Developing Others as Leaders

3.3 Assignment. Leader2Leader Dialogue Question Prep

Getting Started

Part of developing a strong foundation for leadership rests in seeking wisdom from others. For this assignment, you will prepare to engage a leader of your choosing as you conduct a Leader2Leader dialogue. Taking into consideration what you have studied thus far about developing other leaders, you will develop a set of questions or discussion starters that you will use to gain new insights and perspectives on how someone else practices leadership. You will want to learn about the processes and practices they use to develop others as well as their experience with coaching and mentoring others. How do they approach leadership development? Succession? Mentoring and coaching? Do they agree with some of the practices, processes, and frameworks you have been studying? How do they interact with others who are culturally diverse? What additional insights might they offer to what you have studied so far? How might their experiences enrich your learning in this course?

You will want to be mindful of the scope of this course. Remembering what you have studied thus far will aid you in creating questions for the dialogue. Be prepared to carry out your dialogue after you receive feedback from your instructor. 

· Conduct your interview early during the week of Workshop 4.

· You will want to conduct the interview as soon as possible as the write-up of your observations and your learnings from the dialogue are due at the end of Workshop 4.

· Review  4.3 Assignment: Leader2Leader Dialogue Insights Paper(new tab)  where you will report your findings.

· You will share your takeaways with peers in Workshop 6.

Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

· Identify how a specific leader develops and grows others.

· Ask another leader about the processes and practices they use when coaching and mentoring others.

Background Information

An important part of leadership development is acquiring perspectives outside of a textbook. Throughout your program, you will be encouraged to glean insights or perspectives from a variety of external leaders. Throughout this program, you have been encouraged to identify some leaders with whom you can hold a brief discussion (30 minutes or less). You should not just use the same leader for each course, but you should consider a variety of individuals from whom you might learn during the program (e.g., direct supervisor, other level leaders in your organization (or other organizations with which you are familiar), a pastor/religious leader, head of a charity, local businessperson) in order to generate a variety of perspectives. Select one of those leaders in your life for your Leader2Leader dialogue in this course. Consider which one might have the most relevant insights for the topics you have been studying.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.

2. Review the following videos to glean insights into how to best develop questions:

a. Katie Couric on How to Conduct a Good Interview(new tab)

b. Four Tips for an Effective Interview: A StoryCorps Education Tool(new tab)  

3. In preparation for your dialogue, submit an executive summary containing the following:

a. Name and title of the interviewee (who you will have your Leader2Leader dialogue with).

b. Date, time, and method (Zoom, Skype, FaceTime…) planned for conducting the dialogue.

c. A set of 7–10 questions or discussion starters from this week’s material on how a specific leader develops other leaders and the processes and practices they use when coaching and mentoring others.

4. Questions should not be simple “Yes” – “No” questions but should allow the leader you selected to provide thoughtful explanations that will contribute to your understanding of the topic.

5. Questions should display variety, not focusing on one or two topics. Be sure to take time to review what you have learned this week and during the earlier workshops. Note: When you write your executive summary, clearly connect each question to a principle represented in the course material.

6. Keep in mind the dialogue should be 30 minutes or less. So, you may not have time to ask all the questions you develop. Consider how you arrange or outline the questions.

a. What flow exists between the questions?

b. What ones are the most essential?

c. What ones might serve as follow-up questions?

7. Your executive summary can be written in the form of an outline.