Leadership and organisational development
We build the capacity and confidence of leaders and organisations to respond positively to challenges and change.
OPM’s leadership and organisational development work is led by Lesley Campbell.
OPM’s work on leadership and organisational development has helped leaders to survive and thrive through a period of unprecedented challenge. Our team of development and change experts support leaders to address their dilemmas and build their confidence to make difficult decisions and implement new ways of working. We also help senior teams harness their energy to add real value to their organisations. Our organisational development support has helped organisations to use commissioning processes effectively and move to different organisational forms and structures. Our blend of leadership and organisational development activities, tailored to the needs of particular people and contexts, is building the capacity of public services to work with whole-systems challenges.
Transformational change
Saving money in the current climate requires a radical rethinking of resources and relationships. OPM’s transformational change work with local authorities, primary care trusts (PCTs), community health trusts, health and wellbeing boards, children’s trusts, prisons and national offender management services, voluntary and not-for-profit organisations will help you to make structural and organisational improvements to achieve significant savings and fit-for-purpose teams. Our approach to integration, and deep understanding of how to commission services and other functions, helps public service organisations to improve performance and make efficiency savings.
Empowering leadership
Our Empowering Leadership programme (previously Future Leadership), in partnership with Ashridge Business School, has been the ‘gold standard’ for aspiring senior managers across local government and partner agencies. We have supported hundreds of senior managers on this and similar programmes for the NHS and NOMS – helping them to improve overall performance and capacity within their organisations. Our programmes blend coaching, action learning, modules and bespoke projects.
Individual and team coaching
OPM is the Institute of Leadership and Management’s (ILM) biggest provider of post-graduate coaching qualifications. We have successfully run over 50 programmes. Many participants have said that our approach was ‘life-changing’ and it has had a significant impact on their leadership and coaching practice. We also have a strong reputation for mentoring, coaching supervision, coaching masterclasses and team coaching.
Top teams, boards, partnerships and governance arrangements
We are renowned for our work with senior management teams and boards. Our team coaching has helped senior people to improve and sustain their approaches to strategy development and implementation. We have worked extensively with local authority members and officers, and NHS boards. Our approach blends coaching, group dynamics and mediation techniques with our understanding of strategy, diversity, organisational development and governance.
Leadership, management and skills development
At OPM, we know that both the ‘science and art’ of good management necessitates focused learning. Managers need opportunities to reflect on and improve their skills. Leaders, similarly, need to broaden their knowledge base, rehearse and improve high-level skills and practise leadership behaviours. We run highly effective masterclasses, assessment and development centres, talent management programmes, action learning sets, workshops and modules. We are skilled at developing competence frameworks and 360-degree assessments, and use specific instruments, such as MBTI, with integrity.
Supporting culture change
OPM is skilled in a range of methodologies to sustain culture change in and between organisations. We use 'OpenStrategy' technology, 'world cafes', 'open space', future search, simulations and scenarios to bring together the 'players' in systems, to develop integrated service delivery for people and communities.
Key reading
- Developing leadership at middle management, our tailored, flexible programme for middle managers in local government.
- Leading in tough times (longer paper) (OPM, 2010).
