Inspiring local leadership
Leadership Development Programme
NAVCA is pleased to bring to you Inspiring local leadership - a leadership development
programme for local support and development organisations.
NAVCA works in partnership with like-minded organisations across sectors to provide high
quality support and services local voluntary sector organisations. For this programme we are
working in partnership with Impact International, an award-winning, global learning and
development business. They specialise in the design and delivery of ‘leadership for
sustainability’ programmes, developing leaders who have the capacity and capability to
create and lead sustainable enterprises.
We have combined our strengths to design a unique leadership programme that combines
quality and expertise of a leading global player in leadership development with a proposition
that is affordable, accessible and relevant to people working in local leadership roles in the
voluntary sector. The co-design with Chief Officers has ensured this programme will provide
you with a real life changing development opportunity.
Programme
This programme is designed specifically for Chief Officers and senior managers of local
support and development organisations. It addresses their role as leaders not only of their
organisation, but also, potentially, as leaders of their local voluntary and community sector, a
dual leadership role – facing in and facing out.
The aim of this programme is to develop the deep roots of the Chief Officer and senior
managers’ capacity for leadership. It is to help them build the self-understanding and
situational awareness that are the basis for poise and confidence, that enable them to be
present and have presence and that are the necessary conditions for influence and
achievement.
We start with the idea that leadership is natural – that it emerges in those people who have
worked out what they believe in and what they want to happen in the world around them and
who decide to act in good faith to bring it about. We often hear calls for ‘strong leadership’,
usually implying force and domination – driving things through despite resistance; in this
programme we suggest a redefinition of strength: reclaiming it as attentiveness, generosity,
mindfulness and purpose.
We do a minimum of teaching or skills development on this programme but focus instead on
the daily realities of the Chief Officer’s and senior managers’ role, the real leadership that is
demanded of them, the ambiguities and dilemmas that are an inevitable fact of their roles
and the affirmations, explorations and insights that will help them flourish as a leader.
Pre-course contact
Each participant will have a minimum of 2 conversations with a programme facilitator to:
o Provide Introductions and a description of the programme
o Discuss the participant’s role and development history
o Work through any queries, logistical issues or individual needs
o Describe the ‘focal development project’ process and invite the participant to think about a
suitable task or project they can make the subject of this process.
o Discuss and decide on the participant’s focal development project (second conversation)
Focal Development Project
Participants’ Focal Development Project will be the key development process of the
programme. Participants will be invited to consider particular work projects or challenges as
material for continuous action learning.
Each participant is invited to choose a current work project or process to be the focus of their
continuous action learning. This should be something in which their own leadership is a
salient factor and which is likely to continue throughout the duration of the programme.
Coaching
During and after the programme participants take part in one-to-one discussions with
facilitators to monitor progress during the programme and to follow-up after the programme
with particular regard in supporting participants work through their focal development project
– the challenges involved and seeking solutions to move it forward.
The extent of follow-up coaching can be arranged by the participant with facilitators of the
programme.
Programme Portal
An online resource accessible to participants carrying programme information and other
resources. Access to the portal would be by password only.
3-day programme
The programme will be a mix of:
o Theoretical inputs such as an introduction to models of leadership that emphasise
dialogue, skilled deliberation and the articulation of values and visions within a framework of
collaboration and partnership;
o Leadership as action;
o How patterns of verbal behaviour affect outcomes and constitute leadership using a
method that has the effect of greatly increasing self-awareness, mindfulness and selfassurance.
o A series of short practical projects with observation, reflection and discussion
o Work on participants’ Focal Development Projects
o Leadership inquiry - participants will be asked to consider their role in the broader subject
of leadership capacity building in the sector.
Senior Manager’s criteria
Senior managers are able to join the Programme if they meet at least 3 of the following
criteria:
in a deputy CEO role within the organisation
looking to secure a CEO role within the next 3 – 5 years
in a senior management role, working at a strategic level and helping to make key decisions
within the organisation
managing a key area of the organisation e.g. volunteer centre
in a senior management role with leadership responsibilities