Common Purpose United Kingdom | Company information | Participants/Alumni
For most senior executives it is a constant struggle to keep broad horizons and look outwards as the daily demands come in.
External Reference Sets provide a highly innovative and refreshing approach to overcoming this problem. Through the use of structured group teleconferencing, we have managed to turn a remote - difficult - form of communication into a medium for testing impressions, broadening horizons and sharing challenges.
A peer group of senior executives - from very different backgrounds, outlooks, sectors and geographies - come together for six structured one-hour calls over three months. The session is chaired by a Common Purpose Director and some calls will include participants from a number of countries.
Senior Executives - from the private, public and not-for-profit sectors and many geographies - who refuse to let the scale of their responsibilities and diary commitments narrow their outlook.
As with all our open courses, the participant group on External Reference Sets 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.
External Reference Sets are conducted entirely through structured group teleconferencing. It is a perfect format for busy senior leaders and it works, often despite everyone's expectations.
Participants come together every two weeks for a call chaired by a Common Purpose Director. We have developed a virtual chairing approach that allows participants to quickly pool their thinking and share their ideas.
Participants decide the issues that are discussed on each call. They can range from recession analysis to climate change; from downsizing to globalisation.
Places are limited to seven on each External Reference Set.
External Reference Sets are hosted by teleconference and start regularly throughout the year.
The fee for an External Reference Set (six teleconferences) is £1,000 + VAT.
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. Applicants who cannot pay the full fee should not be deterred from applying. 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.
Complete the online application form at right and choose the date and location you want.
You can also download the External Reference Set Application Form and Equal Opportunities Form and send both by post, fax or email to:
Graciete Psaromilingos Common Purpose Discovery House 28-42 Banner Street London EC1Y 8QE F: +44 (0)20 7336 6844 E: graciete.psaromilingos@commonpurpose.org.uk
For more about the overall application process, please visit the application page.
"Over first six months of 2009 I took part in an External Reference Set. My colleagues in the group were all surprised and delighted by our collective ability to communicate effectively by telephone conference call and to bond strongly as a group from the outset. Each member brought a challenge to the group for discussion based around how the recession was challenging our leadership. In addition we discussed topical news items which represented issues we thought might have an impact in the next eighteen months to two years. As always with Common Purpose, the opportunity to share ideas with leaders in different fields was immensely valuable and personally challenging and, as ever, the common issues surprisingly familiar."
Alayne Swanson, Partner, Commercial Dispute Resolution Department, Maclay Murray & Spens LLP
24 March 2010Join a variety of different leaders for a day of Masterclasses, with the opportunity to discuss the challenges and rewards of leadership and change in an informal setting.
