David Sole and Patrick Macdonald founded the School for CEOs in 2011 to prepare leaders as they step-up to the next level in their organisation. At the core of our programmes and coaching sits the School for CEOs Dimensions framework. This model inspires leaders to review all aspects of their leadership in detail and looks at the requirements needed in the role of CEO or Senior Business Leader.
Our framework uses insights that have been garnered from the School’s proprietary research and Faculty experiences as well as leading literature. These insights have proven invaluable in understanding the realities of business life at a senior level.
Dimensions helps leaders identify key areas of focus that will enable them to succeed as they take on greater leadership responsibility. The framework outlines five key dimensions you need to master in order to demonstrate you’re ready to step up:
Managing Up: The focus here is on identifying the key stakeholders above you in the organisation and creating strategies to work with each of them. We look at how you develop your followership skills. The aim is to build sponsorship and support for both the work you are currently doing and your career progression.
Managing Down: We focus on your leadership skills, both of your own team and more broadly, so that you develop your followers in turn. We explore the challenges of communication and scalable leadership – touching everyone in the organisation – and look at your mentoring of others.
Managing Out: You consider the outside world, the broader landscape of external stakeholders including shareholders, regulators, government, the media and the communities within which your organisation functions. You need to build a network which endures through changes.
Managing In: We look at self-management. High-profile, demanding jobs come with varying and competing pressures and priorities. We consider how to stay grounded in the middle of it all. Put another way, how do you stay sane?
Managing Across: Unless you are the CEO already, interacting with your peers is an important influence on your current effectiveness and future career progression. It’s important to consider how you develop strong relationships with your peers. This also sets the scene for some of your peers to become followers in the future.
The School for CEOs Dimensions framework is having a lasting impact for organisations. They tell us that it augments and complements their leadership competency models. Individuals have said that the framework has helped them prepare for and achieve promotion, or advancement, into more senior roles. Leaders use the model with their teams boosting resilience, collaboration and effectiveness.
The Dimensions model provides a simple to understand, yet effective way of managing your everyday and long-term interactions with colleagues and stakeholders
Steve Othen, HR Future Leader of the Year 2017
Through our Dimensions framework School for CEOs helps a wide range of people in a wide range of organisations – helping organisations strengthen and deliver their succession pipeline and individuals on the runway to career growth and personal development. That can only be good for them and their organisations.
