Local businesses focus on their future leaders

Tuesday 22 September 2015

Senior business leaders from three local finance firms in Jersey have come together to mentor and develop the future business leaders of tomorrow.

Barclays, Carey Olsen and KPMG invited local businesses to identify their leaders of the future for Jersey’s inaugural ‘Future Leaders Programme’ aimed at providing a forum for learning skills that will stand them in good stead for leadership roles within business.

The individuals put forward as aspiring leaders come from a wide range of sectors and industries and the programme is designed to give them the opportunity to develop their leadership skills and network.

The programme was successfully run in Guernsey last year and has been extended to Jersey, the Isle of Man, London, Cyprus and Gibraltar this year.

Six fortnightly sessions have been designed to cover both the softer human side and the more practical elements of leadership. The sessions alternate between the offices of the three host firms and have a two-part structure involving interactive discussion on the theme of the session followed by networking.

The programme started in September and the first session, which was hosted by Barclays and presented by Debora Weston, a communication consultant, focused on personal brand and networking.

The interactive session helped the future leaders explore their personal brand and pinpoint their unique characteristics which will help them as they continue to develop their careers. Participants learnt about networking and how it can be used to help build influence in business.

“We believe it is important to invest time and expertise in our younger future leaders; to equip them with both soft skills and practical knowledge on their path to the boardroom,” said Justin Read, relationship director at Barclays in Jersey.

“Having the skills to successfully advertise yourself and build relationships are extremely important for our future leaders. Learning how to have an impact and build influence in business is vital so this was a really valuable session to kick off the Future Leaders programme.”

“The Future Leaders Programme is a truly group effort to ensure that Jersey properly prepares future groups of business leaders to be able to successfully deal with the challenges ahead,” said Robin Smith, partner at Carey Olsen.

“Our aim is to pass on knowledge and skills we have learned by experience, in a more direct and structured way to ensure that our future leaders arrive in leadership roles armed with the skills to successfully lead Jersey into the future”, said Linda Johnson, director at KPMG.

The next Future Leaders session, hosted by KPMG, will explore how a high performance team in a high performance culture is the key to organisational effectiveness.