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LEADERSHIP AND MENTORING SUPPORT FOR YOU AND YOUR BUSINESS
Looking to develop your leader ship and manage ment skills?
We can hel p.
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IMPROVING YOUR LEADERSHIP SKILLS Improving your leadership and management skills can enhance your businesses’ performance, productivity and innovation. The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) offers a range of support to help guide business owners and develop their leadership potential. Whether you are looking for assistance in drawing up a training and development plan, coaching and mentoring or more long-term practical support, there is help available to suit every learning style and stage of business development. This booklet outlines the specific support we provide, all of which can be accessed through Business Link Northwest, an NWDA service providing businesses with access to all public and private sector business advice and support. Our assistance forms part of Solutions for Business, a suite of publicly funded business support designed to help companies start and grow.
SUPPORT AT A GLANCE Train to Gain: Leadership and Management Advisory Service Free and confidential advice and financial support to help you develop your leadership and people management skills.
Leading Enterprise and Development (LEAD) A practical leadership development programme focusing on the business and the personal development of the manager.
Business Mentoring Access to the support of an experienced business mentor either on an individual or group basis to improve leadership and management potential and help grow your business.
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TRAIN TO GAIN: LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT ADVISORY SERVICE What is it?
How to access
Free and confidential support to equip you with the skills to become a more effective leader. A specialist adviser will help you to diagnose your skills needs, and put together training and development plans to meet each individual’s needs.
Contact Business Link Northwest who will carry out an initial assessment and assign you a specialist adviser to meet with you and discuss your development needs.
Support is tailored depending on the business and includes: • Business strategy • Organisational processes • Management effectiveness • People management techniques • Employee satisfaction • Change management • Contingency planning • Building long-term profitability The service also offers financial support towards the cost of undertaking the training and development, up to a maximum of £1,000 per individual.
Each participating manager will need to undertake a skills audit and complete an individual personal development plan. The cost of the training can be reimbursed once the training course is complete.
Checklist • • •
Do you or your management team want to develop your leadership skills? Do you want to improve the performance and competitiveness of your business? Are you looking for assistance with training costs?
Who is it for? Business leaders and senior managers of organisations with between 5 and 249 employees are eligible to access the service.
CASE STUDY “Training is vital to the success of our business and we found that the Train to Gain: Leadership and Management Advisory Service met our needs perfectly. I was able to access valuable one-to-one consultancy from a business expert and have learned business improvement and process management techniques to help me drive the company forward.” Vicki Swinden, Owner The Print Company, Warrington
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LEADING ENTERPRISE AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (LEAD) What is it? A leadership development programme for owner managers looking to grow their business. The programme aims to tackle the practical issues that leaders are facing in running their business. LEAD concentrates on two important areas of the business: the business itself and the personal development of the owner manager and is delivered over a period of 10 months. It tackles practical issues that owner managers are facing in running their business rather than focusing on theoretical concepts. The programme is based on the principle that leaders learn by experience and is made up of several elements which run simultaneously for maximum impact on the growth of the delegates' business and their leadership skills. Delegates will leave the programme more confident and more able to grow and develop their business. The key elements of the programme are: • Overnight experiential – a 2-day activity with an overnight stay to enable participants get to know each other, build trust and share experiences. The aim of the overnight is to review each individual’s current leadership style in an honest and constructive way. Owners are encouraged to be reflective and use the two days to review their specific issues and their behaviour in the workplace. At the end of the two days a personal development plan is created for each individual. • Masterclasses – focusing on two themes: business growth and leadership. The business growth sessions concentrate on issues such as operations, marketing, financial planning and strategy development. Leadership sessions are delivered by inspirational speakers who share their own leadership journeys. The aim of the masterclasses is to stimulate interest and discussion amongst participants. • Action learning sets – discussing real life business challenges with a small group of other owners and producing an action plan to tackle the issue. Delegates can talk in confidence about their business challenges. Issues are discussed using questioning techniques until the delegate arrives at a strategy to move forward.
• Coaching – working with an experienced coach on a one-to-one basis to discover new ways of approaching issues. Coaches are carefully matched to delegates and their specific issues or challenges. • Shadowing exchanges – delegates are partnered up for a series of shadowing visits and workplace exchanges. Delegates observe and reflect on their exchange partner in their place of work. This is then followed up by a series of exchanges where both members will go into their partner’s business and conduct a mini evaluation project. • Online forum - members share what they have learnt in masterclasses and discuss issues from action learning sets. They also have access to podcasts, masterclass presentations and additional reading.
Who is it for? Owners of small businesses with up 50 staff. Business owners need to be able to devote two days a month for the 10 month duration of the programme. There is a cost for the programme - however this can be subsidised with financial support via the Train to Gain Leadership and Management Service (see previous).
How to access Contact Business Link Northwest who will carry out a brief assessment of your needs and put you in touch with a specialist LEAD adviser.
