The ITMO/Leader project was created by the Staff Support Office and the Recruiting and Internal Communications Center. Its primary purpose is to train the heads of ITMO’s various departments to carry out business processes and manage their teams more efficiently.

By the end of the program, its participants will be able to design a roadmap of their team’s future development. After successfully graduating, they will receive a certificate for their team to attend a hard or soft skills workshop (within or outside ITMO) along with some merch. 

This is the second session of ITMO/Leader. The accelerator was first launched in 2022 and lasted until January. The first graduates learned various useful management practices, got to meet with other proactive leaders of ITMO, and received valuable advice from the program’s speakers and coaches. 

This year’s classes start on March 13. There will be several changes: a more personalized training process (with participants being able to customize their schedules and use personalized checklists to see the progress of their skills); more opportunities for informal communication (networking breakfasts with the program’s experts); and a gamified learning process (participants will be awarded points that can be exchanged for merch). The biggest change is the focus on designing a team development roadmap.

Key aspects of the accelerator

The accelerator’s program is built around various workshops, which are organized into nine modules according to their topics. During these workshops, the participants will learn about emotional intelligence, project management, business communication, public speaking, and other aspects of leadership. 

In order to receive a certificate, one has to attend at least eight workshops.

The first module, called Defining a Modern Manager, is mandatory for all participants. It is devoted to setting goals, evaluating skills, and building effective teams. It will also help the participants with figuring out which other modules and workshops they want to sign up for.

The workshops are conducted by specialists from ITMO, including: communication and marketing experts, project leads, phycologists and emotional intelligence coaches, and members of the academic staff.

To learn more about the contents of particular modules and workshops, please visit the ITMO/Leader’s official website (available only in Russian).

How to sign up

The accelerator is open to all current heads of ITMO’s departments. In order to sign up, they have to attend the mandatory Defining a Modern Manager module, which will take place on March 13-17. The applications are accepted via the ITMO/Leader website. Having completed the module, the participants will get an individualized schedule according to the checklist of their competencies that is filled out after the class.