In everyday operations, as well as in changes and transitions, leadership is a central element. Through leadership, direction is established, followership mobilized, and progress achieved and monitored. The popular distinction between management and leadership differentiates between routine operations and changes, and is at times interpreted as if these are two very different roles, perhaps enacted by different individuals. This, however, is highly debatable. Change without attention to detail and without knowledge of what is changing rarely succeeds, and everyday operation demands constant adjustment and development, to be effective.

Not least in the contemporary turbulent business environment, the ability to reflexively orient oneself in relation to the situation and context is critical for successful mobilization of various resources, to move the organizational agenda forward. As part of the leadership process, the practical process of strategizing concerns the ongoing negotiation and development of a viable direction for collective action.

In this course, we pay particular attention to the capacity to observe, reflect on, and learn from one’s own experiences in engaging with organizational challenges. We take reflexivity as the process of critically exploring one self in practice to be a central aspect of leadership in relation to complex challenges. Further, we approach the notion of leadership as a relational and contextual phenomenon, drawing on a wide variety of theoretical approaches, where theories are used as resources to facilitate a deeper understanding of the challenge at hand and one’s own role in it.

The course is designed to develop your leadership capacities by engaging with practical challenges, but also to widen your understanding of the phenomenon of leadership on a theoretical level, facilitating navigation in a constant stream of leadership fads.