Meridian

A flexible and personalised leadership course that offers modular learning and development for established leaders in larger metropolitan areas.

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What is Meridian?

A leadership course for established leaders from all sectors and backgrounds based in and around metropolitan areas. Meridian is currently offered across the UK and in six other countries. Participants often choose to do some of their modules in other locations and countries.

Meridian offers a flexible modular format that means leaders can tailor it to meet their individual needs and to match their diaries. Participants have up to six months to complete their hours.

The full group - drawn from all walks of life in the area - attends three full days together at the start, midpoint and end of the course. In between, each leader chooses from over 50 events to explore a huge range of real-life challenges - based in anything from a prison to a casualty unit; a trading floor to a production plant; a rehab centre to a radio station - in small groups, learning constantly from each other, the contributors and the experience of operating in very unfamiliar situations.

"Before attending Meridian, I would always try to do everything myself. Now I delegate. I have since increased the size of our team to allow me to take a more strategic role in the business.

One conversation led to a major organisational restructure which got us our biggest ever contract."

Julian Hall, CEO, Pure Online Genius

 

James Ramsbotham - Alumni Story

 

 

 





Who is Meridian for?

Meridian is for established leaders who are already experienced at delivering objectives and managing people and priorities. It is ideal for leaders who are responsible for developing partnerships, engaging with internal or external stakeholders, working across several locations, divisions or countries or who simply need to broaden their horizons.

As with all our open courses, the participant group on Meridian will be diverse in terms of background, experience, sector, outlook and approach. Participants share and challenge each other and discover that this diversity - far from being a weakness - provides a key strength of the course.

Participants can expect to:

  • develop self-awareness and confidence to meet the challenges of leadership
  • learn to adapt and thrive in difficult and unfamiliar situations
  • become more open to working with different people, in new ways to solve complex problems
  • develop lasting relationships that build trust and encourage collaboration
  • be better able to take responsibility for problems and issues outside your direct control

 

 

Suzanne Nicholl - Alumni Story

 

"The programme provided access to perspectives and experiences that would not have been available to me otherwise and an opportunity to develop a broader understanding of the region."

Mike Turner,Managing Consultant, Nigel Wright

What is the course format?

Meridian participants complete between 60 - 90 hours of learning. For each activity, participants meet at a different venue within the area to give them a range of perspectives.On the three core days - at the start, mid-point and end - participants look at why, where and how they lead and at how their biases influence their leadership. Between the core days, participants select from a series of modules.

Modules can all be done in your local area, in a different UK city or internationally in places such as Bangalore, Istanbul or Johannesburg. For a list of all places in which Meridian is offered, visit www.commonpurpose.org

Meridian modules are:

  • Understanding place - behind-the-scene insights about how the metropolitan area really works.
  • Understanding change - real-life leadership scenarios based in hospitals, schools, businesses and council chambers, meeting and quizzing the leaders who make the decisions there.
  • Leadership insights - key leaders share their first hand knowledge - from their successes and failures - of leading beyond their immediate area of authority to create positive change.
  • Learning groups - tackling the challenges brought by participants to the group sessions.
  • Practices - participants are set a series of leadership 'practices', small challenges to complete in their own time that will broaden their thinking.
  • Marketplace - an online forum where all participants are able to offer, share, ask for advice and opportunities to gain exposure to each others' worlds.
  • Quests - a day immersed in the economic, political and social context of another city, either in the UK or internationally.

Where are Meridian courses held?

Meridian courses are offered in cities and regions throughout the UK (see course listing at right) and internationally in:

  • Budapest, Hungary
  • Dublin, Ireland
  • Hong Kong
  • India (Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai)
  • Istanbul, Turkey
  • Johannesburg, South Africa

"Each of my team have taken away something different from Meridian -gaining confidence, learning to better engage staff, getting new business, networking and becoming part of the community outside of the Premier Inn bubble.

I feel the courses help my General Managers prepare for changes that may not be absolutely clear right now. What is clear is that we will need to do things differently to stay leaders in our field."

Peter Gardiner, London Operations Director, Premier Inn

 

Upcoming courses

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What is the cost to attend Meridian?

The course fee is £4,500 + VAT.

If your organisation has between 2 and 249 staff, you may be eligible for grants for leadership training.

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Financial Assistance

Applicants who cannot pay the full fee should not be deterred from applying. There are a number of almost full (every participant must make some contribution) and part bursary places provided on every Common Purpose course for participants who are genuinely unable - as opposed to unwilling - to meet the full fee.

