of skillfully implemented group processes.
Developing and execution of competitive strategies are at the heart of organizational leadership. This session will provide an overview of some of the latest perspectives on what strategy is, where it begins, and where it ends. Emerging leaders will learn techniques for developing alternative strategic directions for their organizations as well as learn how to communicate these issues and ideas in meaningful ways.
Topics covered include:
- How to develop strategies that consider industry factors, changes in the environment, and competitive rivalry.
- How to formulate strategies that consider organizational factors, distinctive strategic competencies, and value-creating processes and activities.
- How to combine external and internal analyses into integrative and flexible strategic visions and plans.
- How to manage the tension between remaining committed to established strategies and being flexible to changing competitive conditions.
In order to achieve profitable business results, emerging leaders must be able to read, understand, and use various financial reporting systems in organizations. This module will review the meaning of key accounting concepts and financial statements, enabling participants to utilize this information to make sound financial decisions.
Topics covered include:
- The significance of balance sheets, income statements, and statements of cash flow.
- How to calculate and interpret basic financial ratios.
- How to measure risks and understand the tradeoff between risk and return.
- How to manage earnings and choose strategies for reporting earnings.
The ability to recognize, define, and solve various types of problems is essential to emerging leaders. The same observation applies to the ability to negotiate with others; whether these are employees, others managers, customers, or other stakeholders. As research shows, managers are generally unaware of their biases in decision making and negotiations, and therefore tend to be less effective in solving problems. The goal of this module is to build skills in both of these important capabilities.
Topics covered include:
- How to use analytical problem solving processes when making decisions and how to avoid some of the biases that lead to poor outcomes of the decision process.
- How and when to trust your intuition when making decisions.
- How to build expertise as a manager
- The ABCs of negotiation and the different approaches to negotiating win-win solutions and agreements.
- How to exercise power and influence effectively in negotiation and conflict situations.
In order to create sustainable competitive advantage, emerging leaders need to know how to formulate and execute successful strategies. After all, good strategies are of little value if they are not well implemented. This session builds on the strategic formation module by focusing on the tools that leaders use to effectively implement short- and long-term strategies.
Topics covered include:
- How strategy formation and implementation are interrelated.
- The roles of visions, missions, values, goals, and objectives in the strategic execution process.
- How to evaluate new strategies that emerge during the process of implementation.
- The four critical dimensions of effective strategy implementation and how to avoid strategic failures.
Emerging leaders often are faced with crucial choices surrounding how to make short- and long-term investment decisions, how to grow businesses profitably, and how to create value for multiple stakeholders. These issues, which involve understanding corporate finance concepts, comprise the focus of this daylong module.
Topics covered include:
- How to evaluate and select projects and opportunities that create measurable value for your organization.
- How to make investment decisions and understand the difference between accounting earnings and profit.
- How to manage growth and cash flow and how to use basic financial ratios to assess your organization's financial position.
Many studies over the years consistently show that leaders spend most of their time communicating with others. This module focuses on how emerging leaders can become strategic communicators. Strategic business communication focuses on one or more defined audiences, in specific contexts, has a clear purpose in terms of intended outcomes, delivers a set of key messages, and employs the most effective messengers and media. To communicate effectively, emerging leaders will learn how to spend time up front developing a strategy, before opening his or her mouth or putting fingers to the keyboard.
Topics covered include:
- How to define and apply the key elements of communication strategy, including context, audience, outcomes, message, messenger, medium, and measurement.
- How to determine whether your communications are achieving your intended goals.
- How to apply "best practices" in planning and delivering effective communications.
- How to develop and communicate presentations that inform, persuade, and inspire people inside and outside of your organization.
“Strong mix between practical and theoretical. A very good 10,000 foot view of the challenge of leadership and some of the tools used to address those challenges.”
Learning Methods
The Emerging Leaders Program provides a unique bridge between current business research and practical, real world skills. To optimize the learning that each participant gains, the program incorporates a variety of activities, including a series of preparatory assignments, full days of class activities, two weekend sessions, evening activities, and one-on-one coaching. Part of our admission standards involves reviewing applicants for evidence of a strong commitment to personal development.
