Top manager programme
The programme has been running for 30 years and many of today's leading players in the NHS are past participants of the Top Manager Programme. The programme gives senior leaders time and space to reflect on their leadership style and take stock of themselves, their role and their impact on others
Past participants talk about the Top Manager Programme
Who is it for?
This programme is for people holding senior positions in public sector organisations. You won't necessarily already be a director, but you'll definitely be aspiring to a director role, moving up from deputy director to director level or above or moving from a clinical to a managerial role. The majority of participants work in the NHS; however, we welcome leaders from social services, education and health-related public sector, private and voluntary organisations.
Benefits of this leadership development programme
The learning on TMP is multi-layered: from learning about yourself and how you are experienced by others, to considering the implications and application of national policy. The programme is not about gaining basic technical skills - we assume that, as senior leaders, you already have these skills.
Increasing personal resilience is an important thread: developing your skills in maintaining a good work/life balance, keeping things in perspective and adding to your repertoire of what to do when things get out of kilter.
There is a focus on how to develop the political and emotional intelligence to succeed when stepping up to more senior roles. The external context is held in mind throughout; the programme provides you with access to and connection with key players working in the forefront of health service policy guidance, analysis, evaluation and commentary.
What will you do on this programme?
Group work provides the core learning approach in TMP. Through taking an active part in different groups you will have the opportunity to notice and hear how you are seen and experienced by others.
The scope of the programme is wide. Drawing on humanistic and psychodynamic theory, it focuses on self-awareness, managing yourself and working effectively with others. The development and use of emotional intelligence is a key theme as is organisational dynamics and leading and managing change. Issues of power, authority, difference, change and transition are also examined in depth.
The learning continues beyond the life of the programme. By becoming part of an alumni network you are invited to an annual event for past participants, together with the opportunity to attend other events and access to a national database of top managers.