CEL Lauches New Leadership Training Initiative

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In a bid to improve the quality of training provided for leadership, the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) is launching a new programme called First Steps to Leadership.

The CEL, launched in 2003, was set up to develop a training strategy that would place the UK in a competitive position with regards to leadership by the year 2010. The new programme, which will be running from late 2005, follows on from the highly successful Aspire programme for managers from the black and ethnic minority communities.

A Pilot for Change

“We received extremely positive feedback from participants on the Aspire programme, which was essentially a pilot,” said Deborah Persaud, the project leader responsible for CEL’s diversity and equality strategy. “We have used that feedback to develop a new First Steps programme, which is being created and delivered through an existing working partnership of CEL, the BLI and NbM, drawing on the strengths of all three organisations.”

Robin Landman, executive director at the Network for Black Managers (NbM), has been appointed to oversee the First Steps delivery team. Mr Landman has held various roles in the sector and is well respected as a leading authority on racial equality. Landman has also served as a member of the Commission for Black Staff in Further Education and was a major force in the founding of the Black Leadership Initiative (BLI).

CEL chief executive Lynne Sedgmore explained, “We have been overwhelmed by the willingness and enthusiasm of black staff in the sector to engage in leadership development, and we will continue to offer top-quality programmes to meet that demand. We feel strongly that we are working with the leading experts in the field, who are close to and understand the particular needs of this group of dedicated staff.”

Dan Atkinson

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