Leadership Development in IDA

In the fall of 2014, Workz helped IDA, The Danish Society of Engineers, implement a new organisational structure and attempted to create an action and result-oriented culture and to put new roles and areas of responsibility into practice.

THE SOLUTION

Workz worked closely with the CEO and the HR department on developing a course for the entire management group. The course was divided into two two-day seminars.

The first seminar focused on leadership – in particular change leadership and the dynamics of people having to change behaviour. We used the leadership simulation Wallbreakers to create a common language for – and understanding of – the psychological and managerial processes that occur when an organisation changes.

The collaboration with Workz has been extremely constructive and has continuously been adapted to the needs we identified along the way

The second seminar focused on creating drive in the implementation of strategy and engaging stakeholders across the organisation. We used the leadership simulation Gamechangers that simulates a large cross-functional strategic implementation project and focuses on stakeholder involvement. During and after the game the participants reflected on their own work life and leadership which was facilitated by the entire management being present. – If you needed clarification on anything you could ask your management colleagues

SIMULATIONS AND RELATABILITY TO EVERYDAY WORK LIFE

Throughout both simulations we used the metaphors and models of the games to relate the experiences to the challenges that the board of directors and the participants had identified in the initial parts of the process.

The simulations are a tried and tested method of bridging theory and practice; knowing and doing. The seminars also included a range of short theory presentations that were continuously linked to exercises. This was used as a basis for creating action plans and to reflect on the participants’ own role in reaching the goals.

A great deal of the effect can be ascribed to the collaboration between the leaders on solving the tasks in the simulations and the continuous dialogue about leadership in general and leadership in IDA in particular.

“In the management in IDA we have achieved two things with the course.

Firstly, we gained a shared frame of reference and a common stand in relation to the perception of strengths and weaknesses in the organisation and how to manage them.

Secondly, we identified three focus points for improvement and correlating actions that we have to work with in order to achieve more drive and focus on results.

The collaboration with Workz has been extremely constructive and has continuously been adapted to the needs we identified along the way. Games and leadership simulations work really well and they give valuable input to managerial challenges.”
– Area manger Maria Juul Kähler