The Leadership Angel
Add the Leadership Angel to your LMS – get in touch to get the embed code.
Nice Media has been making interactive video for learning for years. We had nothing we could show publicly however, because our work was hidden behind client NDAs. So we decided to produce an interactive drama of our own.
No piece of training exists in isolation, so we started by defining an audience and setting learning objectives. We wanted viewers to learn something. We chose the subject of Leadership as widely relevant to both small-to-medium companies that are trying to grow, and bigger companies with ‘siloed’ departments or branches. We also identified a core issue: if leaders are detail-focused rather than strategic, this disempowers managers. Potential is wasted, careers are stalled, and employees become disengaged.
The Leadership learning points for the course are:
- Don’t use authority to harm… use charm to motivate
- Don’t make an example-of… set an example yourself
- Don’t use inappropriate language or humour… create an inclusive culture
- Don’t set tasks and deadlines… set objectives and be visionary
- Don’t focus on the problem… look at the big picture
- Don’t pretend to know everything… consult your experts
- Don’t be a manager… empower your management team
The next thing we needed was a strong story and engaging characters. In summary, a not-quite Angel intervenes in the life of hapless leader Stuart Weedle: “You’re not leading, Stuart: you’re barely managing.” The viewer guides Stuart through a series of tests to become brilliant leader. Or possibly a donkey.
The course structure is compact enough to demo quickly, but also complex enough to show different ways of branching and delivering feedback. The maverick character of Angel gave us great dramatic licence to do play with the form.
The course was built and is supported online by our development partner TellUs. Interact with the video at the top of this page to explore it.
