Nurturing our people is absolutely vital to achieving our core purpose of better outcomes for more children. Our People and Culture Strategy for Barnardo’s sets out how we are supporting our colleagues and creating a positive, inclusive culture where everyone can thrive.
Our Learning and Development team shares responsibility for two of the eight areas identified under People and Culture:
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Learning and development: With the world changing faster than ever before, Barnardo's is deeply committed to promoting learning and development. Learning and development is embedded as a key 'enabler' of our Strategy. We want colleagues to be able to access a range of opportunities to learn new skills and develop in their roles and are providing more opportunities for our managers and leaders.
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Advancement opportunities : We have talented colleagues across the charity who are looking for opportunities to develop their career and continue contributing to Barnardo's, whether in the same role or in a different role. We need to make those opportunities visible and provide a clear pathway for those looking to move into management and leadership. We are committed to developing colleagues with the potential to progress, and putting in place a range of pathways to support them.
One of our Advancement Opportunities is our flagship in-house Emerging Leaders Programme.
Emerging Leaders Programme 2023
The Emerging Leaders Programme (ELP) is Barnardo’s flagship, in-house, leadership development programme, co-facilitated by our Learning and Development Team and our external partner, Advance Coaching Ltd. This year's (2023) ELP will start in October 2023 and run till May 2024 and we will be offering 31 places to all eligible colleagues who report into a Head of, Assistant Director or equivalent.
It is an 8-month programme aimed at supporting colleagues at a particular level to learn, grow and develop into future leaders. It aims to support emerging leaders to be innovative, forward focused, collaborative, and open to ongoing learning and committed to Barnardo’s Values and Behaviours.
The programme provides participants with the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge, and attributes to enhance leadership capability in Barnardo’s.
ELP is delivered through a mix of full group Cohort Days, Coaching Circles, Leadership Learning Sets focussed on Barnardo’s key enablers, mentoring from Directors, self-directed learning with inputs from senior colleagues across the organisation and senior leaders from other organisations and sectors.
The programme provides opportunities for self-reflection and personal growth supporting participants to develop their leadership skills and capabilities with the aim of increasing the diversity of leaders at senior levels.
Cohort days are spread over eight months to allow for every element of the programme to be embedded, and allows participants to pace their learning commitment alongside their work demands. The programme ends with an in-person celebration day where the participants present their findings from their action learning set groups.
Challenges faced by female leaders - three-month extension
After the success of our Asian, African and Carribbean Heritage ELP at the beginning of 2023 and continuing our aim 'to provide advancement opportunities aimed at underrepresented groups' , we are pleased to announce that females joining ELP in 2023, will have the option to complete a three-month extension that specifically focuses on the challenges faced by female leaders.
Christine McKenzie, Co-Chair of the Women’s Network, said:
“The Women's Network are delighted to have worked with our learning and development colleagues on the extension to the Emerging Leaders Programme for women.
We know that women are under-represented in leadership roles. In 2022, women leaders took only 30% of the management roles in the UK, and although Barnardo's fares far better than this, we know that there is work to do to make our leadership more representative of our 80% female workforce. This addition to the ELP reflects significant progress in moving this ambition forward.”
The extension programme will be externally facilitated by People & Performance Ltd and cover the following topics:
- Imposter syndrome, societal bias, and its implications for women’s careers – strategies and mindsets to overcome this. Self-compassion and compassionate leadership.
- How as women we might unconsciously self-sabotage. I.e. perfectionism and rumination. How to become aware and how to disrupt/change these patterns of thinking / behaving.
- Building on self-awareness and exploring personal brand management, exposure and developing credibility.
- Strengthen resilience, and wellbeing (self-care) including exploring work/life balance, flexible and hybrid working; especially pertinent for those with caring responsibilities.
- Developing self-confidence.
- The value of a support network, and how to network professionally.
- Sharing tactics for how to get your voice heard, especially if bringing a different perspective to the group norm.
- Negotiating and influencing to successfully navigate workplace challenges, dilemmas etc.
- How to navigate organisational power and politics successfully as a woman.
- How to build and sustain a high performing team including establishing and maintaining psychological safety.
Eligibility and how to apply
This years' ELP will start in October 2023 and run till May 2024, and is open for application to colleagues that:
- have leadership responsibilities/manage a team, and
- report to Assistant Directors or Heads of or equivalent
If you have leadership responsibilities but do not strictly meet the above criteria, you should make a case to us for an exception in Section 2 of this form.
A simple application form has been designed and is attached to this programme description. A group made up of senior Barnardo's managers will shortlist and interview applicants before inviting candidates to join the programme.
The deadline for applications is 12noon on Monday 4 September 2023. Interviews will be held across September 2023.
Please send the completed application, with the 'Line Manager Recommendation' section filled in, to admin.elp@barnardos.org.uk by the deadline above.
Emerging Leaders Programme - African, Asian and Caribbean heritage
In recruiting for the 2022 ELP, we found that colleagues of African, Asian and Caribbean heritage are under-represented in our leadership and management roles, and began developing a programme specifically for these groups. This links to key EDI objectives in our strategy and our EDI Action Plan including, further actions to achieve more inclusive recruitment and a more diverse, representative workforce.
Our new ELP for colleagues of African, Asian and Caribbean heritage which started in March 2023 is the first programme of its kind and aligns to our People and Culture, EDI and race commitments.
The programme has been externally-facilitated by People & Performance Ltd. Over eight months, participants have gained:
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an understanding of the theory and practice of management from a range of world views and cultural lenses. Participants will be supported to further develop their leadership and management knowledge and skills and explore the implications of being a manager of African, Asian and Caribbean heritage in the UK context.
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the opportunity to put their learning into practice by engaging in a collaborative, experiential learning opportunity through undertaking significant projects linked to Barnardo’s strategic aims and priorities;
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a deep understanding of themselves and a toolkit of self-management techniques, including addressing the impostor syndrome, coaching, well-being, resilience and managing one’s own career;
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an understanding of a range of topics including change-management, innovation and business acumen as applicable to our sector.