What you'll gain
Through these Spark Sessions you'll have the opportunity to capture what good leadership looks like, analyse your current style and establish what needs to be done to put good practices into the way you lead – all by learning alongside fellow business leaders.
- Workshop 1 – Zoom out: What makes a good leader in challenging times? Explore the testing business landscape we currently find ourselves in by looking at questions such as how do you understand what your purpose is, how do you maintain your own energy, time and priorities, and how do you keep focused on your business vision?
- Workshop 2 – Zoom in: Be comfortable with being uncomfortable (you’re not an imposter). Focus on how to be secure with being uncomfortable, examining key questions such as what makes you feel like an imposter and what do you need to learn to unlearn?
- Workshop 3 – Make it fly: Talking and communicating tough decisions. Look at how business leaders develop good habits in this space, focusing on are you present in the room, how could you make difficult conversations easier and how do you communicate your business purpose?
For 75 minutes each week, for three weeks, you'll come together as a group digitally and break the discipline down into actionable chunks.
Our upcoming dates
Meet our experts
The expert part of each workshop features an interesting story or idea that will kick-start the discussion amongst the group, creating energy and establishing a safe space to talk about the challenges of being a leader in challenging times means.
Our upcoming experts:
- Alison Harrison – head of delivery at DDCAS. Alison has worn many hats over the years, each bringing new experience, challenges and insight into people, processes and business. She is an agile advocate and natural leader/servant. Not coming from a traditional IT background, and having set up and failed at my own business, Alison has learnt how to do it the right way. Her journey is one many can learn form to hone their own approach to leadership.
- Jeanette Pope – head of people capability, operational performance at BAE Systems. Jeanette started her career in finance and then moved into project management, holding a wide variety of leadership positions. She has been coaching, mentoring and supporting leaders with their careers for over ten years.
- Barry Leahey – MD at Playdale Playgrounds. Barry began honing his leadership skills when designing and building of health clubs, followed by telecoms and advertising before joining Playdale Playgrounds in 2004 as sales and marketing director. In 2018 he was honoured to be named IoD North West ‘Global Director of the Year 2018’ and was recently featured in The Telegraph’s Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders.
- Barbara Armstrong OBE – MD at P Three Business Development. Specialising in business growth, transformational change, innovation and leadership excellence, Barbara designs, develops and delivers customised support for private, public sector and not-for-profit organisations.
"Each session had a different focus, with a short, thought-provoking introduction from a guest speaker. This created a platform for us all to share our challenges, how we tackle the issues, and great conversations and peer learning ensued."
Liz Smith, MD at LG Davis
Helpful details
Where: All sessions will be taking place virtually via Zoom. Admittance to the Zoom room is closed ten minutes after the start time.
Eligibility: Spark Sessions are for businesses which have three or more full-time employees and have been trading for over a year. Please provide as much detail as you can on sign-up stage to ensure we can provide you with the most relevant sessions to your business needs.
Please note these sessions aren’t intended to be a networking event, rather an opportunity to learn from like-minded business leaders and to start to make small but impactful changes in your business by having access to a technology expert. There is an important element of group discussion and therefore we ask that you keep your camera on where possible and contribute to each session.
Cost: We offer an early bird price of £30 if you sign up more than one week in advance of the first workshop. After that point participation costs £50.
Contact information: To find out anything else about our Spark Sessions contact us on sparksessions@bethebusiness.com – we look forward to hearing from you!
Future sessions: If you are unable to commit to the current programme dates but would like to be kept up to date on our future cohort sessions please complete an expression of interest form.
Privacy notice: To find out more about how we use your data please see our privacy notice.