Where do I start… when I heard that my employer was sending me on a leadership development course, I had visons of too many PowerPoint slides and generally being talked at for too long.

I was very wrong with this one.

The first bit of good news was that the course was being led by Jamie Peacock – I will admit it, I have watched the super league and followed Great Britain over the years, so was definitely a bit of a fanboy. First box ticked.

After meeting Jamie – I was really impressed with both him and the way the course was structured. This course is definitely not death by PowerPoint. All of the sessions are engaging and required me to take a hard look at my leadership skills and traits from the ground up. I particularly liked the way that areas which needed improvement were identified straight out and no messing about or sugar-coating things. Honest content – second box ticked.

A consistent theme throughout the course was to utilise the journal included in the book provided by Jamie… I would urge anyone taking part in the course to use the journal as often as you can to document the challenges you will set yourself and report on progress – the good, the bad, pack it all in there, as it’s a great anchor and point of reference as you progress. No overly complicated homework - third box ticked.

This is one of the few courses which I am actually still using the development tips long after it ended – in fact, several of the cohort are still meeting regularly to set out leadership targets and actively supporting each other as we work to improve ourselves and our leaderships capabilities. Real-life usable content – final box ticked.

Paul Bird | Head of InfoSEC & DPO