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Home / ... / Developing Leaders with the ICAI in France

Charles De Gaulle on a Sunday in May was unusually busy, Onboard were almost 30 Chartered Accountants, bound for the old Imperial town of Fontainebleau, 35 miles from Paris.

They were part of the ICAI’s latest venture, the Executive Leadership Programme at INSEAD.

Waiting at the airport was a bus which would take the group to the campus, and as soon as the previous strangers realised they were bound for the same destination, in typical Irish fashion, they began tochat and bond.

The participants hailed from a variety of backgrounds, Practice, Industry, and Financial Services. By the time the group reached their destination it was like many of them were old friends.

INSEAD and the ICAI launched the Executive Leadership Programme last year to offer ICAI members at a senior level, a tailored programme that would enhance their leadership capacity. INSEAD is listed by Forbes Magazine as the number one non-US business school and among its alumni are the CEOs of Uniliver, Reuters, Philip Morris and Telefoncia/O2 to name but a few.

This link up demonstrates a commitment to excellence, and shows that ICAI members are at the forefront of business thought. The programme ran over 5 days with the group residing on INSEAD’s state of the art campus at the Clos St Merry residence.

Key areas of the programme:

- Leadership: the challenges and establishing and communicating a clear vision.

- Understanding the relationship between personality, behaviour and leadership style.

- Understanding social networks, how they influence an organisation and how to harness them for effective change management.

- How to establish a culture of creativity and improve creative skills.

- Working with experienced coaches on a leadership development plan, that contains specific and measurable targets and goals.

The programme opened with an introduction by Professor Mannarelli, and an address by ICAI President, Mr Vincent Sheridan. The Course Director, Professor Tom Mannarelli, explained that the social and networking aspect of the programme was of huge importance as was, ‘the interaction with their fellow participants in terms of sharing experiences and challenging each other’. Of course the primary focus of the programme was on developing leadership skills, but as leadership is about people, much of the focus would be on this critical interaction.

On Monday the class was broken down into smaller groups of four, the dynamic of these groups was to become hugely important as they were to form the basis of peer coaching networks. On Tuesday the groups met with highly experienced external coaches who examined the results of their 360 feedback report and began the process of constructing their PLDA (Personal Leadership Development Agenda). This would be the template that they would take away at the end of the programme outlining their own three structured goals. One of the course participants identified this as the highlight saying: ‘working in a structured way with the coaching groups, from the 360 evaluation work through to the identification of three focused goals, was for me the most valuable element of the programme.’

On the last evening of the programme the group retired to a beautiful Chateau nestled in the ancient forests of Fontainebleau for a gala dinner which was preceded by a memorable reception in the vaulted wine cellar of the Chateau. This event really highlighted the success of the group in terms of bonding, and, as banter was exchanged, it was as though the room were full of lifelong friends. It was a tired but satisfied group who journeyed back to Charles De Gaulle for their flights back to Dublin, Belfast, and Brussels on Friday night. The experience was summed up in the remark of Mr Eddie McNestry Financial Director with CBREG. ‘It really was excellent – the best course I have ever attended.’

Preparations are already underway for the 2008 programme which we are sure will be an even bigger success.

Joe Carroll is ICAI Learning and Development Consultant.

Joe - any dates yet for the 2008 course? where can i get more information?