Transformative Leadership Course

In this workshop, we explored transformational leadership skills in research and academia. In contrast to traditional leadership styles, transformational leadership is focused on encouraging, inspiring, and motivating colleagues and young researchers to innovate and create change, take responsibility and reach performance beyond expectations.

The value of developing leadership skills is often only recognized when people reach senior positions and manage teams. However, providing leadership education can be a way to extend a science graduates’ outlook, capacity, and employability. It can provide a pathway for building self-awareness, self-efficacy, interpersonal skills, resilience, and adaptability, all transferable skills employers seek.

The content of the workshop included:

• What is leadership?
• Transformational leadership theory
• Traits of effective leaders
• Individual leadership styles
• Leaders and their group - group roles and dynamics
• How to handle conflicts
• How to encourage, inspire and motivate your group