The Leadership Academy Programme (LAP) is a learning and action programme for mayors, senior officials and elected representatives of local government.

The LAP course is an interactive programme adjusted to local needs that seeks to develop Leadership for Organisations, Leadership for Strategy and Leadership for Capacity Building over 3 stages.

Guide for trainers

1.1 STAGE 1 – LEADERSHIP FOR ORGANISATIONS

1.1.1 Module 1 – Good Local Governance

To gather an in-depth understanding of the 12 Principles for Good Democratic Governance and their relevance for their organisations’ activity.
To gather an understanding of the competences needed for local government leadership.

1.1.2 Module 2 – Understanding Leadership

To acquire knowledge on ’leadership’ – as it is envisaged within the LAP.
To understand the added value of a situational approach to leadership (there is no “one size fits all” solution).

1.1.3 Module 3 – Leadership Benchmark

To train participants in a benchmarking tool that can be used to raise the standards of performance of a municipality.

1.1.4 Module 4 – Leadership Values

To identify the role of values in shaping attitudes and behaviours.
To identify the individual values stimulating leadership and, in turn, good governance.

1.1.5 Module 5 - Self-Awareness and Group Empowerment

To learn the meaning of self-mastery and that the journey towards it never ends.
To learn the meaning and implications of “natural” leadership preferences.

1.1.6 Module 6 – Leadership Mind-Sets for Team Working

To understand the kind of mind-set that is better aligned with good performance within a performance-oriented organisation.
To understand the importance of emotional intelligence (EQ) and its essential role in effective team working.
To recognise the importance of facilitation for effective team working, that in turn leads to improve public services performance.

1.1.7 Module 7 - Identifying Personal Leadership Styles

To develop an accurate understanding of different leadership styles.
To match own strengths and weaknesses to choose the appropriate leadership styles for different situations.

1.1.8 Module 8 – Group Communication Skills

To understand the drivers of effective communication.
To experience the importance of the group as a ‘multiplier’ of ideas and prospectives.
To learn and experience tools for different group interaction methods.

1.1.9 Module 9 - Developing Leadership in a Landscapes Perspective

To appreciate the long-term process of developing leadership at the organisational level;
To apply the leadership landscape approach (i.e. integrative thinking approach) for local governance to ‘problem-solving’ at the organisational level;
To understand the importance of continuous self-assessment for sustainable organisational leadership.

1.2 STAGE 2 – LEADERSHIP FOR STRATEGY

1.2.1 Module 10 – Organisation Culture

To learn how good leadership can change the organisation culture to deliver better performance.

1.2.2 Module 11 – Scenario Planning

To introduce the method for developing dynamic scenarios and initiating inclusive strategic dialogues for strategic planning and problem solving.

1.2.3 Module 12 – Strategic Management

To present the 3 core domains of strategic management from a leadership perspectives and suggest instruments for establishing high level performance.

1.2.4 Module 13 – Learning Organisation

To present the concept of a ‘learning organisation’ and give ideas for participants how to encourage learning in their own organizations.

1.2.5 Module 14 – Complexity of Organisational Change

To understand that local government needs to be responsive and dynamic to change and issues need to be tackled in an integrated manner.

1.2.6 Module 15 – Organisational Communication

To learn tools to develop the highest standards of internal and external communications.

1.2.7 Module 16 – Effective Staff Management

To support leaders to apply leadership to staff management.

1.2.8 Module 17 – Expectation Management

To reveal conflicting points in mutual expectations between staff and leaders and formulate a more coherent set of expectations.

1.2.9 Module 18 – Performance Management

To deepen the understanding of performance management and how it can be used to more effectively deliver outcomes by the organisation.

1.3 STAGE 3 – LEADERSHIP FOR CAPACITY BUILDING

1.3.1 Module 19 – Building Ethics and Integrity

To strengthen participants’ capacity to ethical reflection and reasoning and make them reflect on the integrity of their organization.

1.3.2 Module 19 – Ethics Management (Advanced)

To strengthen participants capacity to ethical reflection and reasoning and offer methods to develop ethics and integrity of their organization.

1.3.3 Module 20 – Civil Participation and Partnership Working

To increase awareness on the role of civil participation for efficient and effective local governance.
To improve understanding of the requirements, benefits and relations intrinsic to civil participation.
To acquire knowledge on different civil participation approaches and to choose the best for a given situation.

1.3.4 Module 21 – Inter-Municipal Cooperation (IMC)

To understand the relevance of Inter-Municipal Cooperation for a better service delivery and thus for the overall delivery of good local governance. (General)
To gain an-in-depth understanding of the key-elements, mechanisms, success factors at the core of IMC. (Advanced)

1.3.5 Module 22 – Cross Border Cooperation (CBC)

To understand the relevance of Cross-Border Cooperation for a better service delivery, that ensures the improvement of the overall delivery of good local governance in a border area.
To gain an-in-depth understanding of the key-elements, mechanisms, success factors at the basis of CBC.

1.3.6 Module 23 – City-to-City Cooperation (C2C)

To understand the relevance of City-to-City Cooperation to promote local development opportunities, in turn ensuring the improvement of the overall delivery of good local governance.
To gain an-in-depth understanding of the key-elements, mechanisms, success factors of C2C.

1.3.7 Module 24 – Equal Opportunities and Gender Balance

To know the tools and legal frameworks available for ensuring equal access to opportunities to all.
To become aware of gender perspectives as key factors determining eventually good governance at local level.
To understand the role of leadership in ensuring equal opportunities and representativeness to all, at local level.