Leading the leaders

This October saw the sixteenth Clore Leadership Short Course come to an end. Twenty-four participants from across the cultural industries had completed a fortnight of intense personal and professional development. Just like their colleagues on the previous 15 courses, they left with a new network of peers and a wealth of information and inspiration. The course can have quite an impact – Simon Hollingworth, Manager, Lincoln Drill Hall, said it was “A life-changing experience, truly! I feel as though I will look back at this course in years to come as a turning point in my life.” 

It all started back in July 2006 when the inaugural Clore Leadership Short Course was held at Ashridge Business School in Hertfordshire. The structure was based on the residential aspect of the Clore Fellowship Programme, which was established in 2003 by founding Director Chris Smith. The aim was to run a course that offered personal development, examined the nature of good leadership and provided a toolkit of skills within areas essential for effective leadership. The formula has been successful, with courses fully subscribed well into 2009. 

No two courses have been the same, partly due to the input from university and business school partners (we are currently working with University of Bath School of Management, Leeds University Business School, Nottingham University Business School, Newcastle University and Ashridge Business School) and the variety of locations and venues we use, and partly because the participants themselves have shaped the timetable. We have listened carefully to their feedback and acted upon it. As a result, 16 courses on, we now have a set of tried and tested sessions that form the backbone of the programme. They include: the ‘Four Seasons Model’, which is about understanding and valuing diversity in the workplace; ‘Searching for The Edge’, which explores how participants can be themselves as leaders; and ‘Media Training’, a practical day covering all aspects of how to deal with the media and get hands on experience. Around this backbone we flesh out the timetable with Presentation Skills, Governance, Charity Law, Developments in Digital Technology, Well-Being, Strategic Thinking, Financial Management, Quiet Leadership and Leading Change. We’ve also had talks from leaders across the cultural sector, including Farooq Chaudhry, Stella Hall, William Trevitt and Michael Nunn, Chris Smith, Genista McIntosh and Sue Hoyle.

I’m now in the position of having more than 100 Clore fellows whom I can call on to feed into the short courses. This wealth of talent and experience on my doorstep is a fantastic resource, and the fellows have jumped at the chance to give something back to the programme. The short courses are also making their mark on the fellowship programme, with three of the current cohort of fellows having previously attended a short course.

So what does the future hold? Well, thanks to continuing funding from the Cultural Leadership Programme we are able to run more short courses, in addition to a pilot follow-up course for previous attenders. The more immediate future is the seventeenth short course which starts in just a few weeks.

Fiona Cameron is the Programme Manager of the Clore Leadership Programme.
w: http://www.cloreleadership.org