Member Article

Leadership 'key' to North East potential

The importance of leadership to the regional economy was highlighted at the opening of a new skills development programme last week. Margaret Fay, Chair of One NorthEast, addressed the issue at the Newcastle launch of the Leadership Foundation - a 12 month programme designed to help successful leaders become “exceptional” leaders.

Ms Fay said: “Research on best practice in regional economic development around the world has found that leadership is one of the key characteristics of successful regions, and improving regional leadership will be crucial to achieving the aims of the Regional Economic Strategy.

“This means identifying and supporting leaders at different levels to work across all sectors for the good of the region, and One NorthEast is investing £1.2m over the next three years to drive this work. “Programmes like the Leadership Foundation are already building the skills and capacity of the sort of leaders we want to target, providing invaluable coaching and expertise to take them to that next level.”

The Leadership Foundation programme, which is being run in the North East by Newcastle-based P3 Associates, aims to help leaders excel by supporting them to develop the behaviours and self-confidence that will boost their performance and, hopefully, aid the economic stature of the North East.

Barbara Dennis, Managing Director of P3 Associates, said: “Leadership is a popular and perhaps overused word. And while this region has some exemplary leaders, there are many who - while successful - are not meeting their own or their organisation’s potential. Sometimes leaders need to step out of their comfort zones, to unearth the strategic skills that can take themselves and their businesses onto another level.”

For further information on the Leadership Foundation Programme, visit www.p3associates.com.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .