From education to employment

Virtual leadership and team development course hailed a success by top organisations

Neil Jurd

A RENOWNED leadership coach has found an innovative new way to share his expertise far and wide during lockdown.

The virtual learning course launched by Neil Jurd, of Kendal in Cumbria, has already been bought by high-profile clients including the NHS England Crisis Management and Resilience team, Alertacall and the Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland to help them navigate these uncertain times.

The former Sandhurst instructor earned acclaim for his ability to bring out the best in people, enabling leaders and managers in education and industry to weather adversity as they lead their businesses through a wave of challenges.

Neil’s new virtual learning course brings the best from his years of experience in the army and beyond.

He has delivered inspirational and influential talks to the likes of The Directors’ Forum, University of Cumbria and Commonwealth Games Team Scotland.

He said: “If everyone is waiting for things to go back to the way they were, then that’s dangerous. We need to face the problems and challenges that lie ahead and adapt quickly and efficiently to the new change.

“With thousands of people working in new and difficult conditions, it’s so important that leaders are able to support their team. Leadership is not just about setting an example or leading from the front, but rather creating and inspiring a good team.”

As it heads to combat the challenges of winter pressures and the ongoing Covid pandemic The National Health Services’ (NHS) resilience and patient flow branch recently invested in the remote learning course to help enhance its leadership and team development.

Head of resilience and patient flow at the NHS Stuart Hosking-Durn said: “We are really excited to be an early adopter of these training videos. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic we are no longer able to provide class-based learning activities for our command-and-control teams.

“The small bite-size targeted video packages will enable a training plan to be rolled-out which will allow individuals to pick the right time for them to access the packages whilst enabling the wider groups to meet via Teams to discuss the learning, reflect on practice and allow us to adapt our ongoing learning into future practice.”

Neil’s new course is made up of 30 bespoke videos totalling four hours of leadership and development training.

The videos give users an understanding of leadership, how to build a successful team and how to apply leadership in an effective and positive manner.

Chief Operating Officer at Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland Harvey Tilley believes the pandemic had made it even more important to enhance ILF Scotland’s leadership and team development.

ILF Scotland operates as a discretionary fund to more than 4,600 disabled people across Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Harvey said: “The content of the videos are brilliant for enabling personal development in this Covid-19 world. They are highly accessible, engaging, cover all areas of leadership and are extremely cost-effective. Not only that, they allow learning to be done at the convenience and speed of the individual. We look forward to working with Neil at an individual level first, then at an organisational approach next year.”

Neil, who is also a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management, has recently been recognised with the coveted British Citizen Award for his services to volunteering.

His first book ‘The Leadership Book – a Step-By-Step Guide to Excellent Leadership‘ is available to buy on Amazon from December 2.


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