In this video, Alastair Work, Senior Associate and Coach at Advance HE, introduces our Strategic Leadership Programme which aims to build flexible and resilient leaders, capable of delivering large-scale change, by providing opportunities to share insights, work with a support network of peers and reflect on leadership styles and frameworks for life beyond the programme.
The need for the programme’s blended format had its origins during the Covid lockdown. Alistair said this led the team “to redesign the programme entirely so that it could be delivered with best effect using online technologies. After that period, as we gradually went back into work, we felt that it was useful to keep some of the elements of the online experience and blend them with a face-to-face interaction.”
The new version of the programme begins with online work, including an online workshop and asynchronous pre- and post-session activities, before an in-person meet-up for an overnight residential before the programme finishes online. Alistair said the meet-up “has the characteristic of a reunion … it's usually quite a joyous occasion.”
This blended format has many benefits, including being able to use the technology at hand to optimise learning, reducing environmental impact with minimal travel, and wider accessibility. Alistair said, “We’re able to have international speakers and indeed international participants on the programme, which widens the diversity of conversations that we're able to have during the sessions.”