LEAP: Integrative Leadership Program
Each semester, CIMBA offers undergraduate students the opportunity to participate in the LEAP (Learn, Enrich, Achieve, Perform) program. This program is a follow-up to the LIFE integrative leadership program and allows you to further explore what you learned during this program. If you complete both LIFE and LEAP, you will earn three hours of credit.
In LEAP, you will learn about the integration of knowledge (IQ), critical thinking skills (RQ), and behavior traits and attributes (EQ) and how they affect you as a leader. This course will help you make sense of the unique personal developmental opportunities offered by study abroad. The course workshops utilize experiential individual and group exercises to assess your emotional and critical thinking competencies. CIMBA also uses specially designed technologies to give you information about your reactions to these exercises (heart rate, heart rate variability, breathing, etc), allowing you the opportunity to see yourself inside typical workplace situations and to evaluate your reactions. During LEAP, you will also complete in-depth personal growth assessments.
The data collected during these assessments and exercises will be used to develop a personal action plan during one-on-one sessions with your coach. You will be assisted in considering your personal and social awareness issues in relation to understanding, developing, and leveraging them, not only in the workplace, but also with your family, friends, social groups, and community. Your coach will help you set goals, explore how you can work to achieve them during your time with the program, identify barriers, and develop ways to continue your efforts when you return home. Your coach not only offers support during the program but can also be a reference and part of your professional network.
If you are interested in enrolling in LEAP, we recommend you talk with CIMBA staff and your home institution to find out how your university will accept your LEAP credits. (See a sample syllabus here.) We encourage you to participate in LEAP even if the course credits will not count toward your degree program. This leadership program is highly innovative, and students find it very useful to their professional development.