UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER BUSINESS SCHOOL
Help to Grow: Management
Boost your leadership skills and your business performance
Help to Grow: Management is a 12 week, subsidised programme launched by UK government to help small and medium sized businesses boost their performance and growth potential.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
What is the Help to Grow: Management programme?
Small business leaders will develop their strategic skills to increase their business’s long-term productivity, resilience and capacity to innovate.
100% funded
The Government has subsidised 90% and Winchester University is sponsoring the remaining 10%. All we ask is you turn up!
1:1 Mentoring
You’ll be matched with a business mentor, and will benefit from 10 hours working with them.
Subject Matter Experts
Each module is led by leaders in their field, giving you the benefit of their experience to bring the concepts to life.
Build YOUR Growth Plan
Complete workbooks each session, as you populate your specific Growth Plan.
Virtual & In-Person
8 out of 12 modules are delivered virtually, with 4 in-person workshops to cement the learning.
About
Help to Grow at the University of Winchester Business School
Winchester University Business School delivers regular cohorts of 12-week Help to Grow: Management programme.
What will you learn?
It includes both online and face-to-face sessions, peer support and 1:1 mentoring.
The course has been designed to help you to focus on a Growth Business Plan for your organisation right from the start. You will do this with the support of your course facilitator and mentor – and they’ll help you to build on this foundation throughout the programme.
Module 1 - Strategy & Innovation
- Understanding innovation and its relationship to growth, profitability and productivity.
- Reviewing your business model and value proposition in relation to current and future market opportunities.
- Understanding how business model innovation can help you respond to, and recover from, challenges.
- Finding out about the UK’s innovation ecosystem.
Module 2 - Digital Innovation
- Understanding the benefits of digital adoption for SMEs in innovating business models and seizing opportunities.
- Considering what stage your business has reached on the path to digital adoption from digitisation to digital transformation, and identifying priority development areas.
- Understanding the role of digital leadership and considering digital enablers to achieve a transformational culture.
- Being alert to the risks of a digitised environment and ways to mitigate that risk.
Module 3 - Winning New Markets
Learning outcomes from this workshop will include:Taking an in-depth look at how a business has:
- Innovated its model.
- Developed markets overseas.
- Explored models to address opportunities in different countries.
- Adapted their business model and overcame challenges.
- How the experience encouraged them to innovate.
Module 4 - Vision, Mission & Values
- Understanding the strategic value of vision, purpose and brand, their link to the customer value proposition and role in achieving competitive advantage.
- Exploring vision, mission and values statements and planning an approach for reviewing these in your business.
- Defining brand components and how they add value to your business and customers.
- Understanding the role of your business’s vision, values and brand in organisational culture and employee engagement.
Module 5 - Developing a Marketing Strategy
- Further developing your customer value proposition and your business’s approach to marketing.
- Understanding market segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) within your business’s competitive environment.
- Considering the stages in the buyer decision-making processes.
- Starting to consider the benefits of database marketing.
Module 6 - Building a Brand Strategy
- Exploring how a business built a market-leading brand and continued to serve its customers’ needs through changing times. What challenges had to be overcome and how did the company stay true to its purpose and values.
Module 7 - Organisational Design
- Identifying growth phases and when and how it will be necessary to evolve the shape of the organisation to implement growth.
- Considering SME examples of different structures and ways of working and the implications for your workforce.
- Jointly with others in your business, reviewing skills, roles and training to ensure the required expertise is available to deliver the growth plan.
- Considering structures and processes to facilitate agile working.
Module 8 - Employee Engagement & Leading Change
- Identifying appropriate strategies for leading change in an inclusive and engaging way.
- Planning to implement approaches that enhance employee engagement.
- Recognising the impact of your own leadership approach as a key enabler for growth.
- Being able to utilise tools and resources collaboratively to lead your team towards strategic goals.
Module 9 - High Performance Workplace Case Study
- Exploring an example of a company that has put employee engagement at the heart of their business and created an inclusive culture. The tools and ways of working are innovative and productive, and the business has achieved growth through the way it works as much as through what it does.
Module 10 - Efficient Operations
- Understanding the role of operations and how to take a systemic approach, aligning operations with marketing strategy.
- Analysing operations using a value flow map.
- Considering an approach to key metrics which engages teams and creates a culture of continuous improvement in value flow.
- Recognising how your operations improvement strategy contributes towards your Growth Action Plan.
Module 11 - Finance & Financial Management
- Using financial data to make informed decisions about future operations including identifying relevant financial metrics for monitoring growth and productivity.
- Understanding the importance of cash flow forecasting in managing crisis and recovery.
- Considering options for financing growth both internally and from external sources, and being aware of where to source information and advice.
Module 12 - Implementing Growth Plans Case Study
- Developing priorities and a timeline for implementation, using your Growth Action Plan.
- Identifying the resources required to achieve the objectives in your Growth Action Plan.
- Embedding key management practices critical to growth and productivity in your business.
Winchester Testimonials
Success Stories
We’re proud of the feedback we get from our Winchester Help to Grow: Management cohort members. Here are some quotes and you link to their videos in full.
Amanda Harvey
Executive Director
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
I’d highly recommend this programme for anyone seeking growth, or those looking to sustain their business’ current position in a fast changing environment.
WATCH AMANDA’S VIDEO >>>
Chris Williams
Managing Director
FIRST CLASS CASE STUDY
Internationalism is one of the areas we’re interested in for growth, so it was interesting to have a world class academic teach us on that topic.
WATCH CHRIS’S VIDEO >>>
Daniel Gormley
CEO
IT’S PRICELESS
The value that you can get from peer to peer learning is absolutely unimaginable. [The course] has given us a new degree of confidence to tackle problems.
WATCH DAN’S VIDEO >>>
Increase profitability, innovation and growth
Business-focused learning
Position your business for success with modules covering vision, mission and values, employee engagement, strategy and innovation and much more.
Learn from your peers
Share experiences and ideas while building a local network with up to 25 small business leaders.
Tailored plan for your business
Work with an experienced small business mentor to tackle your business challenges and develop a tailored growth action plan.
Works around you
The Winchester University Business School is the centrally-placed Small Business Charter accredited business school for Southern England, close to your home, or place of work.
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