What do people say about the programme?

Read our inspirational book from senior leaders who have experienced WIG programmes during their careers, 'Eight Personal Reflections'

A survey carried out in October 2007 of alumni from WIG's leadership programmes found:

97% reported an impact on their performance
83% said the programme had had an impact on their team or unit
62% said the programme had had an impact on their career
59% said the programme had had an impact on their organisation

Three delegates from the same learning set on the 2006/07 Senior Leaders Programme discuss how they benefited:

"We've all built the relationships with each other where we can pick up the phone to find a route through when needed." Tina Hetherington, Head of New Business, Nationwide

“Nationwide has an executive development programme which I’d been on six months before and which identified external perspective as a development need; WIG’s programme was suggested to me as a way of filling that need.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the programme, meeting the people and going out to the sites. I’d encourage others to do it, particularly as it’s not a huge drain in terms of time - just a day a quarter.

“What I certainly got out of it was the networking. For example, Mike Kelly of KPMG put me in contact with his diversity people, who I then did some work with.

“The group dynamic worked really well - very supportive - and we’ve met twice since the formal programme ended.

“The programme certainly increased my awareness and broadened my horizons, and the work with Ralph (our facilitator) was very good, focused on specifics and really very useful.”

“We were an eclectic mix brought together by WIG and happenstance but we gelled very well.” Mike Kelly, UK Head, Corporate Social Responsibility, KPMG

“The main benefits were undoubtedly getting different perspectives from people at the same level as me - raising similar concerns whether they were from the Treasury, the House of Lords or Nationwide - and the trained facilitator worked very well. The framework wasn’t too rigid - for example we decided to get in an actress to teach us how to breathe properly for voice and impact training, which isn’t something that any of us would have done individually.

“I gained a lot of insights into different leadership styles, becoming more focused on leadership and management, and it was a very good use of my time. We all agreed that we didn’t invest enough time in our own development, generally being more focused on our teams, so it was an opportunity both to think about it and do something about it.

“The sum of experiences brought from the different backgrounds worked very well indeed - providing much more than if I had just been in a private sector group and I know my public sector colleagues thought the same way.”

“Towards the end we became a very good group - very well balanced and it was good to have the cross-sector perspective.” Michael Pownall, Clerk of the Parliaments, House of Lords

“After quite a long career in the same institution, 35 years in the House of Lords, and having reached the position of deputy head of the administration, I wanted to broaden my horizons and contacts and look at the challenges of management in a broader context. We had recently joined WIG and were keen to explore what it had to offer, so the course made good sense.

“Early on we focused on individual development within a group context, with the help of an excellent facilitator, later moving on to experiences of management.The cross-sector mix worked well here, as there always seemed to be one of us who had a particularly important career matter to reflect on and which we were all able to talk through and contribute to possible outcomes.

“In terms of benefits, it improved my confidence, as the emphasis on playing to strengths rather than weaknesses was a lesson for me - so too was seeing that the challenges which other leaders and managers face are similar to mine, albeit in a very different institution.”

For more information, contact the Leadership Programmes Team at WIG on 020 7222 1166 or follow the below link to our information request form.