Leadership at the Edge™ Overview

The Leadership at The Edge™ program explores what it takes for a leader to perform at The Edge – the highest possible levels of performance under conditions of adversity and change. Leadership at The Edge™ helps leaders to learn and apply Ten Strategies for Success that have been proven to be highly effective in achieving successful results in the most extreme and challenging situations.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of the Leadership at The Edge™ program, participants will:

• Gain a better understanding of their unique leadership "Edge" – both its challenges and opportunities.
• Learn about what it takes for leaders to be effective under conditions of adversity, uncertainty and change.
• Apply proven strategies from our reseaerch on effective leadership to address the challenges associated with leading in today's complex business environment.

How Leadership at the Edge™ Works

The program is always customized to meet the client’s specific needs. We have delivered this program numerous times in a variety of formats – as half–day sessions, as full–day workshops, or as multi–day events. We often do some advance analysis – typically interviews with select leaders – to understand the leadership context and challenges at the company, and then weave those issues into program design.

Syncretics' Metaventure™ approach to learning serves as the foundation for every Leadership at The Edge™ program we deliver. We typically draw on the Endurance Metaventure™, which uses the compelling story of the 1914–1916 Trans–Antarctic Expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton and his crew were forced to abandon ship and live on the ice floes, surviving the harsh Antarctic environment for nearly one year before achieving rescue back to civilization. This story of extraordinary leadership and teamwork provides numerous opportunities for program participants to rethink their views on leadership, and generate new insights into the leadership opportunities they have on the job.

In addition to presenting and discussing the Metaventure™ and the Ten Strategies for Success, other options for program segments include:

• Discussion of pre–work reading and exercises
• Completion and analysis of our Critical Leadership Skills Survey – which assesses demonstration of the Ten Strategies for Success
• Application and review of leadership case studies
• Experiential exercises
• Discussions targeted at understanding broader organizational challenges and priorities at the client company (which can also leverage advance research into the organization)
• Action planning activities – using the Ten Strategies for Success to form concrete plans for making the most of leadership opportunities
• Follow–up activities to sustain program impact and results

Clients Say

“Captivating! That is how I would describe the “Leading at the Edge” presentation by the Syncretics Group. The story of Ernest Shackleton’s journey on the Endurance is a story of overcoming tremendous odds and enduring various challenges. I’d highly recommend the presentation to any team or organization facing tremendous challenges.”–Patrick McGinty, Student Programming Coordinator, Brown University