“Succession planning is absolutely critical to successful organisations. The companies we work with have competent managers – people who have been working for many years and are well regarded. But what happens when you suddenly become the person who leads the organisation? When it’s down to you to guide the business to compete and thrive in an ever-changing world? It’s the same for leaders at department and team level, lower down the organisation – how do you step up to the role and lead with confidence?”

Olivier Beroud is talking about the participants on the Future Leaders Programme, where he serves as Programme Director and member of the faculty. The programme is now part of the Executive Education offer at Bayes Business School.

Future Leaders is a nine-month course consisting of 10 modules taught across five two-day workshops, plus events, peer learning activities and, crucially, a significant programme of individual coaching. It empowers participants with the leadership skills, self-awareness and networking know-how to step into their next leadership role and drive impactful change. Participants on the course come from a wide range of backgrounds across the private and public sectors, at all levels of an organisation.

“The ethos of the Future Leaders Group programme is that it is really practitioners coaching practitioners. It's about receiving advice from people who are doing strategy on the board, who have become CEOs, have recruited and served CEOs – they are the people providing the content to participating executives.”

A customised development journey

“The programme starts with coaching, both individually and as a cohort. It continues throughout the programme and ends with a final one-to-one session after the programme has finished. Feedback from participants shows the coaching is transformational.”

“Alongside the coaching are eight modules of more ‘classical content’ in terms of subject matter – strategy, ethics, corporate finance, communication etc., taught with the perspective of you being the leader and having to use these skills in a way that is coherent with who you are and the strengths you have. We guide participants to create the alignment with themselves that means they don’t burn out as a leader.”

“We ask them to reflect on the programme content with their unique leadership strengths, and what impact it might have on their followers within the organisation.”

The power of networking

“The final element of the course is the focus on networking. Successful leaders spend their time going out and finding out what’s going on, speaking to clients, government, regulators, suppliers, competitors etc. They are in the field, figuring out what is coming next, preparing for the future and seizing opportunities.”

“The networking is perhaps what managers find hardest to do because they haven’t got the time or it’s something they are not comfortable doing. It’s a transition from being inwardly focused, to being outwardly focused and really going out there and talking to people all the time.”

“Our delegates come from a variety of backgrounds – they may have been promoted to the head of a division or function, or appointed as Directors or Regional Leaders. They all need support, but they don’t have much time. Our Future Leaders programme is designed to be manageable by very busy people, offering low stress and maximum impact. Also, participants become part of an active alumni community – they help each other well beyond the end of the course and talk about business problems. We run regular events and dinners for participants and alumni to come together to share issues and to learn from each other.”

Finding your tribe

Olivier is very familiar with Bayes Business School, having completed his MBA there in the mid-90s and he has stayed in touch ever since.

“I did a degree in France, and then after a few years of working in the UK, I took an evening MBA at City University Business School, as Bayes was then known.”

“I found my tribe in London, especially in the financial sector, and I never really left.
The MBA was really a wonderful way for me to learn a lot more about what I was doing in my job. It meant I invested in discovering new people and built an effective support group.”

“Through that network I found my job at Standard and Poor (now S&P Global), the big American rating agency in 1996, and I have continued to work in rating agencies ever since.”

“The MBA opened me up to new ideas. At the same time, I could use what I was learning the next day in work. That is a fantastic feeling because you feel that the time and investment you are making is immediately paying off.”

“We provide that same experience to participants on the Future Leaders programme – they are learning the tools, techniques and frameworks they can put straight into practice within their organisations. Plus, the modules we teach are broad-based: from strategic leadership and financial acumen to effective communication, resilience and ethical decision making.”

“I felt that the MBA was a language course in many ways – helping me to understand and explain the jargon used in various business disciplines. If you are on the board of a company and you have to interrogate the financial director, but you are not a financial person, you need to be able to understand the jargon so that you can pose the right questions. You can’t be an expert in everything, so you need the ability to understand what people are telling you, seek advice and make decisions informed by the experts around you.”

The importance of life-long learning

At a time when budgets are tight, why should organisations invest in Executive Education? Olivier believes the benefits far outweigh the costs.

“Continuous training is important in so many industries. Take Civil Aviation for example – if you get it wrong, planes fall out of the sky. You need to invest in training all the time. The military is the same – they wouldn’t think of sending anybody into a real-life situation without extensive training.”

“I think it’s the same for leadership development – it’s a good investment if you compare the price of the course to the cost of a senior salary. For the organisation it is a way of motivating people at very low cost, compared to replacing senior leaders who move on. If you can keep that person motivated and retain them for even only another few years, you will get that investment back many times over. If you motivate them for the rest of their career, the returns on that investment will be enormous!”

“Recruiting senior leadership roles is expensive, and if you have someone with potential in your organisation, developing them is a great use of money. The programme fulfils that objective, for the right people in the organisation. They have to be committed, and we ask for a recommendation from a sponsor within their firm. The organisation needs to support them, not just with the finance, but time away from the day job to attend the workshops. We are very careful about taking too much of our participants’ time, but it is still a commitment.”

“We include the sponsors in events and keep them updated throughout the programme, on how their participant is doing. For the sponsoring organisation it’s an opportunity to expand their business networks and make new connections. Participants also get a toolkit of teaching notes, case studies and frameworks that they can use straight away. There are specific skills gained through the workshops which can be immediately deployed, such as strengthening media relations or crisis communication, ensuring a confident and effective response during critical situations. Organisations quickly see the impact of the programme on their operations.”

Looking to the future

The collaboration with Bayes is in its first year and Olivier is optimistic about its potential and where it will go.

“Our goals for the programme are to develop new cohorts and see where we can work with Bayes to scale into new areas, such as the Middle East and Asia. It’s a great opportunity to enlarge the pool of potential candidates, so that more people benefit from the expertise on offer. I would really love to have a larger alumni community, with increased interaction from all over the world.”

Learn more about the Future Leaders Programme.

About Olivier Beroud

Olivier is the Programme Director for the Future Leaders programme and faculty member for Corporate Finance. He founded the Centre for Governance, Risk and Regulation at the London Institute of Banking and Finance and has over 30 years of experience in rating agencies and banking.

Olivier previously led Moody’s EMEA operations and has advised financial institutions and pension funds on risk and governance. He holds an MBA from Bayes Business School and a degree from L’Institut Supérieur de Gestion.

Learn more about the Future Leaders Group.