Leadership Development

People who are promoted or recruited into jobs demanding greater leadership responsibility are identified at specific times in their careers – for example, when they become:

• A leader of people for the first time
• A leader of managers
• A leader of a business unit

We have invested significantly in our leadership development centre, Westwood, and in our partnership with the University of Warwick, one of the UK’s top ten business schools. We develop and deliver programmes for thousands of our managers every year to equip them with the skills and capabilities to achieve the ambitious goals and targets set out in our Business Plan.

Programme content

Our leadership programmes are designed to help our leaders improve their:

• Management skills – such as managing teams, setting objectives and deadlines, creating business plans, managing budgets, managing risks, confronting under-performance and dealing with conflict
• Leadership behaviours – creating shifts in their approach to achieving, thinking, inspiring others and developing their people.

Programmes are delivered either at Westwood or at state-of-the-art regional training centres by our preferred training partners, including the University of Warwick, world-class training consultancies and our own associate trainers. Most programmes are modular, with opportunities to use the learning back in the workplace, where participants are encouraged to identify a real business issue and apply what they have learnt to propose and implement a solution.

Many of our leadership programmes are accredited to National Standards. Managers who successfully complete a programme receive credits towards an award, certificate or diploma which can be carried over into further study leading to recognised managerial or professional qualifications.

Focus for 2007/2008

Every year, we focus on the skills that our managers need in order to deliver the Business Plan. Over 2007 and 2008, we will roll out a Leadership Skills programme to approximately 3,000 people managers across all parts of Network Rail which will focus on the effective management of performance. This will strengthen the capability of leaders throughout Network Rail to cascade objectives, set performance targets, review progress, coach, motivate and support people to achieve new levels of performance, both individually and in teams. It will help us in our strategic objective of recruiting, retaining and developing great people.

We will also launch a brand new modular programme aimed at first and second-line managers, which aims to provide them with a consistent, high-quality introduction to leadership and management. The programme has been designed to enable participants to learn and practice the skills they need to be effective, and is part of the drive to equip our new leaders with the means to move Network Rail towards its objective of being a World-Class organisation.

In addition, all managers can make use of an online Leadership Toolkit.  This is an invaluable resource that allows managers to further support their studies and development outside of any scheduled learning interventions. Designed around the Network Rail leadership capability framework it provides guidance on how to apply the framework top oneself and ones team as well as containing over 1000 bite size management information articles in the management skills library. Also all managers can support their learning in the workplace by accessing an expanding range of, self assessment questionnaires, development activities and e-learning modules.

We believe that creating a coaching culture in which people are supported in taking ownership and responsibility is key to our success. It also leads to richer and more rewarding roles for our people.

Coaching is one of the most effecting ways of developing people. We define it is “ supporting people in getting what they want, without doing it for them, or telling them what to do.” Our focus in Network Rail is on coaching for leadership – encouraging people to take responsibility and ownership. That starts from them knowing what they want – what goals o they have, what values do they hold?
Coaching is also a style of leadership that great leaders adopt- they know when to support their people in developing themselves, encouraging them to take ownership.

In Network Rail, we provide internationally accredited training at Westwood, for managers to learn the skills of coaching for leadership. Many of these people also join our internal coaching pool, using these skills to support graduates and people in the talent pool.

Westwood, our leadership development centre, adjacent to the University of Warwick, was officially opened in October 2005. The centre is used for leadership development, teambuilding events, strategic business meetings, conferences, workshops and communications events. Its direction is set by the Leadership Development Group which is headed up by Iain Coucher, Deputy Chief Executive.

At its launch, Iain said “Westwood is a leadership centre, a centre of excellence. It’s about becoming world class in leadership and management skills, as well as providing an environment away from the day-to-day pressures of work that promotes creativity and strategic planning.

“Individuals will come here to receive personal development in leadership and management skills. The facility will also provide the right environment for team building, strategic planning and networking across functions.”

Westwood has 40 meeting & conferences rooms. It is fully-residential with 155 study-bedrooms.