Leadership Development in Eastern Europe and Russia: How Using Nontraditional Educational Methods Transformed the Organizational Leaders and Culture

The purpose of this project is to provide a strategic leadership development program to the Eastern European and Russian staff so that they are prepared and confident to lead at higher levels in CCCI in EERUS for increased development of national ministries. Because of both cultural aspects in a post-communist Eastern Europe and CCCI organizational cultural, the number of staff that were prepared to lead was
limited The project analyzed the current availability of trainings and the current understanding of leadership in EERUS staff primarily through qualitative interviews.  With the results of these interviews, Emerging Leaders Project was designed to significantly increase prepared EERUS staff. The interviews demonstrated a need for a consistent definition of leadership based on the principles of humility, servant leadership, and a kingdom perspective. The project’s focus on a learning environment, shared leadership, and Appreciative Inquiry in cross-cultural collaboration on a relevant and significant issue brought significant learning for the participants.

Qualitative research showed that ELP was a successful preparation tool because of three components: individual desire for learning among participants, a variety of learning experiences, and immediate application of the learning in the context where they are serving in the nations. The project itself has already been repeated in a
contextualized version for Ukraine.