Manchester's future lay leaders meet Prof Brent Davies

Manchester UJIA's group of future lay leaders were given the opportunity to meet Professor Brent Davies from the University of Hull on Sunday 23 May 2010 for a look at leadership in the wider context.

At the training session held at The Hub youth centre in south Manchester, Professor Davies, visiting professor at the Universities of Melbourne and Southern California and the author of many books on leadership and management, talked to the group of participants on UJIA Manchester's Lay leadership Development Programme on about "sustainable leadership". He led a session on developing strategically sustainable organisations, focusing on how to build long-term strategy by looking at processes, approaches and leadership.

He gave the group pointers on how to look objectively at organisations and see the best way to plan for the future by analysing areas which are either successful, problematic or need to be managed in a strategic way. It was important to look to the future then work backwards to see how the organisation can move forward to achieve that goal.

The group were then given the opportunity through working in groups to apply the theory to their experience of communal organisations in Manchester, specifically with projects with which they are working at the moment as part of their training.

The session with Professor Davies was preceded by a meeting with Rachel Mesrie, joint chair of the management committee at the UJIA-backed Hub. Rachel Mesrie, co-chair of the management team of The Hub, a new Jewish youth centre and community facility, discussed her experience of working on the project from conception to reality. She shared some of the principles The Hub team followed in setting up the project. She also offered the members of the group the opportunity to participate in confidential one-to-one advice on their personal leadership styles using her professional expertise. This will form the basis for a future training session on leadership styles.

Dena Ryness, one of the course participants, said:

"This excellent session provided the group with a valuable insight into how to build strategies for running successful organisations. We have learned some useful tools and ideas which we look forward to implementing in our work in the Manchester Jewish community."