Overview
Beyond what's learnt whilst at placements, the Friday learning & development journey will help you to become a leader who can bring about transformation in our economy.
We want to help you diagnose what’s going wrong with the economy now and help you think about what a just and regenerative economic system might look like. Crucially, we want to set you up with the tools and mindset to be leaders who keep learning and developing far beyond the Programme.
Programme Aims
Our learning and development programme is geared towards developing the understanding, vision and skills to make transformational change happen at three connected scales: self, organisations, and economy & society.
We want to give you the tools to think critically about your impact and drive the systemic change our world needs.
You’ll learn from people who are doing the work - expert practitioners, coaches and inspirational leaders. We’ll encourage you to develop your own leadership skills so you can lead change in yourself, your organisations, and beyond.
By the end of the Programme, Associates understand the world as a system and commit to leading transformational change at three levels:
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Self
We encourage you to explore who you are and how you relate to others and develop a stronger sense of your own purpose.
You will explore the importance of power in relationships and have a greater awareness of your own motivations. We’ll encourage you to engage with and listen deeply to others, including those with differing experiences and opinions.
We will practice adopting a learning mindset and being open to examining your deeper beliefs and values.
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Organisation
We will explore the roots and benefits of traditional approaches to managing organisations and projects, as well as more systemic alternatives.
You will develop your own sense of what a healthy organisation looks like; how they manage themselves and contribute to the systems around them.
Our goal is that you will leave more confident in how to make change happen in ways that work towards a healthy future, whatever kind of organisation you are in.
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Economy and Society
We will look at the ideas and power dynamics that have created our current economic system, and engage with the positive and negative impacts that it generates.
We will introduce you to alternative conceptions of economic systems and encourage you to develop your own vision of a positive and healthy future for our economy and society.
You’ll understand how societal level change can happen and be equipped with the tools to be part of it.
A flavour of our sessions
We are continually refreshing the learning and development programme to ensure that it's as helpful and transformative as it can be. These are a sample of topics you might cover, there may well be some different sessions by the time you join the programme:
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Creating systemic change
You’ll develop your understanding of the world as a complex, interconnected system. Putting theory into practice, you’ll learn more about how systems work and can be changed for the benefit of all.
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Scaling social innovation
Given the enormity of the world’s problems, it’s important for impactful organisations to scale. You will learn about different tools and strategies that can enable scaling, and debate if and when they should be used.
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Problem solving techniques
To help you solve the challenges you’ll encounter in your placements, we’ll introduce a variety of problem solving techniques, from traditional linear frameworks to creative and systems thinking approaches.
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Stories of change
We believe in the power of inspiration, so you’ll hear from people driving forward systemic change, from social entrepreneurs and campaigners to people helping businesses do better.
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Doughnut economics
Strongly influenced by Kate Raworth’s landmark Doughnut Economics, we’ll examine and practice the 7 mindset shifts she advocates to keep our planet in the safe and just space for humanity.
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Leadership
We want to help our Associates grow into the kind of leaders the world needs. From the power of humility to how to lead yourself and others well, we encourage Associates to reflect on and develop their leadership skills.
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Reflection and collective intelligence
We’ll use different tools to harness the power of the cohort to learn together, including feedback mechanisms, creative reflection and action learning sets.
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Impact creation
We’ll look at traditional impact tools like a theory of change and impact measurement techniques and how to put them into practice, and have a chance to critically consider their value and role.
Meet our trainers
Our trainers come from across the impact sector and beyond - expect to hear from social entrepreneurs, systems change experts, climate researchers, leadership coaches, and many more!