Centre for General Management Development
Cranfield General Management Programme
Managerial breadth and depth for senior managers
The Cranfield General Management Programme enables you to work with an increasingly sophisticated understanding of your organisational context. Senior managers will be able to expand their sphere of influence and in doing so make a tangible difference to their business. The programme combines analysis of strategic business issues and functional imperatives with the development of personal capabilities, which are especially relevant given the current business environment.
What will I get out of the programme?
You will gain:
- The capabilities to implement substantial organisational improvement, enhancing the value of your contribution
- A broader understanding of ‘big picture’ strategic issues facing your business
- An enhanced understanding of your leadership profile across the business which will enable you to work far more effectively with senior managers and leaders outside your own area of expertise
- The ability to develop a challenging and questioning approach to senior management and organisational practices
- The skills of how to use organisational politics constructively to get results.
What is the programme about?
In a modular format (an initial twelve days plus three and twelve-month reviews) this programme combines the exploration of new management knowledge with a focus on the personal development required to turn these insights into practical action. An ongoing level of individual attention over a twelve month period makes the programme a unique experience. The result is a substantially different way of thinking and acting.
Programme Summary
The Cranfield General Management Programme examines a range of management and business issues ranging from strategic management, leadership and teamwork to operations strategy.
An engaging blend of interactive presentations, case studies, syndicate work, individual assignments, and business-related projects stimulates innovative thinking about your business.
You will develop a 100-day action plan with clear objectives, activities and timescales that supports ongoing personal development and organisational change. Three-month and twelve-month review modules will enable you to consolidate learning, and re-evaluate contribution and development needs in order to plan for continuing development.
To enable you to work with an increasingly sophisticated understanding of your organisational context concentrating on three core capabilities required by senior managers:
- Seeing what is important: Develops your capacity to determine what is strategically critical to action change effectively, both within your organisational remit and across the business
- Reading competing and mutual interests: Appreciating the value of, and working with, diverse stakeholder interests in order to get results
- Influencing others to achieve significant improvements: This requires personal clarity about how you can truly make a difference to your organisation and about your ability to lead others outside of your normal domain of influence.
The Cranfield General Management Programme is an integrated and holistic development experience that comprises:
- An engaging blend of interactive presentations, case studies, syndicate work, individual assignments, and business-related projects to stimulate innovative thinking about your business
- External speakers with experience of business leadership and the realities of strategy-making
- Profiling questionnaires that offer new insights into your leadership style and impact at a higher level
- Live business project working with a business leader, that highlights personal development needs
- Peer and tutor feedback to clarify personal impact and to support development
- A 100-day action plan with clear objectives, activities and timescales that supports on-going personal development and organisational change
- 3-month and 12-month review modules to support change, to consolidate learning, to re-evaluate contribution and development needs and to plan for continuing development.
Who is the programme for?
This programme is designed for executives who are responsible for key organisational activities but who need general management training to develop a wider general management perspective outside their traditional area of responsibility and expertise.
Typical participants:
- Have a significant input to organisation-wide strategy but with a strong emphasis on implementation
- Are likely to have at least 10 years of substantial management experience but limited senior management experience
- Are aged between 35 and 55, with an average age of 43
- Want to inspire others to be similarly committed.
Dr Veronica Burke