The introduction is designed to set participants expectations for the programme, discuss the learning outcomes and what they need to do to achieve the qualification, if appropriate. We will ask participants to share their key challenges, and these will focus how we deliver key components of the programme.  The delegates will establish how they will work as a learning community, and continue to communicate, collaborate, and support one another following the programme.

This session will introduce the delegates to the role of the manager and allow them to reflect on their own values, and their management style. Participants will examine the key management actions required for the role, (including managing people, systems and resources) and will be able to assess their own performance in these areas.   The session will include theory on different approaches to management (ranging from classical to emergent), giving them clarity of their own approach and the space to reflect on how this fits with the predominant style in their practice.

Personal insight is a key area for leaders at any level and the delegates will be introduced to tools and techniques to help them to consider their own impact and how they work with others.  In a reflective session we will ask participants to apply a personality profiling tool to themselves and consider how they need to respond to different personality types and working preferences in the team.

Positive leadership behaviours compliment management practice and the best managers demonstrate these. The delegates will consider what these behaviours are, the impact of them and the benefits that leadership bring within organisations.  We will introduce and discuss Authentic and Situational Leadership, and focus on Coaching and Mentoring as necessary leadership skills.

A key part of the session is giving the delegates the chance to recognise the leadership expectations on them and to develop a plan to meet these.  Participants will finish the session with a comprehensive personal development plan.

Our people are the most important part of any organisation and are the key factor in organisation success. Building on team-based approaches to working and using factors that support high performance in teams, the delegates will consider how they can get the best out of clinical and non-clinical colleagues, understand the role of their team in the wider organisational context and how they can develop a culture of delivering results for patients. The delegates will analyse their own team’s performance against key success factors and will be able to reflect on the management actions they can implement that support individual and team development.

Using Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions model we will ask participants to analyse the key components of a high performance, learning culture.  We will assess psychological safety, dependability, and the perceived meaning of work within teams.  We will look at how we make decisions; the impact of assumptions; the importance of role modelling; Growth Mindsets, and positive intent as well as learning from situations when they go wrong.

Leading Courageous Conversations extends to situations where participants may need additional support to lead more challenging performance conversations. The session will look at models of how to construct feedback on a day-to-day basis, help participants recognise the need to have a more structured performance orientated conversation as well as the ‘mind-set’ (i.e. non-judgemental, no assumptions), ‘skillset’ (practical skills for preparing and conducting the challenging conversation) and ‘strategy’ (how does this conversation sit in the performance pathway?) needed for more challenging conversations. At this point, we discuss the need to be mindful of their personal resilience and look at how they can develop this.

The session will focus on shaping future performance.  This may follow an everyday developmental conversation, a particularly challenging conversation or in an appraisal conversation. Discussion will include practical sessions around motivation, goal setting, as well as the trust and authenticity needed to lead performance. Following conversations, we aim to instil the message that participants influence performance does not stop. Therefore, the final session will include practical skills on influencing positive performance. Participants will understand their preferred influencing style and how to adapt styles to be effective in different situations.

This session will support the delegates to analyse the internal and external factors facing their organisation. Using practical tools and techniques to analyse will support them to deliver successful change projects which will ensure they are engaging with current best practice.

This session will give the delegates the chance to analyse different models and approaches to change management. This will allow them to select an approach that best suits them in the implementation for their project. Having awareness of any preferred methodology from their organisation, they will reflect on how well it is used and how they can use it to deliver their projects.

Participants will consolidate the learning, and identify next steps.  We will co-ordinate Action Learning, coaching and tutorial support (for CMI accreditation), and agree an ongoing action plan with participants.

The course is just the start, we will encourage participants to actively engage in the learning community and continue their development as exceptional managers and leaders with their peers.