If you would like to apply for a bursary, please fill in the section of the form for bursary candidates. If you need to discuss this further, please contact your local Common Purpose office.

Common Purpose Plus
Everyone who has completed a Common Purpose course will be offered a 20% reduction on the fee of any future courses they attend. Please notify us in your course application if you wish to apply for this reduction.

How can I apply to attend Meridian?

Complete the online application form at right and choose the date and location you want.

You can also download the Course Application Form and Equal Opportunities Form and send both by post or fax to your local Common Purpose office.

For more about the overall application process, please visit the application page.

 

 

"Taking part in Common Purpose allows you to think outside the box and to consider issues and ideas that are not part of the normal work you do, whilst having the opportunity to hear from speakers and participants who may hold very different views to your own.  This is refreshing and stimulating.  I was, for instance, able to use ideas from the Learning Set that I took part in to tackle what had seemed an insurmountable problem and resolve it."

Jo Gordon, Head of Strategy, Governance and Communications - Judiciary of England and Wales

 

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"I am much more aware of the need for good listening skills - something which I thought I already had but which I found I could improve. I am also giving much more thought to the value that I place on certain outcomes and behaviours - thinking ahead about what is valued, rather than taking a task orientated approach. I am also considering differently what is the most effective way to contribute to others' understanding of my work and the change I am trying to bring about."

Anna Donald, Head of Marine Planning Branch, Scottish Government

"Common Purpose provided me with a better understanding of the experiences of people working in other employment sectors. It was helpful to learn, first hand the issues that they faced and how their organizations dealt effectively with them. Equally, I considered I benefited from the wide range of institutions we visited and found it extremely interesting and helpful to learn more about the social, economic, educational and environmental challenges the City faces.

Overall, the experience of Common Purpose made me feel more connected to colleagues working in other employment sectors and I feel this can only benefit the way my organization will contribute positively to the City in the future."

Steve Map, CEO, Broadway Media Centre, Nottingham

"I met a network of interesting people from a wide range of backgrounds and industries struggling with remarkably similar issues and problems. It was refreshing and enlightening to work through these together and in a way that challenged usual thinking and approaches. The programme introduced me to leaders who had broken through the usual barriers we face and made a real difference. You learn a lot by listening and questioning both them and yourself. You come away wanting to change the way you do things."

Kate Slemeck, Director of Operations, The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust

"The Big Lottery Fund's (BIG's) mission is to improve communities and the lives of people most in need and I feel that Common Purpose has enabled me personally to understand how to achieve that mission with communities in the North East.  This in turn has helped me to provide leadership to staff on our team: if I'm better at articulating our purpose, I think it helps them to do their jobs better, too."

James Turner, BIG Lottery Fund

"The course offered me a great opportunity to meet and engage with managers from all sectors of industry and explore issues and challenges faced on a regular basis. It enabled me to have a clearer appreciation of differing opinions and views from diverse cultural backgrounds, when more often than not there is no 'right or wrong' solution. On a day to day basis I have a greater measure of self-confidence and courage of my convictions and have improved listening and observation skills. Many of the course modules (you may choose which particular ones you wish to attend) combine insight and intelligence with practical working skills which were both inspiring and empowering. A thoroughly enjoyable course which I would heartily recommend."

Julia Tantum, Property Manager, NBV

"[As a result of Meridian, I] have a new appreciation of the importance of cross sector working. Having spent ten years in the social enterprise sector I realize how easy it is to become subsumed into 'group think' when just mixing in a group of specialist peers. It's crucial to interact and converse with professionals (both supporters and detractors) from other spheres, in order to shake up your views and breathe new life into your thinking."

Linda Damerell,  London Regional Development Manager, Development Trusts Association

"The Common Purpose course sessions have all contained more than an element of truly inspirational talks and activities; it is hard to find the time to get out of the slip stream and listen to others who on paper may appear to have little or nothing to do with your core daily life and concerns - but only in doing so do you realise that you may be swimming in a very narrow stream - certainly of consciousness - and that there are both far bigger fish out there swimming around and that you are part of making that bigger pond function properly.  In comparison to similar leadership courses I have experienced I have found Common Purpose to be vastly more focused, interesting, stimulating, pertinent, worthwhile and of value to myself and to my organisation's future development."

Liz Davidson, Project Director, Glasgow City Council