The new national programme to develop middle managers in local government, through building leadership and management capacity, will be funded by Communities and Local Government and the Local Government Association.

The programme seeks to enhance management and leadership skills, improve the performance of local government through building management and leadership capability, develop skills and personal effectiveness of managers to enable them to do their jobs effectively and take on more demanding and challenging roles in the future and to develop best practice solutions to the practical issues facing local authorities and encourage cross sector working and diversity;

There is a mix of residential, e-learning, group and personal project work,underpinned by intellectual and academic rigour. There are self assessment and 360 degree tools.

The programme stretches over 6 months, with 7 full days of residential courses. Between modules there will be project work in the participant’s organisation in order to ensure that learning is linked with organisation capacity building.

More information is available from the Improvement and Development Agency. http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=5689683