Teaching and Pedagogical Innovation

 

 

Developing leaders capable of understanding, interpreting, and deciding in complex situations

 

In environments characterized by complexity and uncertainty, educating managers is not limited to transmitting tools or models.

 

It involves developing their ability to understand, interpret, and act in complex situations that cannot be reduced to predefined solutions.

 

The quality of decisions depends on how these situations are understood and interpreted.

 

Teaching therefore provides a valuable space to explore the processes through which future leaders develop their capacity for judgment from experience.

 

 

 

Pedagogical Positioning

 

Teaching activities build on research conducted on the role of reflexivity in leadership development.

 

They are grounded in a central idea:

 

leadership development depends on the ability to analyze one's experience, develop an understanding of it, and transform it into actionable learning.

 

This approach aims to integrate:

• academic research in management
• leadership experience
• real managerial situations

 

It is embedded in the framework of the Disposition to Reflexive Accompaniment (DRA), conceptualized as a leadership meta-competency.

 

It seeks to develop students' ability to mobilize reflexive processes to analyze their experience and adjust their decisions.

 

 

 

A pedagogy based on interpreted experience

 

This pedagogical approach introduces a key distinction:

 

learning models alone is not sufficient — learning must be grounded in experience.

 

It aims to develop in students:

• the ability to analyze situations
• the ability to interpret complex contexts
• the ability to develop judgment and adjust action accordingly

 

The objective is not only conceptual understanding, but the development of the capacity to think and decide in real leadership situations, by integrating experience analysis into decision-making.

 

 

 

Reflective Leadership Lab

 

The Reflective Leadership Lab is the central pedagogical framework.

 

It is based on a central principle:

 

students work not only on situations, but on how they understand and interpret them.

 

This framework aims to make explicit the interpretive and transformative processes through which decisions are constructed, and help students refine their judgment in action.

 

Students are invited to:

• analyze leadership situations
• make their reasoning explicit
• question their assumptions
• explore alternative interpretations

 

The objective is not to find the “right answer”, but to develop the ability to understand situations and adjust decisions accordingly.

 

 

 

Learning Objectives

 

The framework aims to develop key leadership capabilities:

• reflexivity in and on action
• empathy and perspective-taking
• critical thinking
• creative exploration of solutions
• learning from experience

 

These capabilities contribute to the progressive development of judgment and decision-making in complex situations.

 

 

 

Development of Teaching Cases

 

This work includes the design of specific teaching cases.

 

These cases emphasize:

• not only decisions,
• but also the processes through which decisions are constructed

 

They enable the analysis of situations through a structured reflexive approach, highlighting the mechanisms underlying judgment formation. 

 

 

 

Link with Research

 

Teaching activities are directly connected to the Reflective Leadership Research Initiative.

 

They contribute to integrating:

• knowledge production
• experience analysis
• leadership development

 

A pedagogical article describing this approach is currently in preparation.

 

 

 

Expected Impact

 

The objective is to develop managers capable of:

• understanding complex situations
• interpreting and transforming their experience
• developing their capacity for judgment
• making more informed decisions in complex environments

 

The aim is not to apply models, but to develop the ability to construct decisions from experience.