About the course
Leicester Leading Together is a training course, which aims to help people to develop their skills in leading and effecting change in their professional context and to build relationships within Leicester across differences such as culture, religion & worldview, socio-economic background.
The course will enable you to:
- Be a more effective as a leader, working with people who are different from you.
- Manage both upwards and downwards, think strategically and operationally, look after your people and fulfill the demands of those to whom you are responsible.
- Balance home and work life to ensure that all competing pressures, tasks, and obligations are met as fully as you can whilst also looking after yourself.
What do past participants say about the course?
“As People Operations at Mindera, I completed the course and found it exceptionally practical. It strengthened my confidence as a senior People professional, sharpened my ability to “read” organisations, people and systems, and improved how I respond under pressure. Most importantly, the structured, equal-status learning with leaders from business, community, education, faith and the voluntary sector deepened my intra-cultural and interfaith awareness. I now have a trusted cross-sector network I can call on to solve shared problems—something that has already benefited our inclusion, wellbeing and community engagement work.”
Who is the course for?
8 people will be selected to take part in each course. It is aimed at those with management experience who aspire to more senior roles, and participants will be carefully selected to ensure there is a good level of diversity in the cohort and that participants are at a similar stage in their career development. The course runs under the Chatham House rule. Only one person from any organisation can attend the course at any one time.
When and where is the course taking place?
The course will run at St Philip’s Centre, 2a Stoughton Drive North, Leicester, LE5 5UB
The next of dates on which the course will run are: 10:00 – 13:00 on Tuesdays: 8th September 2026, 13th October 2026, 3rd November 2026, 8th December 2026, 12th January 2027 and 9th February 2027.
What will the course cover?
Throughout the course, we will hear from a speaker with senior leadership experience and apply that learning to our own contexts There are six modules to the Leicester Leading Together course:
Module 1: What is leadership?
Aim: To enable participants to understand diverse perspectives on leadership.
Participants will have a chance to get to know each other and set their personal objectives for the programme.
Module 2: Managing self under pressure
Aim: to equip participants to handle themselves well in complex situations.
We will identify how we personally respond to conflict, techniques for maintaining a non-anxious presence and managing difficult conversations. We will discuss how to work from a place of rest.
Module 3: Running an organisation well
Aim: To enable participants to understand good governance.
We will discuss effective board behaviour, including decision making techniques, how to run meetings well, and best practice in safeguarding children and adults at risk.
Module 4: When crisis hits
Aim: to equip participants to get the best out of their teams and colleagues in a crisis.
We will discuss how to respond to a crisis, focusing on how we work with others in challenging circumstances.
Module 5: Towards solutions
Aim: to develop participants’ ability to support other in solving complex problems.
We will use action learning sets to enable participants to bring complex problems and look to the group for support and help in developing appropriate solutions.
Module 6: (Dis)-connected
Aim: to discuss participants’ learning from the course and to work together in generating solutions to the problems they face as individuals and as a whole group.
We will focus on Leicester as a city and what part we can play in helping people learn how to live well together.
How to apply
The application process has three parts.
First an application from yourself (roughly 500 words in length) indicating why you want to join the course and how it will help you encourage residents of Leicester to live well together across differences. Please provide a phone number and email address.
Second, a letter from your line manager endorsing your application, and setting out why you are a suitable candidate for the course. This does not need to be more than a couple of sentences.
Third, recognition of expectations. You are expected to attend all sessions and give feedback on how the course could be improved. The course is being offered free of charge. But places are limited and if someone takes a place but does not turn up that will have a negative impact on other participants and exclude somebody who would otherwise have benefited from the place. We are therefore asking that your line manager will also commit to paying £1500, the full cost of the course, if you do not take up the place. To be clear, if you do attend, there is no charge.
To apply, contact Revd Canon Dr Tom Wilson, Director, St Philip’s Centre, director@stphilipscentre.co.uk, by 31st July 2026.