Extend by Keogh is a guided leadership development programme designed to encourage leaders to step out of their comfort zone to holistically develop the behaviours, mind-set and skills necessary to succeed as both leaders and people.
As part of Keogh Consulting’s Extend Experiential Leadership Adventure, 12 Brisbane leaders spent a day cooking and serving meals at Emmanuel City Mission, a Brisbane outreach service and sanctuary for the vulnerable.
The activities were part of a Keogh-led pilot program daring community leaders to revamp their leadership philosophies, while embarking on a grueling and rewarding philanthropic adventure this year.
Keogh’s Senior Consultant and Organisational psychologist, Lorena Clayton, said the day was a “fantastic opportunity for business leaders to have the opportunity to be of service, give back to the community and walk a mile in someone else’s shoes”.
“We know leaders don’t perform optimally if they don’t look after their health, and they can also become cynical and disengaged if they lose touch with purpose and emotional intelligence,” she said.
Leaders from a variety of sectors are taking part in Keogh’s pilot program, including representatives from Queensland Police, Department of Justice as well as engineering, energy, community/charity, recruitment and staffing, digital marketing and advertising, and management consulting professionals.
Click the following link to learn more about our Extend leadership development program.
Emmanuel City Mission Supervisor David Macartney, who is also a participant in Extend, said the programme took a holistic approach to determining goals and how to achieve them.
“It’s helping me to develop concrete and measurable goals, in a role that can appear to have very nebulous outcomes,” he said.
“The coaching and feedback offered provides a way to analyse and develop my leadership style and build up others around me.
“Chunking challenges into smaller pieces, maintaining a mindset that I don’t need to come up with all of the answers and being open to feedback helps me cultivate a more collaborative culture within a group and allows the group to reach an outcome together without anybody becoming overwhelmed on the way.”
Mr Macartney said the Extend crew were a group of like-minded, highly motivated and caring individuals.
“The way the crew served and cared for the visitors at Emmanuel City Mission was a great encouragement, each participant’s actions were great testament to their character.”
Participants are also being challenged to fundraise through the program, with proceeds going towards City-New Farm RSL to support Emmanuel City Mission and homeless laundry service Orange Sky Australia.
Next month, the leaders will embark on a seven-day Kokoda Track-inspired trek through Lamington National Park, as part of the program.