The learning experiences in the ELP are also designed to combine both individualized, one-on-one instruction with collaborative, group learning experiences. These experiences include:
- Pre-program personal assessments
- Pre-program readings on key program topics
- In-class analyses of real world cases
- In-class discussions of the latest research and approaches to problem solving
- In-class group learning activities
- A multi-day business simulation that applies several topics to a complex managerial problem
- Guest visits and lectures from senior executives or other distinguished academics
- Off-campus leadership events
- One-on-one coaching and feedback from professional leadership coaches
- A graduation ceremony that integrates and summarizes key learning outcomes
Also part of the group learning experience is a multi-day business simulation that gives participants the opportunity to actually serve as a team leader on a cross-functional team. This simulation provides insights into team dynamics working in a high-pressure environment, helping them to apply lessons learned in other modules to a simulated but realistic business context, such as by putting finance, marketing, strategy, and accounting skills into practice.
“Very good program overall. I will recommend it to peers and other middle level managers.”
Admission and Terms
Admissions Criteria
Applications are carefully reviewed to
ensure the applicant's responsibilities correspond with the objectives
of the program. ELP participants are expected to be completely engaged
in the experience and free from distractions. With the exception of
emergency situations, punctual attendance is expected for the entire
duration of the program.
Apply Now!
Sponsorship
Applicants to Emerging Leaders Program are encouraged to be sponsored by their organizations. The sponsoring executive should be someone who is familiar with the applicant's background and motivations for attending ELP and will play an active role in the applicant's management development.
Language
Strong English language skills are essential in order to comprehend the instructors, and reading materials and to contribute meaningfully to classroom and study group discussions. Proficiency in reading, writing and speaking English is required for a successful educational experience.
Cost
The fee for ELP is $11,900 which covers tuition, class materials, and most meals. Payment is due within 10 business days of receipt of the acceptance letter. It is expected that applicants have their own health insurance valid in the United States. The university is not responsible for medical expenses incurred by participants during the program.
Cancellation Policy
Attendance at a Rice University Executive Education program requires significant advance preparation. Therefore, we ask that you contact us in a timely manner if you learn you will not be able to attend. In order to be eligible to receive a full refund, notice of cancellation must be received more than 30 days prior to the program start date. Participants giving less than 30 days notice will not be eligible for a refund but may attend a future offering of the same program or may propose a substitute from the same company.
Schedule
UPCOMING SESSIONS:
ELP: Week 1 - January 22-27, 2012
|
Morning
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Afternoon
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Evening
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Sunday
|
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Welcome
and Program Introduction
|
Dinner
and Team Building
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Monday
|
Foundations
of Leadership
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Power,
Influence and Motivation
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Group
Coaching
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Tuesday
|
Leadership
Style
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Situational
Leadership
|
Group
Coaching
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Wednesday
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Team
Dynamics
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Team
Dynamics
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Business
Simulation Group Activity
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Thursday
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Strategy
Formulation
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Strategy
Formulation
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Business
Simulation
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Friday
|
Group
Coaching, Reflections, and Business Simulation
|
Business
Simulation Leadership Development Plans
|
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ELP: Week 2 - February 26 - March 2, 2012
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Morning
|
Afternoon
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Evening
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Sunday
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Communication
Strategy and Planning
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Welcome
Back Reception and Dinner
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Monday
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Financial
Reporting and Analysis
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Financial
Reporting and Analysis
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Simulation
Round 3
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Tuesday
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Negotiations
and Decision Making
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Negotiations
and Decision Making
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Simulation
Round 4
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Wednesday
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Strategy Implementing
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Strategy Implementing
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Simulation
Round 5
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Thursday
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Financial
Analysis
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Financial
Analysis and Simulation Shareholder Meeting
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Graduation
Dinner for Participants and Sponsors
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Friday
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Communication
Debrief
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Crystallization
of Learning and Leadership Action Planning
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