The awareness of and ability to adapt to a new context is a crucial leadership skill; this is contextual intelligence. Of course people need to have certain personal characteristics to be successful, but it is often the application of those characteristics within a specific context that define success. Having the combination of the individual leadership competencies and situational context sets great leaders apart.
Leadership development in context does not just mean individual leadership development adapted to a specific locale, rather, it’s people from that locale coming together to learn to lead together and to address real challenges together. When we connect people and context more, opportunities emerge, because we have bridged individual action with the external environment where decisions are made.
In leadership, the idea that there are people who can excel across all situations and business challenges persists. It’s easy to believe that a successful leader in one role will be just as successful in another setting. The real ability to succeed in multiple contexts is based on an individual’s ability to change their style and/ or approach to fit the culture, context, or condition of an organization or system.
Some situations require transformative leaders: skilled strategic thinkers able to lead change and engage people throughout the organization. Some situations require democratic leadership where decisions are made based on the input of each team member. Although someone makes the final call, everyone has input.
Navigating seamlessly across the different situations you find yourself in is where true skill lies. Contextual leaders have the ability to see through complexity and find the clear direction or answer. These leaders seek out information, they engage with diversity, they are not swayed by their individual opinions and can rapidly pinpoint information that helps or hinders their ultimate objective.
Sky Blue brings together a dynamic group of leaders from around the world, from many different fields, who have a common focus: our environment.
Who is this for?
High-potential and senior leaders from the environmental sector
A ground-breaking experience for senior leaders looking to better collaborate across boundaries to transform systems and organizations.
Who is this for?
Senior leaders from all sectors
An annual leadership development experience that brings together senior leaders from different sectors of society across the ASEAN region (and beyond).
Who is this for?
Senior leaders from the Asia-Pacific region
The Inclusive Cultures Accelerator is an experiential online leadership programme designed to grow the Cultural Intelligence (CQ) of your organization as a whole.
Who is this for?
Large groups within organizations
Get in touch with one of our learning experts to discuss your development goals.
Rosalyn Springer
"We chose to work with Common Purpose to develop a programme for our top talent group because we wanted an approach that would take people out of their usual environment and broaden their horizons. As we track the impact of the programme we can really see the operational, cultural and commercial benefits of this investment. "
"TKM has a long association with Common Purpose since their inception in India. Their leadership programmes are unique and develops leaders to think beyond their domain to address complex and dynamic societal issues. Over the past ten years, TKM employees have immensely benefited from participating in the programmes."
are better prepared to challenge their assumptions
are better prepared to change their default approach to work
recognized the value of bringing in wider perspective when making key decisions
Yes, if you have any further questions or would just like to discuss the programme in more detail, please reach out to a member of our team in your specific location who would be delighted to help.
We are a global not-for-profit leadership development organization on a mission to develop people who can cross cultural, social, and institutional boundaries. We work passionately with people to help push the boundaries of what is possible, all so that they can become those who can help us to work better together, be the connectors of our unique lived experiences and lead, with a difference.
Yes! The Common Purpose Charitable Trust was established as a charity in 1989. It is registered with the Charity Commission under the Registered Charity number 1023384.
The benefits of Common Purpose leadership programmes include gaining increased:
Agility in adapting to changing circumstances and environments.
Empathy to what other people feel, think and need. Seeing things from their point of view.
Influence in leading change with limited decision-making power.
Openness to new ideas, possibilities and perspectives, including views they might deeply disagree with.
Purposefulness in leading with intentionality, determination, commitment and resilience.
Self-awareness to their behaviours and outlook, and how they interpret and respond to situations.
When it comes to learning, there is no substitute for the power of real experience and fresh perspective. Our approach uses a robust behaviour and mindset change philosophy rooted in real life leadership challenges and experiences. To turn those experiences into real learning we follow five tried and tested steps that lead to habitual change in how people think, feel and act.
Experience: Being presented with new experiences. Engaging with leaders across multiple boundaries and being immersed in new environments.
Reflection: Learning activities to gain a deeper and more personalized understanding of the learning.
Translate: Exploring how to relate new ideas and thought processes back into the learner’s role or context.
Practice: Developing a set of leadership practices that can be used to turn new behaviours into habits.
Assess: Embedding numerous assessments to help learners track their progress pre, during and even beyond the programme.
Experiential learning is a core component of our programmes.
Our programmes create a carefully constructed microclimate to explore real-life leadership challenges in a safe environment, often leading to the types of purpose-driven conversations needed to achieve transformative change.
We also focus on the importance of active learning, by getting people out of their comfort zones and into the world, seeing things, meeting people, taking part, and taking advantage of processes that stimulate multiple neural connections in the brain and promote memory.
