Join 30,000 senior leaders taking part in a 12 week practical management training programme accredited by the Small Business Charter, delivered in Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley by Oxford Brookes Business School.
Dates: Running monthly
For SMEs, a 12 week practical programme to build expertise and boost confidence across key areas for senior leaders.
Join 30,000 senior leaders taking part in a 12 week practical management training programme accredited by the Small Business Charter, delivered in Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley by Oxford Brookes Business School.
Dates: Running monthly
The programme is an opportunity for senior leaders to build expertise across the key areas and to boost confidence that they’re on the right track.
The programme combines a practical curriculum, with one-to-one support from a business mentor, peer-learning sessions and an alumni network. By the end of the programme leaders will have developed a business growth plan to help them lead their business to release its potential.
The programme will be delivered by:
Participants must be able to attend all sessions.
The programme offers 50 hours of support over 12 weeks. It is intended to be manageable alongside full time work. Participants must be able to attend all sessions.
The programme will cover key areas of leadership including:
The programme cover key areas of leadership and is delivered in 4 parts, each with 3 modules. Each part has two facilitated online 2-hour sessions followed by a face-to-face practical and interactive case study workshop.
Part 1 - Strategies for Growth and Innovation
This focuses on what your business does and how you want it to develop in the future. We look at your business’s strengths and core capabilities, your opportunities, and your current and potential markets, and how innovation, digital adoption and new market penetration can be key drivers of productivity and growth.
Part 2 - Engaging with Customers
We focus on why you do what you do, how you connect with your customers and how you effectively convey your values and purpose in your brand. We look at building demand, segmenting your markets, and achieving a targeted and strategic approach to marketing.
Part 3 - Building a Sustainable and Agile Business
This part focuses on creating a suitable organisational structure to deliver your goals, and adopting good practice in the leadership and management of teams. We look at leading people through change and supporting the wellbeing of staff, as well as developing your people and introducing agile ways of working.
Part 4 - Operations and Financial Strategies
We focus on what happens in the business to create outputs, how you monitor progress and use information to inform decision-making. We look at a strategic approach to operations, financial management and options to f inance growth, and how everything comes together in the implementation of your Growth Action Plan.
Business eligibility
Applicant eligibility
The programme is 90% funded by the Government. The fee payable by participants is £750.
Julie Cook. Julie teaches on a range of business and management programmes in Brookes. She also provides consultancy services in relation to people and change matters; business transformation and new ways of working especially in relation to using global communications.
Dr Surja Datta. Surja’s research interests include innovation, and creativity. His current research is focused on understanding and explaining the 'creative milieu' phenomenon and his most recent book explores how firms attain achieve competitive advantage in a fast-changing business landscape.
Dr Paul Jackson. Paul’s areas of expertise include digital strategy and leadership, e-Business, information systems and systems thinking, with a particular focus on the management of innovation involving AI and machine learning. Paul has previously worked as a consultant to national e-Government projects.
Dr Kate Ringham. Kate is a Chartered Accountant with a consultancy and academic specialism in Corporate Social Responsibility in addition to financial and non-financial reporting. Kate is the academic lead for the Help to Grow programme.
Jeff Stewart. Jeff is an experienced academic and marketing practitioner, specialising in digital and social media marketing, analytics and product marketing.
Prof Tim Vorley. Tim’s research and publications are predominantly in the fields of entrepreneurship, enterprise and regional economic development. He works extensively with a number of central government departments and agencies, as well as with Local Enterprise Partnerships and local government bodies.
Dr Nick Wilton. Nick is an experienced consulting academic, working and publishing widely around the themes of labour markets, employability, and career decision-making. Clients have included TUC Commission on Vulnerable Employment, Department for Education and Skills and European Social Fund.
Nick Wake. Nick is a Chartered Marketer, lecturer and facilitator. His 25 year's plus of experience covers a variety of contexts including FTSE top 100 client side and international business services. He works with SMEs to solve their temporary marketing leadership challenges and provide creative marketing services.
Dr Karla Zimpel-Leal. Karla is an experienced practitioner, academic and facilitator. Her research interests are multidisciplinary and include disruptive care models, healthy ageing, business model innovation and knowledge transfer.
The total contact time commitment is 50 hours over 12 weeks. Aside from the sessions (32 hours) and the peer calls (8 hours), 10 hours of mentoring support is included. To maximise the benefits of the programme, participants may wish to set aside additional time for action planning and personal reflection.
Whilst participants are expected to make themselves available to attend all sessions, we do appreciate that emergencies happen. Online sessions are recorded and so can be viewed afterwards (but would not include small group discussions). Face to face sessions are not recorded.
Online sessions are recorded, but the face to face ones are not.
The outline model for meeting your mentor is for 10 one hour sessions. Any variation to that should be by mutual agreement between you and your mentor. For example, you may decide to meet for 5 two hour sessions.
We carefully match mentors to mentees. All our mentors have extensive experience across different sectors and of helping SMEs and so we are confident you will be able to build a fruitful working relationship. However, if for any reason, once having been introduced, you feel that a different mentor may meet your needs more appropriately then this can be addressed.
There is no assessment. However, it is a condition of the subsidised funding for the programme that individuals complete a business growth plan, supported by their mentor.
Participants will receive a Help to Grow certificate of completion where appropriate.