On the 22nd of April, a pilot training of students and SME entrepreneurs (altogether 25 people) took place at Tallinn University of Technology.
LEAD (LEarning And Development project for Micro and Small Enterprises). The aim of the project was to develop a comprehensive training material and guide that promotes a learning- and development-oriented leadership approach among micro and small company owners/managers by making them capable to manage the training and development activities in their companies, including among others the identification of competence needs and the active facilitation of workplace learning.
The pilot was led by Prof. Wolfgang Gerstlberger and co-instructed by Tarmo Tuisk. The module that was piloted was chosen by the instructors “Paths of Organisational Growth.” Previously all participants were encouraged to pass the module in e-Learning format to ease and facilitate their learning processes during the face-to-face training. 17 students had worked on e-Learning modules and 15 entrepreneur-professionals did so. Altogether there were 17 student participants and 7 SME participants in the classroom.
At the beginning of the training the overview was given about the LEAD project and then the prepared modules and their testing needs were explained. In total, 10 modules were created in different countries during the project, including the pilot training at TalTech. An introduction about Organizational Growth and learning objectives was given. As the next step Greiner model of Growth and the Life Cycle model of Quinn and Cameron were elaborated, and case studies investigated. The learning process was facilitated by exercises and smaller tasks like quizzes. During the lunch break informal discussions and networking took place. At the end of the day learned materials were summarised and participants’ reflections were asked. Overall, both students and SME entrepreneurs were thankful. While students were more listening and participating in theoretical discussions for entrepreneurs the practical usability of learning materials was much more important. All participants were encouraged to download the project's micro and small business handbook as a practical tool for individual learning after the pilot course.
- On Sunday, 9th of June at 15:45 a dissemination event of LEAD project takes place where the results and activities of the project are introduced to the public. You are welcome to attend! Place: TalTech Innovation and Business Centre Mektory, Room MEK-108, Raja str. 15, Tallinn, Estonia