International leadership experts at Common Purpose have responded to calls from senior managers, who believe investment in leadership has a positive impact on productivity, but are unable to release key people for significant amounts of time.

Last year’s “Boosting Productivity Through Leadership & People Management Skills” report, from the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, found that 98% of respondents believed that investment in leadership and people management skills has a positive impact on productivity at an organisation level.  However, 41% believed lack of staff time was a barrier to increasing investment in these areas.  

In response, Common Purpose has launched a bite-sized leadership-learning offer for groups of up to 50 people.  Each event is interactive, includes group work and external perspectives, providing people with new ideas and insights that they can translate into action. They are flexible enough that they can be used in a number of ways; for example, an organisation could run a series of them to deliver more impact or they could be used to complement in an internal management programme.

Based on 30 years of cross-boundary leadership experience, the two-hour or half-day workshops offer bite-sized, impactful leadership learning at a low cost-per-head that will help develop people as:

• More inclusive leaders, better able to work with difference and lead diverse teams

• ·       More collaborative leaders, better able to engage with multiple, diverse stakeholders and accelerate complex change

Louise Teboul, Operations Director for Common Purpose UK said; “For 30 years Common Purpose has been developing leaders, and we know from feedback that our participants have found the programmes extremely effective in developing leadership skills, gaining new insights and helping them see the bigger picture. Having delivered a few workshops already myself, for organisations such as Greater Birmingham Chamber and the Diversity in Digital Festival, we also realise we can make an impact in a few hours.  So, I’m really excited that we can now offer organisations an option that is flexible, interactive and high impact but low-cost per head.  It’s a great, low-risk way for organisations to engage staff and demonstrate the benefit of professional development.”

Recent alumni from the Midlands senior leaders programme include people from organisations such as Trowers & Hamlins, Lloyds Bank, NEC Group, Liquid PR, Spectra First, Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre and West Midlands Police.

Issued for & on behalf of Common Purpose