October 31, 2024, by lizels

Executive Programme in Strategic Technical Leadership – Participant Story

Now in its second year, the Executive Programme in Strategic Technical Leadership is a ground-breaking programme for current and aspiring strategic technical leaders.

It is delivered by Nottingham University Business School’s Executive Education team and has been developed in partnership with the Technician Commitment, now part of the UK Institute for Technical Skills and Strategy (ITSS). The programme aims to increase confidence amongst technical staff and helps ensure visibility, recognition, sustainability and career development within their roles.

Cohort 2 participant John Nicolson, a former Earth Sciences technician and now Technician Commitment Coordinator at the University of Cambridge, reflected on his experiences of the programme.

“The Executive Programme in Strategic Technical Leadership is designed to provide current and future technical leaders with knowledge on strategic themes and how these can be implemented at their home organisations. The first residential focused on the current national landscape of policy and outlined the history of the Technician Commitment, it’s evolving role for technical staff across the country and how this has been interwoven with policy and strategic developments.

I have been in my role for three years and although a lot of the information and background was familiar to me, there were still things to learn. Crucially, some of the sessions were very thought provoking and raised a challenge for us to consider what actions we were doing and the responsibility we have, not just locally but also nationally. To assist with this, the workshops on possible tools and ‘levers’ for us to use were very insightful, including national policy schemes. Sessions on toolkits to assist with our roles were also very useful and focused on a self-reflection and traits analysis tool called ‘Spotlight’, how to write business plans and also a communications toolkit exercise. The self-reflection session was particularly enlightening for us as a group, indicating similar tendencies across the cohort. Whether this is a result of typical tendencies for people focused on these roles or whether it’s a response to how technical staff are generally treated is certainly an intriguing question!

Aside from the information and tools, the residential was particularly effective for introducing me to a group of peers in similar roles who are involved with changes for technical staff nationally. As our roles are usually unique (and sometimes therefore lonely) in our organisations, it was great to see how other institutions are getting on, how they operate and how others in these roles are managing the strategic nature and future changes associated with them. The residential allowed us time to work on these new relationships and creates crucial contacts for dealing with jobs and situations that perhaps no one else in our organisations can help with. We have continued sharing tips and ways of thinking beyond the residential.

In conclusion, I would recommend this programme to any organisation who is looking at developing their technical workforce and would suggest it is a positive first step for those in these roles. I would have really appreciated the background and context even as (or especially as) a new starter in the field and look forward to discovering more about how we can leverage policy and create best practice in the future sessions. My advice for applying is fairly simple: be honest in your hopes, aspirations and current level of abilities. If you think you would be interested in the content, then you are likely suitable so be confident and just go for it!”

You can find out more about the programme and how to apply for future cohorts on the Executive Education website.

ITSS also offers a range of other learning and development opportunities for technical staff across the UK.

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