LIPAM Leadership Program
Globally leadership skills are regarded as central to the achievement of organization goals. The Government of Lesotho (GOL) sees leadership skills as crucial in achieving national vision. Such expectation has been expressed by the national leadership when introducing the National Strategic Development Plan II (NSDP II) 2018/19 - 2022/23. When making his introductory statement, His Majesty King Letsie III pleaded with the Government to ensure that the critical issues raised by the Plan should be seriously addressed and the necessary leadership be provided. He emphasized as thus: I wish to call on the Government of Lesotho to lend their weight in addressing the critical issues that impede economic and human development in Lesotho and provide the necessary leadership to realise the development objectives set in this plan (p.vii).In resonating His Majesty’s plea, the Plan further acknowledges leadership as one of the key elements along with good governance and rule of law. The Plan states: “Good governance, rule of law and credible leadership are critical elements in ensuring successful delivery of NSDP II” (p.8). The Plan qualifies the type of leadership that is expected to ensure successful implementation of the national goals and aspirations. It comes up with the following: necessary leadership, credible leadership, transformational leadership and result-oriented leadership. Different contexts, as identified below, have led to the realisation of the significance of these types of leadership. Even though leadership skills are regarded as crucial in the implementation of the Plan, it has been observed that there is a lack of leadership skills along with technical and administrative capacity necessary to implement the Plan. Poor leadership has been ascribed to the promotion of officers to leadership positions by virtue of their technical expertise without requisite managerial and leadership skills. The skills development through education and training is regarded as a viable strategy to address skills’ shortage. The Plan acknowledges short-term training programmes as vehicles for skills’ development. It is this realisation that the Lesotho Institute of Public Administration and Management (LIPAM) has taken a decisive step towards addressing the identified poor leadership skills by providing short-term leadership courses that are outlined in subsequent pages. This is in line with LIPAM’s mandate of enhancing “management and leadership skills and develop the competency of public officers through quality training programs in order to enhance their expertise in the delivery of services to the citizens. Furthermore, LIPAM is entrusted to act as a catalyst for change in organisations and assist them to achieve and maintain a competitive edge.
Program Goal
Development and enhancement of leadership skills within Public Service Sector,
- capable of effectively leading change and transformation processes geared towards the improvement of service delivery, and adopting people centred perspectives in addressing the needs of customers;
- demonstrating high level of creative and innovative problem-solving strategies in addressing Lesotho’s challenges;
- demonstrating high level of moral, ethical, good governance and accountability in their performance of duties.
- implementing national vision and agenda effectively and efficiently in creating prosperous and economically viable Lesotho, while maintaining peace, stability and high morale among the employees.
Training Paradigm
The training will be practical, ensuring skills’ transfer and application within work situation. Training techniques that will be adopted will be case studies and scaffolding to promote application of learning in work situation. Further projects and portfolio development will be used as assessment tools for learning.
Course Organisation and Presentation
While the general design provides that the duration of courses could be over some few weeks, certain competencies can be offered between one day and five days. A course coordinator may plan for one day training by selecting necessary competencies from the main course. The courses may be used as organisation framework to be offered in a sequenced training to public officers.
Aim
- Become an effective change agent who can spearhead changes within areas of responsibility.
- Understand environment and personal factors that affect effective service delivery.
- Diagnosis of organisational problems and ability to develop strategies to address them.
- Build shared leadership vision in leading change.
- Understand how leadership styles affect change management
- Implement tools and techniques in implementing change.
Areas of Study
- Exploration of rationale for change within public service.
- Factors enabling successful implementation of change.
- Factors affecting change implementation.
- Re-designing organisational structure for enabling change implementation.
- Developing leadership style for enabling innovation, learning and change.
- Strategies for promoting innovation, learning and change.
- Designing and improving service experiences for different stakeholders.
- Instituting results-oriented leadership and management.
Target Group
Principal Secretaries, Deputy Principal Secretaries and equivalent, Directors and Heads of Departments
Duration : five (5 weeks)
Aim
- Nurturing a culture of innovative problem solving.
- Effective coordination of innovative practice across an organisation.
- Build and capacitate teams towards creative thinking and innovative behaviours.
Area of Study
- Exploring the nature of innovation with public service.
- Leadership capabilities and enhancement of innovative thinking and practice.
- Role of a leader in promoting innovation and change.
- Strategies for communicating innovation.
- Leadership imperatives in innovation.
- Risk assessment in introducing innovation.
Target Group
Principal Secretaries, Deputy Principal Secretaries and equivalent, Directors and Heads of Departments
Duration : two (2 weeks)
Aim
- Establishing a culture of accountability.
- Recognise and reward ethical and moral behaviour.
- Practise good governance and transparency in decision making.
Area of Study
- The need for accountability and good governance in public service.
- Tools for promoting accountability and good governance in public service.
- Relationship between leadership and Accountability in the context of the Public Service
- The importance of ethical and moral practices within public service
- Employee engagement and participation in decision making
- Effective communication at workplace in promoting good governance, accountability, transparency and ethical behaviour.
Target Group
Principal Secretaries, Deputy Principal Secretaries and equivalent, Directors and Heads of Departments
Duration : Two (2 week)
Aim
- Understanding leadership role in conflict management and resolution within an organisation.
- Understanding the need for pro-active conflict management and resolution strategies
- Identify conflict sparking situations and develop strategies to avoid them.
- Conversant and successfully implement organisational and extra-organisational tools for managing conflict within public service.
- Successfully engage in managing and resolving conflicts at the work place.
Area of Study
- The role of leadership in managing and resolving conflicts.
- Types of conflicts and appropriate strategies in managing them.
- Assessment of conflicts potential contexts.
- Assessment of strategies of managing conflicts.
- Develop organisational strategies for conflict management and resolution.
Target Group
Principal Secretaries, Deputy Principal Secretaries and equivalent, Directors and Heads of Departments
Duration : Two (2 weeks)
Aim
- Understanding the role of leadership participation in strategic development and implementation.
- Capacity to participate in sector-wide strategic planning.
- Provide necessary leadership to colleagues in developing implementation plans for the units.
- Mobilise resources for development and implementation of strategies.
- Evaluate the implementation of strategies and take appropriate actions.
Area of Study
- The Role of Leadership in Strategy Development and Implementation
- Exploration of strategic management within public service.
- Appraising strategic planning and implementation within public service.
- Managing strategic planning and implementation processes within the public service
- Developing effective strategies and implementation for effective public service .
Target Group
Principal Secretaries, Deputy Principal Secretaries and equivalent, Directors and Heads of Departments
