Degree Requirements:
Completion Time: 1.5 years
Earned Credits: 36
This M.A. in Leadership and Management degree program is based on Distributed Adaptive Leadership—preparing today’s executives to mobilize people and solutions in response to accelerating change, market disruption, and social discord. In this program, students will:
- Diagnose, deploy, and evaluate adaptive solutions in distributed systems
- Mobilize diverse talent factions
- Nurture thriving individuals, teams, enterprises, and communities
- Systematically address and disrupt racial and other inequities
Executive leadership, like civic leadership, requires an ability to work across overlapping and interdependent systems with varying degrees of direct authority. Through a self-directed practicum, 12-week courses for the specialization curriculum and specialized modules in the core M.A. in Leadership and Management courses, participants learn to develop, deploy, and evaluate systemwide (adaptive) solutions for organizations and communities distributed across geography and cultures. This specialization is designed for leaders ready to engage VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) and agile environments.
Saybrook University has partnered with Leadership Eastside, a community-impact organization rooted in the Pacific Northwest’s Innovation Triangle to make available a first-of-its-kind specialization based on Distributed Adaptive Leadership.
Saybrook’s approach sets itself apart from other leadership programs in employing a systems approach with real-world issues and real-time practice. Practicum integrates academic learning with practical experience, calling on all aspects of the curriculum to design, deploy, and evaluate a specific solution while leading a team.
This M.A. in Leadership and Management program is an 18‐month, lockstep cohort program intended to be completed in four consecutive semesters (including summer sessions)—earning 36 credits to graduate. Graduates of this program will have developed interpersonal and critical thinking skills essential for today’s leaders—enhancing the opportunity to advance their careers as managers and leaders in for-profit, nonprofit, or governmental organizations.
More program information can be found in our academic catalog.
Residential Requirements
Participation in three five-day Residential Conferences (RCs) is required. Students must attend the RC each semester they are enrolled except for summer. Dates are announced well in advance so students can plan for and prioritize the required participation.
Course Requirements
The 12 courses are taken in a prescribed sequence. All courses are 3 credits, comprising the 36 credits required to graduate. Coursework must be evaluated as equivalent to B or better at the graduate level to earn credit.
Course Participation:
Satisfactory “class attendance” in online courses requires students to log into the university’s online course site multiple times during the week to participate in discussions and other learning activities. Course syllabi indicate their specific participation requirements.
Conflicting and Corroborating Models of Adaptive Leadership
Leaders of change in organizations and in a community need a wide range of tools to address diverse environments and challenges. This specialization course for the Executive and Community Leadership program brings focus to how the tools of Distributed Adaptive Leadership mesh with other management and leadership models. Participants in this course will learn to assess dynamic systems and determine the appropriate leadership models to apply, and analyze the effects and efficacy of those models.
Thrival for Distributed Adaptive Leadership
In the context of the Executive and Civic Leadership Specialization, “thrival” is held in contrast to “survival.” The VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) nature of the environments in which leaders, teams, enterprises, and communities of interest frequently operate tends to increase stress and degrade performance. Participants in this specialization course learn individual and collective practices for nurturing self-awareness and vital emotional and relational engagement through taking responsibility for personal safety, the inclusion of multiple perspectives, management of triggers and hungers; and clarity of values and purpose.
ECL Practicum
Students demonstrate application of Distributed Adaptive Leadership (DAL) skills within an enterprise or community setting. The practicum integrates academic learning with practical experience, calling on all aspects of DAL curriculum to design, deploy, and evaluate a specific solution while leading a team. Each practicum is conducted by the student in their own chosen space (distributed enterprise or community of interest), with peer consultation and supervision by the instructor. The end product of the practicum is deployment of a strategic set of adaptive interventions (meetings, committees, events, policy changes, and adaptive solutions) in a distributed system of the student’s choosing. 3 credits