Checklist • • • • •
Are you looking for support to help improve your business performance? Do you feel you need to be involved with all the day to day tasks of running the business? Do you feel isolated or find it hard to step back from the business? Do you feel that you have no time to focus on strategic planning? Do you feel your personal life suffers as a result of your business?
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CASE STUDY “I have found LEAD extremely valuable, as it gives you contact with other people who are facing similar challenges and it helps build your confidence. Running a small business can be isolating; meeting other people and listening to their experiences makes you realise that everybody is facing the same problems as you.” Lynn Fotheringham, Director InsideOut Buildings, Lancashire
CASE STUDY “The one-to-one coaching sessions and masterclasses have helped me enormously, especially the action learning sets. The upshot is that my management abilities have been vastly improved and I'm much more confident and much more comfortable as a business leader. There has been a marked increase in clients, contacts and inquiries since I started the LEAD programme. Two clients per month are now coming on board and we are also winning business from competitors, which is extremely fulfilling.” Jayne Smith, Operations Director Document Direct, Liverpool
To access any of these products and services and confirm your eligibility contact:
Business Link Northwest
0845 00 66 888 businesslink.gov.uk/northwest
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BUSINESS MENTORING What is it? Free one-to-one or group development support from experienced business mentors to improve your leadership and management potential and help grow your business. One-to-one mentoring An experienced business mentor will be assigned to you to act as a role model and support your personal leadership and management development. Together you can discuss any business issues or challenges you are facing in confidence. In turn they will offer support and motivate you to develop your ability and potential. Your mentor will be carefully chosen based on their personality, skills and relevant business experience so that they understand your needs. They will challenge and question you but ultimately they will support you to make the right business decisions, provide motivation and offer knowledge and insight. Typically a one-to-one business mentoring relationship would last between six and 12 months, for a few hours each month. For business owners who may not have the time to devote to regular meetings, e-mentoring can be
incorporated. E-mentoring offers the flexibility to talk to your mentor on a one-to-one basis by telephone, email or internet. It is suitable for owners who prefer this style of learning and helps to overcome geographical barriers. Group mentoring Group mentoring enables you to develop new skills and create innovative ideas that will help you to grow your business. Groups of up to eight like-minded business people meet on a monthly basis in order to mentor each other by exchanging ideas, experiences and learning with the support of a trained mentor. For owners and leaders who may feel isolated at the top, this type of learning offers an opportunity to work together with your peers on potential areas of personal and business development and growth. Topics covered include leadership development, competency development and creative techniques and a ‘role model’ session with a successful business leader or entrepreneur. Groups usually meet once a month for a period of 6 months.
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Who is it for? One-to-one mentoring is for leaders and senior managers of small businesses that have been trading for a minimum of one year with a turnover of less than £2m. To be eligible for group mentoring your business must have been trading for a minimum of 12 months and have a turnover of less than £500,000 or up to 10 employees. If you are already receiving business support you may not be eligible for Business Mentoring. Business Link Northwest can advise you further.
How to access Contact Business Link Northwest who will check your eligibility and assist you to fill out an online application form. Your chosen specialist provider will contact you within 48 hours to discuss your needs and talk to you in more detail about the service.
CASE STUDY “My mentor has helped me to bring out my inner confidence for the benefit of the business, allowing me to discuss the advantages of my company’s services with some influential people. In setting achievable targets, my mentor has made me focus on ‘the here and now’ as well as the future, and helped me establish a reliable strategy to make business happen. My confidence and energy has increased dramatically, and I feel knowledgeable and relaxed in situations which before now, I would never have had the assertiveness to pick up the phone and arrange, let alone be in the thick of”. Alison Watson, Owner Class of Your Own, Blackburn
Checklist • • • • •
Would you benefit from working with an experienced business mentor? Are you looking to develop your leadership skills? Would you like to expand your business and enhance its competitiveness? Do you enjoy learning from others’ experience either on a one-to-one or group situation? Do you like to set the pace of your learning?
To access any of these products and services contact:
Business Link Northwest
0845 00 66 888 businesslink.gov.uk/northwest
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SUMMARY OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES BY COMPANY SIZE Pre-Start
Business Finance Access to Finance Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme Small Loans for Business Grant for Business Investment Venture Capital and Loan Fund Northwest Business Angels
Innovation and Efficiency Innovation Advice and Guidance Innovation Vouchers Knowledge to Innovate Grant for Research and Development Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Manufacturing Advisory Service
Advice for New and High Growth Business Starting a Business Intensive Start Up Support Enterprise Coaching High Growth Programme
International Trade Developing Your International Trade Potential Accessing International Markets Export Credit Guarantee
Training and Development Skills Brokerage Service Apprenticeships Train to Gain – People Development Train to Gain – Leadership and Management Advisory Service Business Mentoring Leading Enterprise and Development (LEAD)
Sector Development Sector Development
SME
Large firm
(up to 249 employees)
(250+ employees)
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Renaissance House, Centre Park, Warrington, WA1 1QN Tel: +44 (0) 1925 400 100 Fax: +44 (0) 1925 400 400 www.nwda.co.uk
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NWDA k1-21