Why Should Entrepreneurs Join Leadership Training Programs?
Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. Whether you have a large team or just got your first hire, leadership training can help you be the best possible leader.
In today’s business arena, challenges can arise at any time, and to be an effective leader you need to be able to respond to those challenges with intelligence, strategy, and expertise. Business success requires agile leaders who can skillfully lead through change, drive performance, and cultivate a people-first culture of engagement and accountability.
Poor Leadership practices cause most organizations to operate with a 5-10% productivity “drag”. The UK currently has an estimated 2.4 million untrained ‘accidental managers’, and with poor management costing employers around £84 billion a year according to the OECD, it is time for a step-change in how we prepare the next generation of leaders
How does poor leadership impact a company’s culture?
- Lack of vision: Without direction, employees are at a loss. They don’t know what the goals are of the company, and they don’t know why they are working with specific processes.
- Failure to meet goals: To achieve the best results, employees at every level need to be committed to the company and the attainment of goals, both financial and otherwise. Without a supportive culture or encouraging manager, financial and business goals are likely to be missed.
- Low morale: Poor leadership can result from employees feeling misdirected or uncertain about the company and their jobs. Poor communication contributes to this issue. In some cases, failure to address negative employees or poor performers leads to low morale and a decline in productivity, performance, and wellbeing.
- Reduction in productivity: Poor leadership negatively impacts employee satisfaction, which in turn negatively impacts employee productivity.
- High staff turnover: Employees who aren’t motivated and are burned out from a poor culture begin looking for other jobs. Companies struggle when they lose top performers and experienced employees and must replace them with new hires.
Leadership skills training
Can your current leaders support, delegate, inspire, celebrate, and challenge their staff to perform at the highest level? Yes, they can. Leadership and management training courses are specialised programs designed to help you learn new leadership techniques and refine old skills to run your team, including assertive communication, motivation methods, and coaching.
Benefits include:
- Being able to formulate and implement effective leadership strategies
- Developing the capabilities needed to increase your team’s work productivity
- Decrease employee turnover and increase engagement, creating a strong and united team
- Develop your communication skills, mastering the art of negotiation, influence, and conflict management
- Become more confident as a leader and find new ways of influencing the teams you lead
- Learn how to effectively connect to people, develop the ability to give constructive feedback, and critically seek the feedback of your team.
Leadership and management training programs in the UK
Managing people is a complicated skill, and learning it is not a short process. A one- or two-day course is the equivalent of dipping a toe in the water, especially as the focus increasingly shifts towards “soft skills” such as listening, collaboration, and heightened emotional intelligence. Here are our best leadership and management training programs picks in the UK and the associated costs.
Cambridge Advanced Leadership Programme
This 3-week general management and leadership programme (the ALP) allows seasoned senior executives to draw on cutting-edge academic research; as one would expect from one of the foremost universities in the world. The University of Cambridge has always emphasised smaller class sizes for maximum interaction and focused effort between world-class faculty and world-class participants. Over the three weeks, these themes such as ecosystem advantage, managing the unforeseen, management of people, entrepreneurship, fostering and guiding innovation, sustainability, and coaching are explored.
Cost: £20,000 + VAT for 3 weeks
Oxford Women's Leadership Development Programme
This 6-week programme aims to better equip current leaders to navigate the many challenges and gender biases that hinder female professionals in the workplace. The coursework is also designed to help aspiring female managers and executives develop the critical leadership skills to influence, persuade, empower, and mentor.
Cost: £2,200 + VAT
London’s School of Business & Finance Leadership Development Programme
This 10 weeks course is certified by CPD-Continuing Professional Development and is ideal for new managers or senior executives who want to make a real difference in their department by making sure that their staff are performing to their full potential.
Cost: £1,600
Developing Leadership in Practice at Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
This 4-month programme will help you understand what it means to be a partner and the mindset required to lead a firm and develop the skills to lead and inspire teams, grow clients, and develop strategy through workshops, case studies, peer learning, self-reflection, personal assessments, and one-on-one coaching.
Cost: £6,850 + VAT
NHS Leadership Academy
If you are an NHS worker, then this applies to you. The Academy offers a range of tools, models, programmes, and expertise to enable those at every level of their leadership journey to fulfil their potential. The programmes available include:
- The Edward Jenner programme – a 3-week programme for participants who are new to leadership by helping them to gain a fresh perspective on the delivery of services and the impact they have on the patient experience.
- The Mary Seacole programme – a 6-month leadership development programme, designed for those looking to move into their first formal leadership role, or those new to first time leadership.
- The Elizabeth Garraett Anderson programme – a 24-month Master’s in Healthcare Leadership aiming to equip new senior leaders with the confidence to drive lasting change to improve the patient experience.
- The Nye Bevan programme – a 12-month learning journey aimed at developing the best executive leaders by helping them to perform better at board level.
- The Stepping Up programme – a 5-month leadership development programme for aspiring Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) colleagues who work within healthcare.
Cost: fully funded by the NHS
MSc Business Strategy, Leadership and Change at Herriot-Watt University (Edinburgh)
MSc Business Strategy, Leadership and Change is a conversion degree programme led by academics from Edinburgh Business School. It introduces the study of business and management to graduates and professionals from non-management backgrounds who wish to enhance their careers. This MSc in Business Strategy, Leadership, and Change is accredited by the Chartered Management Institute and successful candidates will be awarded a Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership from the Chartered Management Institute.
Cost: £7,776 for 12 months
