Lead & Succeed: Everything you need to know about Maxme's most popular program
Lead & Succeed is one of our most popular programs at Maxme. But what exactly does it entail? Is it the perfect fit for you, your team or organisation? What benefits can you expect to gain?
Earlier this month, we hosted a Maxme Masterclass offering an interactive preview of our Lead & Succeed Program.
If you couldn't attend the session or still have lingering questions, don't worry—we’ve got all the answers right here.
Let's dive in.
Q. What is Lead & Succeed?
Lead & Succeed is all about equipping individuals with the foremost skills for leadership excellence both today, as contributing individuals, and into the future. It aims to develop essential interpersonal, emotional, and cognitive competencies for personal and professional growth—in other words, those skills not traditionally taught at school, through tertiary education, or even captured in many organisational learning & development programs.
Q. I'm not a leader. Can I still join the program?
Absolutely. Don't let the name fool you – this program isn’t just for current leaders or leaders of people. It's for anyone looking to build self-leadership skills. Perhaps you’re a leader of an important organisational or community movement, or looking to step up to a leadership role at some point. Maybe you’re ready to become a coach or mentor. This program is a great way to start building the skills you need and give you the confidence to take the next step.
Q. How long does it take to complete?
Maxme’s Lead & Succeed program is typically executed over seven weeks. We also offer a slightly longer 9 week version - Lead & Succeed Pro - for teams and organisations looking to extend their skill building into leadership capabilities such as managing conflict, difficult conversations, and bouncing back from setbacks.
Q. What are the learning methods? Is it reading a bunch of course notes and watching videos?
Far from it! At Maxme, we're big believers in the 70-20-10 learning and development model. The idea is that 70% of our knowledge is from "doing," 20% from others through observing, coaching, and mentoring, and 10% from formal training like courses, reading, and online learning.
Lead & Succeed uses mostly practical learning experiences delivered through Maxme’s proprietary human skills app, Hodie.
The benefit of gamified online learning through Hodie is that you can enjoy a fun learning experience at a time and pace that works for you. Participants complete a new topic each week, then discuss and deepen their learning fortnightly with the support of one of Maxme's expert coaches. Our coaches deliver fortnightly group coaching, guiding you through weekly topics across the Hodie app, and program emails. We can also deliver in-person workshops for groups preferring that too. Blended learning at its best!
Q. Exactly what types of skills will I learn?
Lead & Succeed is all about human (soft) skills. According to McKinsey and the World Economic Forum, 70% of the skills we'll need in an AI age are not technical skills—they are human skills.
We start with the critical domain of emotional intelligence (EQ). EQ is made up of a family of Human (soft) skills and we spend half the course time here.
Why do we put so much focus on EQ?
Simple – EQ forms 58% of job performance and has a 4X determinant of success versus IQ alone.
As Daniel Goleman, psychologist and global authority on emotional intelligence, said:
"If your emotional abilities aren't in hand, if you don't have self-awareness, if you can't have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far."
The core tenet of EQ is self-awareness, particularly the concept of strengths. You can't achieve self-leadership without an awareness of your strengths and weaknesses (or lesser strengths) and how to harness your strengths and manage your weaknesses.
One study estimates that only 10-15% of people are truly self-aware. We'll make sure all participants are in this minority of superhumans.
We then move into the world of collaboration and examine how we work with others. In any workplace, working together is important, particularly to solve problems in a complex working world, so it's not enough for us to know about our own strengths and weaknesses; but those of others too. From there, we consider how to use this understanding to work better as a team.
Next, we focus on delegating and influencing. Even if you're not a people leader, you may still need to delegate work to others or influence the outcome of an important decision or action. How do you acquire these skills and practise them?
Finally, we look at what leadership looks like for you. Everyone has a different leadership style. It's also essential to lead in a way that works to your strengths. We focus on what it means to be a great leader for you, particularly as a coach, which is often where we make our first steps into leadership as we progress through our careers.
Q. What will I get out of the program?
Individuals and organisations can gain a lot from the Lead & Succeed program. We know, because we see the learning outcomes time and time again!
Let's tackle individual benefits first.
Here are six ways individuals can benefit from Lead & Succeed:
You'll have more self-confidence and presence. There's no greater gift you can give to people than being truly present. This is something you'll learn through the program.
You'll have better well-being and the ability to manage and leverage stress. Not all stress is bad; some stress is actually performance-enhancing. We'll give you the tools to recognise the difference.
You'll learn more effective communication methods. Communication is the key to building healthy relationships and maintaining and building trust.
You'll accelerate your personal and career growth, whatever that looks like for you.
You will work better in a team and individually.
You will be able to harness more creativity and innovative problem-solving.
Q. I'm thinking about Lead & Succeed for my team – how can my organisation benefit?
Consider that 9 out of 10 top performers have high EQ. And these skills are amongst the highest sought after skills as we move deeper in the AI age. Studies also show that soft skills contribute to higher revenue, productivity, and profitability across industries and countries. A Deloitte study showed that employees' soft skills could increase revenue by over $90,000.
So, if you want your organisation to thrive in the AI age, you need to double down on human skills. Lead & Succeed helps you do that.
Our Lead & Succeed program helps organisations attract and retain talent, increase engagement, and build more purposeful connections with and between their people.
Q. I need to prove the program's ROI to my boss. How do you measure results?
Measuring human skills is challenging. You want to be able to prove that soft skills will make a direct positive impact on the business and its bottom line.
However, there are ways to measure improvements in soft skills and draw conclusions that prove the benefits to the business.
During the program kick-off, we ask all participants to complete a self-assessment survey to benchmark their current understanding and confidence relevant to the program's human skill focus areas. For Lead & Succeed, this includes self-awareness, strengths, and so on.
Then, at the end of the program, we ask participants to complete another survey with the same questions. This gives us the percentage increase in skills, confidence and behaviours in each program topic area.
We provide organisations with a report showing changes in participants' confidence and ability in key areas relating to the program.
The critical thing to remember is that the human skills taught in Lead & Succeed are skills for life. Ultimately, we are building foundational skills that set people on a path for lifelong development and growth.
For more tips on how to build a business case, download our actionable 5-step guide: How to Make a Case for Soft Skills Development.
Got more questions?
We're here to help! Contact us to speak with a member of our team about the Lead & Succeed program and discuss the best approach for your people.
You can also request a demo with our team or reach out directly via hello@maxme.com.au.