Centre for General Management Development
Cranfield Business Directors Programme
(previously Cranfield Business Leaders' Programme)
Increasing business performance and sustainability
The Cranfield Business Directors Programme is like few other management development opportunities for senior leaders. It offers the maximum personal and business benefit from a minimum and realistic time investment at a school of business renowned for its practical relevance.
Working with many of Cranfield’s most experienced faculty, the programme enables you to reflect upon your contribution as a director, and to develop a renewed perspective on your business. It is ranked as a world leader for the continued support it provides once participants return to their business.
What benefits will the programme provide for you?
You will gain:
- A strategic perspective on your business, its markets and the impact of economic and political change
- Clarity about how successful strategies are created and implemented in today’s business environment
- Understanding of how to create a sustainable business model
- Practical solutions to leading change and innovation
- An enhanced ability to build high-quality stakeholder relationships
- A comprehensive strategic review of your own business
- A clear understanding of the director’s role and the leadership potential it presents
What is the programme about?
The Cranfield Business Directors Programme is an integrated senior management development experience that incorporates:
- An engaging combination of interactive seminar discussions, case studies, syndicate work, individual assignments, and business projects
- Insights from visiting senior business speakers
- Profiling questionnaires that offer new insights into your business leadership style and impact
- Live business projects to highlight and develop strategic leadership capabilities
- Peer and tutor feedback to maximise personal leadership development
- One-to-one coaching with the programme directors to support your transition in business outlook and leadership behaviour
- A six month action plan with clear objectives, activities and timescales that ensures the successful application of learning to your business context
- A six month review module to support change, consolidate learning, re-evaluate development needs and to plan for continuing development.
Focusing on practical skills and real outcomes throughout, the programme is designed to ensure you can always relate the content directly to yourself and your business’s current performance and future success. Core themes include:
- Leadership at top and senior levels
- Distinguishing strategy from operations
- Organisational structure and culture
- Building and implementing business strategy
- Sustainable business
- Financial performance
- Making people truly central to business strategy
- The strategic role of marketing and supply chains
- Managing knowledge to create strategic innovation
- Organisational change and the constructive management of organisational politics
- Understanding the business impact of global business environment.
Programme structure
Time away from the business is a significant investment for anyone in a business leadership position. The programme is carefully designed to provide the maximum benefit in the shortest and most realistic time possible, with the flexibility of a modular format.
Who is the programme for?
Directors and senior leaders who have responsibility for a business or business unit, or who are in corporate positions with responsibility for influencing business unit strategy and performance. The programme is equally relevant to senior leaders in corporate structures and to board level managers from small and medium sized enterprises.
Typical participants:
- Already have general management and business experience at director and senior leader level
- Are directly accountable for business achievements
- Come from a wide variety of industries and disciplines
- Are aged between 35 and 55 with an average age of 46
- Are deeply committed to achieving success for their business
Programme Directors
Dr Catherine Bailey
Dr David Butcher