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The Transformative IT Leader Program

Technology Leadership for Business Outcomes
January 29 – February 21, 2025

Leading a technology team has never been more challenging, particularly in the emerging context of AI-enabled change. In the tech-heavy context of organizations today, IT is not just an enabler – it has become enmeshed in the business, vital to helping it achieve strategic goals.

Do you understand emerging business models and AI use cases that will help you make your mark? Become a more influential technology leader with our Transformative IT Leader Training Program, where our team of experienced faculty mentors (current and former CIOs) will immerse you in an exciting online learning journey.

Begin your transformation from a mid-level IT professional into a business leader who designs, builds, secures, and shapes your organization’s future. Develop and practice your business communication, stakeholder influence, and business analysis skills while mastering multi-level teamwork across the organization and with the executive team.

Program Outline

SESSION 1:
The Transformative IT Leader: Doing What Matters in a Digital World / Eugene Roman

Doing things right and doing the right thing in the hyper-connected digital world of 2024+ requires IT/technology leaders to learn new skills and use Leaders Beyond applied thinking to make effective decisions and to act effectively. The session will explore key leadership approaches to “Make IT Happen”.  In this introductory session, you will:

  • Work with the technology and delivery methods supporting this and future sessions in the program
  • Identify the key problem areas for IT leaders that affect their success when engaging with their business counterparts
  • Explore those specific competencies that will transform your leadership in today’s chaotic world
  • Describe and create specific actions you can take to clarify and address your own developmental needs
SESSION 2:
Advocating for Your Ideas: Driving Idea Acceptance with Strategic Understanding / Dr. James Norrie

Being able to speak to business clients – and influence their behaviour – is a critical leadership skill that few people get a chance to learn or practice before they enter the room. Can you speak the language of strategy? What is strategy? Learn methods that help you advocate for your ideas and gain resource support to execute them effectively. In this session, you will:

  • Understand and reflect the ‘Business Mandate’ that truly matters for the success of your projects and initiatives
  • Develop opportunities to influence others through skilled and persuasive presentations
  • Cultivate specific language and impactful thought approaches which are adaptive to various dynamic situations
  • Practice how to pre-influence and prepare for handling objections to build effective joint sessions with the business
SESSION 3:
Change Your Message, Transform Your Impact / Cindy Seibel

Who defines expectations and how do we manage them? How well do we know our own organization and its people? This session builds skills and confidence in how to better manage expectations and present our ideas clearly to obtain executive-level understanding, buy-in and attention. Explore practical techniques and approaches that help technology professionals find their voice and be heard. In this session, you will:

  • Describe how to formalize, then manage, expectations
  • Identify the steps to clear, articulate and impactful message creation and delivery of ideas, projects or plans in a face-to-face (virtual or real-life) setting
  • Practice the art of presenting to the executive level in your organization and position your message, request or proposal for understanding and acceptance
SESSION 4:
Finance is Your Friend / Dr. James Norrie

One of the most critical skills for any IT leader is to have a well-informed knowledge of the financial processes that drive projects. Can you speak the language with your financial counterparts? Project success requires leaders who understand the financial process of the business. In this session, you will:

  • Assess your current understanding of the key financial terms every emerging IT leader should know
  • Recognize what key financial measures are important and apply these to your projects
  • Assess financial elements and risk, and the common steps taken to minimize exposure to failure
  • Explore the financial expectations from a business outcome perspective and how IT can influence these outcomes
  • Identify the operational financial constraints within IT and how they impact how IT operates
SESSION 5 & 6:
Nimble Change Leadership: The STEP UP!™ Game / Edmond Mellina

All sectors of the economy are undergoing unprecedented transformation. The need for speed and flexibility has never been greater. As companies navigate consistently uncertain waters, leaders must lead through change in faster, nimbler ways. The future of the business depends on it. Over two sessions, you will learn the essentials of nimble change leadership, and participate in a virtual game simulation that reflects the challenges of today’s world. Participating in these sessions you will:

• Gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to successfully execute change in today’s unprecedented business environment

  • Adopt 5 critical mindsets for nimble change leadership in the age of digital disruption
  • Boost your effectiveness as a transformational leader with nimble tools, techniques and “game plans” that are highly practical and unique
  • Invest your limited time, energy, and influence more strategically when driving change
SESSION 7:
Final Case Study Workshop

At the beginning of the program, you will be provided with a real-world situation (case study) that poses a real-world problem. Building on your learning, prior to this session you will submit a written solution of your own, then work in your team to create consensus and generate a response and solution. This session provides you and your team the opportunity to prepare and rehearse for the final presentations.

SESSION 8:
Final Case Study Presentations

You and your team will present your solution to a panel of experts and receive feedback. This session provides you with opportunities to integrate, practice and demonstrate the insights that you have gained in the program.

Begin Your Transformation from an IT Professional into a Business Leader

Technology Leadership for Business Outcomes 

Online Program January 29 – February 21, 2025

Our Faculty

The Leaders Beyond faculty includes business executives, educators, CIOs, consultants, and strategists from various industries. With decades of leadership training experience, they use a proven curriculum that emphasizes teacher/student mentorship and case study analysis.

Eugene Roman

Eugene Roman, MBA, CMA, ICD

Award Winning CIO, Strategic Advisor, Board Member

Edmond Mellina

President, ORCHANGO; former CIO, Delta Hotels

Dr. James L. Norrie, DPM, LL.M

Professor of Strategy & Cybersecurity, former Founding Dean of the Graham School of Business, York College Pennsylvania; Managing Partner, e-Venture Consulting, Inc.; CEO and Founder, cyberconIQ Inc.
Portrait of Cindy Seibel

Cindy Seibel

Former CIO, Energy Resources and Conservation Board, Alberta

    Program FAQ

    Who Should attend this program?

     You will gain the greatest benefits from this program if you are a technology leader who: 

    • Seeks to expand knowledge and understanding of the “business side of the house” 
    • Reports to the CIO or Executive IT Leader or, in a larger organization, reports to a Director or Division IT Leader 
    • Is facing a pivotal change in the workplace 
    • Interacts with senior business leaders and sponsors of technology projects 
    • Seeks senior management or technology leadership roles 
    • Holds direct or indirect financial responsibility and accountability for delivering technology solutions 
    Why Should I attend this program?

    Our limited class size creates a distinctive online experience as the faculty and students have opportunities to engage with and learn from each other through our dynamic mentoring model. You will create lasting business relationships that will support and carry you on your leadership journey. 

    In these highly interactive online sessions and group work you will: 

    • Engage directly with successful senior IT and business executives and thought leaders 
    • Examine the post-pandemic leadership lessons and their impact on your leadership journey 
    • Take charge of your own leadership effectiveness with a personal leadership development plan 
    • Challenge, develop, and practice your communication, influence, and financial skills in a business context 
    • Master the challenges of multi-level teamwork and changes in real-world simulations 
    • Develop, commit to, and monitor measurable and immediately actionable goals 
    What is the program’s format?

    Our eight online sessions are delivered interactively over the period of the program. Each session is approximately three and a half hours long. Participants will complete assignments on their own and in small groups at various points shortly before and during the program. The program features a major case study. Graduates receive confidential feedback and a certificate upon completion.