Forty-five employees from East Anglian based organisations attended an Executive Leader course delivered by Cambridge University Officers’ Training Corps at the Army Reserve Centre in Cambridge last week.
This free course is offered exclusively to local employers as part of the Ministry of Defence’s Employer Recognition Scheme.
Employers who have pledged to support Defence people under the Armed Forces Covenant were offered the opportunity by the East Anglia RFCA Regional Employer Engagement team.
Designed to develop management, communication and problem solving skills, Executive Leader is a professional development course based on the British Army’s approach to leadership and management.
All of the participants are currently in either supervisory or management positions in their workplace and they were selected by their employer to attend the event in order to gain new perspectives, ideas and leadership skills relevant to their workplace.
The course is delivered entirely by reservists, whose ability to deliver the course highlights the excellent leadership skills they develop in the Armed Forces and the value those skills add in their civilian jobs.
The morning program centred on leadership theory with a number of stimulating and interactive sessions focusing on values, personal style and the key components of good people leadership. The afternoon involved tackling fun problem solving activities outdoors.
Kate Deyn from the University of Essex said: “I thoroughly enjoyed my day on the Exercise Executive Leader course. It was really interesting to learn about how the army views and teaches leadership skills and it was geared to be relevant to any work place so certainly beneficial to me and my organisation. The army staff were all very pleasant, professional and communicated their various points well. I felt the pace of the day was exactly rights as it moved along with plenty of opportunity for discussion but never dragged. The outdoor exercises were just the right amount of physical and mental challenge to include everyone and be difficult but achievable. All in all a very valuable and fun experience that will benefit both me and my team going forward.”
Stephen Garner from Castle Point Borough Council said: “The information and knowledge passed on throughout the course of the day by those leading the exercise was fantastic. They really imparted on everyone at the event the army’s core values and principles with regards to leadership and demonstrated how those taking part could utilise this information to become better leaders. Overall the day was highly informative with both classroom and practical elements based around interesting discussion points as well as being a lot of fun.”
In addition to Executive Leader, the Army also runs Future Leader. Both courses are one day leadership development events for civilian organisations, big and small, across the full spectrum of business and industry and the public sector.
There are four events each year by 7 Brigade, run by selected Army Reserve Units at different locations across the East Midlands & East Anglia. To find out more about 2019 courses please email our Regional Employer Engagement Director, Kristina Carrington on ea-empsp@rfca.mod.uk