Professional Development Small Business Leadership Programme

Structure

Content

The programme consists of 8 sessions, delivered across a 10 week period. Each session will focus on a key theme and involve a:

• 90 minute webinar each week
• 30 minute peer group session each week
• pre/post session self-study materials

Webinars:
The webinars are online session made up of presentations and interactive elements. These will be used to set the scene, introduce concepts and discuss examples, models and tools, as well as facilitate active discussion amongst the cohort.

Peer group calls:
You will be put into a smaller peer group (4-6 people) at the start of your programme, who you will meet with each week as a smaller team to work through your learning.
You will be asked to work on certain elements of your self-study materials before the call, and your facilitator will then lead a discussion around those elements with the group within the context of your own businesses.

Topics covered across the programme will include:

Session 1 - Overview and themes (productivity, sustainability, resilience)
Session 2 - Innovation and Markets
Session 3 - Leadership and Employee Engagement
Session 4 - Vision, Purpose and Brand
Session 5 - Demand Creation and Customer Relationships
Session 6 - Operational Efficiency
Session 7 - Finance and Financial Management
Session 8 - Action Planning and Implementation

What will I get out of it?

By the end of the programme you will:

• Understand what drives productivity improvement in SMEs and have considered what this means in your own business context
• Have considered what is meant by innovation in your business, how it impacts on productivity, and how to respond and recover from challenges through business model innovation
• Have developed an awareness of your own leadership style and how to develop your leadership skills to have a positive effect on the performance of your business
• Have articulated your vision and values, considered the culture of your business, and assessed the long term impact and sustainability of your business
• Have identified key markets for your business, and considered your approach to creating customer demand and building customer relationships
• Understand key elements and principles of financial management and the use of financial data to support strategic decision making in your business
• Have assessed key elements of employee engagement in your business and identified actions to achieve high performance
• Have outlined a strategic approach to operations management and value creation in your business including the use of digital technologies
• Have developed an action plan for resilience and productivity in your business including an identification of key tools and metrics

Study time

What time commitment must I make?

You will be expected to attend each weeks live sessions and complete the pre and post session exercises.

Each of the 8 weeks will include:

1. Live webinars
2. peer group calls
3. preparation/ review
4. self-study exercises

In total participants will be expected to commit a total of approximately 30 hours across the 10 week programme (3 hours per a week)