Cymraeg

Aspiring Directors Programme – more information

The programme comprises the following activities:

Introduction to the programme

So how can leaders excel? Increasingly, they need a broad view of their organisation. Understanding how the entire service operates. Strengthening a number of specific capabilities – like navigating complex networks of relationships, translating their organisation’s strategy for their teams, and accelerating the development of talent. Finally, they have to enhance their resilience and personal adaptability, learning to see opportunity in disruption – all while helping their people build resilience too.

Summer School

Designed as a ‘stretch’ programme, Summer School will give you the opportunity to review and refresh your skills, build new knowledge and gain insight into cutting edge leadership practice. You will get the chance to explore innovative ways to ‘deliver the business’, drawing on a wealth of global knowledge and experience.

By living in a learning community and sharing your experiences and reflections with fellow participants from across all Welsh public services, you have a unique opportunity to build new connections and friendships.

This powerful combination supports you in the choices you make about developing your own leadership style. By reflecting on your own values and behaviours to help you feel, think and act beyond your imagined limits and to use your true capabilities and capacity to meet the demands of public service leadership and become a truly 21st Century leader.

Time to Think Learning Set

Everything we do begins with thinking. If our thinking is good, our decisions are good, our actions are good and our outcomes are good. So, what does it take for us to think for ourselves – with rigour, imagination, courage and grace?

Experience a reflective space to explore and practice the ways everyday work and business communication structures can be transformed into clear thinking, invigorating and positive experiences.

Master class 1

Design thinking is a user-centred approach to solving problems. It can make processes within the public sector more inclusive, user-friendly and innovative. Design thinking can infuse creativity within the decision-making process and can provide a constructive interface between public services and citizens. The masterclass will introduce the fundamentals of design thinking within the context of the public sector.

Leadership Embodiment

Leadership Embodiment uses principles and mindfulness to offer simple tools and practices to increase leadership presence and respond to stress and pressure with greater confidence and compassion.

Helping us to understand how and why we respond skillfully or unskillfully, supporting us to learn what we can do to live with more grace and wisdom.

Increasing the amount of time we are in a centered and mindful state of being will allow us to act with wisdom, compassion and power to meet the challenges that arise in our lives and our organisations with inspiration and dignity.

Time to Think Learning Set

Building on the skills and tools from our first Time to Think Learning Set.

Master class 2

Understanding how key relationships work and how they need to work in the future. Exploring behavioural impacts and how to develop different behaviours and relationships for future success, enabling our people and therefore our organisations to flourish. The master class will introduce the fundamentals of human dynamics within the context of the public sector.

Change Challenge

Using the Organisational Development Cycle as a framework allowing individuals to share their experience, generate ideas and develop suggestions for ways of intervening in a system challenge.

Public Service Delivery Impact

Talk of innovation has become ubiquitous in the public sector. In real life, many if not most public organisations continue to operate in narrow efficiency-driven frameworks. How can we enrich innovation practice in the public sector and enable those organisations to deliver public value?

  • What values should guide innovative practices in governments?
  • How would you measure the innovation of public organisations?
  • What are the key barriers to innovation in public organisations?

Personal Impact

Create a more confident, authentic impression, clarify personal brand and use this invaluable information and expertise to get noticed and promoted, while managing your own reputation and the teams and organisations which you represent.

The focus is on bringing out the highly confident, effective, authentic leader to help drive progress to build and lead a citizen centred inclusive culture.

Lighthouse

Shine a light on your personal learning and celebrate your achievements.
Different viewpoints can provide ways to notice and understand differences between ourselves and colleagues.

You will explore the following:

  • Intended Outcome from participating in the One Welsh Public Service – Aspiring Directors Programme
  • What you have done/are intending to do differently in these areas: Leadership, Behaviours, Change and Improvement and achievements/success – me, my leadership.

We have a limited number of places on this programme. Please answer the following questions in your application:

  • Please provide a brief description of your leadership role and responsibilities (max 300 words)
  • Please outline what outcomes you hope to achieve from participating in the programme (max 300 words)

Separate authorisation emails from your line manager and OD lead (or equivalent) are required to complete your application. Please send your emails to Leadership Development by the closing date.

Please ensure that your application includes:

  • Authorisation from the line manager who approves your study leave
  • Authorisation from your OD Lead (or equivalent)
  • Contact details of a sponsor in your organisation. The role of a sponsor (if you have one) is to mentor you during the programme. Typically you would meet regularly to discuss your experience, learning and progress. This may be your line manager or your OD lead.

Your line manager and your sponsor will be invited to the morning of the Lighthouse event. Please ensure that this date is in their diaries.