‘Into the Future’ Leadership & Management Programme

Context

South Derbyshire District Council (SDDC) is a local authority serving one of the fastest-growing areas in the UK, with more than 380 employees delivering services across departments including Community & Environmental Services, Corporate Resources and Growth & Housing.

The district, which combines market towns, rural villages and expanding urban areas, is home to over 110,000 residents and continues to grow rapidly within the wider Derbyshire and East Midlands region. Recognised for its strong focus on sustainable growth, community wellbeing and partnership working, SDDC plays a vital role in shaping the area’s future prosperity while protecting its distinctive character and environment.

Requirement

SDDC contacted Eliesha with a requirement to develop knowledge, skills and confidence in their organisational leaders and managers. The Council’s Learning & Development team wanted to enhance the ability of these crucial people assets to work effectively with their workforce and equip them with practical tools they could use to navigate the many and varied daily tasks of leadership. Particular areas of focus were delivering effective feedback, responding to change and managing wellbeing – of themselves and their teams.

The Council also sought a training provider with the ability to consistently create collaborative learning environments, where participants would be able (and motivated) to share experiences, reflect on their practice, and apply new insights directly to their work.

Solution

With extensive experience in designing and delivering leadership development programmes within a local government context, Eliesha was perfectly placed to support SDDC’s objectives and a team of L&D and workforce development experts worked collaboratively with their stakeholders to scope out a programme. Nine half-day workshops would be delivered in an engaging face-to-face learning environment, on council premises, with materials coming from Eliesha’s comprehensive library of proven workshops, but factoring in contextualisation to ensure relevance and reference to SDDC’s culture and values.

Having assessed the Council’s initial development priorities and following consultancy and advice from our experienced team, the following workshop topics were finalised for a programme internally titled Into the Future:

1. The Leader in You
2. Introduction to Emotional Intelligence
3. Resilience
4. Influencing Outcomes
5. Understanding and Leading your team
6. Managing Change
7. Feedback and Coaching
8. Wellbeing
9. Managing flexible teams

For each workshop, learners are provided with comprehensive workbooks as well as pre-workshop and post-learning tasks to help them prepare for and embed their new knowledge and skills. The post-learning content was particularly valued by SDDC as it helps to guide and motivate learners to immediately start using their new content within their day-to-day work.

Evaluation Approach

We take the evaluation of all our learning delivery very seriously and strive to provide detailed and insightful reports for our learning partners, particularly at a time when demonstration of return on investment for training is extremely important and when local government budgets and resources are under intense pressure and scrutiny.

To measure changes in knowledge and understanding of the learning objectives, delegates are asked to complete two evaluation forms, utilising Level 2 (Learning) of the Kirkpatrick Model:

Pre-workshop evaluations are designed to assess delegates’ initial knowledge and understanding of the key learning objectives prior to attending the workshop. This baseline data helped to identify the areas of greatest need and set a foundation for measuring the workshop’s impact.

Post-workshop evaluations are conducted at the end of each session to capture changes in knowledge and understanding after the workshop. These evaluations also included qualitative questions to gather feedback on what delegates enjoyed most about the workshop, areas for improvement, and any additional comments or suggestions. This qualitative feedback was invaluable for understanding the participants’ experiences and identifying ways to refine future workshops.

Results

Quantitative

The quantitative findings from the Into the Future workshops for Leaders and Managers indicate successful learning impact and participant satisfaction. An analysis of the pre- and post-workshop evaluations revealed a 44% increase in understanding and confidence across the learning objectives, demonstrating significant knowledge acquisition. The workshops achieved a near-perfect 96% trainer score, reflecting high levels of satisfaction with the trainers’ effectiveness and ability to create an engaging learning environment.

Additionally, the workshops earned an 91% overall score, surpassing Eliesha’s Key Performance Indicator (KPI) target of 80%. The findings are based on 49 evaluation responses overall across the first 2 cohorts. These results underscore the programme’s effectiveness in developing participants’ leadership and management skills and fostering a collaborative learning environment for applying new insights to work.

Qualitative

Qualitative feedback from participants reveals several recurring themes regarding what delegates enjoyed most about the event, including:

“What did you enjoy most about the event?”

• Leadership Styles and Self-Reflection: Interest in exploring different leadership styles and reflecting on personal development.
• Interactive and Collaborative Learning: Appreciation for open discussions, sharing thoughts, and round table exercises.
• Engaging Facilitation: Positive feedback on the engaging and relatable delivery by the trainer Andy Parkinson.
• Practical Tools for Wellbeing: Value placed on tools and strategies to support wellbeing and focused thinking.
• Preparation and Clarity: Recognition of the importance of pre-work and a structured approach to sessions.

“Any additional comments?”

“Always explained really well with lots of positive interactions. Learnt a lot more about dealing with emotions and how that affects my working environment and personal relationships”
– ‘Into the Future’ Programme Delegate

“Training and delivery in a way that is knowledgeable and easy to understand”
– ‘Into the Future’ Programme Delegate

The feedback on the leadership and management programme reflects a positive experience, with participants appreciating the organisation of the event and delivery of the sessions. They noted that larger breakout groups were effective and enjoyed the in-person format that facilitated information sharing. One participant highlighted the usefulness of the content, particularly as they are new to providing feedback, and found that they already employ some of the discussed tools. Overall, the sessions were described as informative and engaging, with enthusiasm for later sessions and confidence in applying the learned concepts.

Overall 30 staff members and 3 cohorts have attended this training to date – with the latest cohort starting in September 2024 and completing their final presentations in July 2025.