#sinextgen Leaders Discover Secrets Behind Military Leadership

As part of the Sport Industry NextGen Leadership Package, 2017’s Sport Industry NextGen Leaders embarked on a 24-hour experience at the prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS), for a bespoke course created, designed and delivered by the Inspirational Development Group (IDG), a global leadership and management performance consultancy.

Sport Industry NextGen in partnership with Barclays identifies tomorrow’s leaders, rewards their potential and nurtures their talent through a dedicated Leadership Package to better equip them for future leadership roles. 

The 24-hour experience at Sandhurst aimed to help further develop the group’s existing leadership skills in order to continue to lead, motivate and support their teams back in the work place.

During the day the Sport Industry NextGen Leaders learned the importance of understanding effective leadership and followership and spent time considering and developing their conclusions through a variety of team and individual exercises.

Following a number of theoretical and practical exercises, the group was also put through an assault course – the same course that all cadets are put through during their officer training on the historic facility.

Craig Preston (pictured below), managing director at IDG, said of the group: “This year’s group, very much like last year’s is phenomenally high quality. The programmes at the Academy work that much better when there are high quality people here, so I have no doubt they will benefit hugely from the day. They are an absolute credit to the sport industry.”

Before rejoining IDG in 2014, Preston – who is also a Sport Industry NextGen Coach – previously adapted his skills from the army to lead at a number of blue-chip organisations including Aon, Coca-Cola and the Rugby Football Union.

Speaking of leadership qualities, no matter the sector or expertise, Preston added: “Leadership is leadership. In my experience, I’m still using the tools and techniques I learned here (at Sandhurst) as a 19 year old cadet. They’re completely transferable to different industries as well, that can mean anything from being able to brief verbally, calmness under pressure, and a focus on welfare and morale of the people who work with you. They’re crucial no matter what team you work in.”

IDG has had a partnering agreement with RMAS since 2001, with a wealth of consultants to design and deliver bespoke leadership and team development programmes for a variety of clients from a broad range of the commercial sectors.

Founded in 2000, IDG’s ambition is to harness the collective experience and talent of committed managers and – through enhanced leadership, followership and partnership skills – focus on raising the performance of the organisations they work with.

IDG works with global blue-chip companies, sporting teams and smaller organisations, with team away days available from 16 people.

Alex Coulson, executive director of Sport Industry Group, commented: “This is the second time I have been privileged to see the work that the IDG team do first hand and it never ceases to impress. Both this year and last the Sport Industry NextGen Leaders have really grown individually and as a group after their time at Sandhurst. I know their colleagues, both junior and senior, will also feel the benefits back in their offices too.

“Often in our industry team away days consist of a budget and performance review followed by some sort of activity and then a team night out. The team away days offered by IDG deliver all that but so much more, improving a company’s performance and morale at a more competitive cost. I recommend anyone thinking about their next offsite team trip to strongly consider IDG.”

In addition to the 24-hour experience at Sandhurst, 2017’s group of Sport Industry NextGen Leaders will receive a number of opportunities throughout the year to help develop their potential, including: commercial training from Barclays, legal expertise sessions with Howard Kennedy, an annual VIP pass to the Inspired Leaders Network, an executive workshop with Loughborough University London, membership to the Deltatre Sport Industry Breakfast Club, and more.