Northcliffe, by Richard Nelson.

From Issues Two and Five of our newsletter.

Owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust, Northcliffe is one of the UK’s biggest publishers of weekly, daily and evening newspapers. Titles include the Leicester Mercury, the Bristol Evening Post and the Western Morning News.

The company believes that quality management is key to business success and that ineffectively managed change can be a threat to achievement. Internally, it can damage employee relations; externally, other media can gain competitive advantage if managers are not aware of market changes and customer expectations.

To enable the development of high potential managers, Northcliffe runs the Advanced Management Programme. This consists of five 4-day modules and can involve managers from all functions and locations, including editorial.

The programme starts with creative problem solving and team working to help participants maximise the value of the extensive practical learning sessions. The first module covers the changing environment of the 21st century, strategic marketing, business strategy and change, translating strategy into action and a project briefing. The projects undertaken address business improvement opportunities in the local centres and are developed during the Programme.

Module Two includes project management, marketing and finance. Module Three addresses organisational dynamics, culture, team development and influencing style. The fourth module covers change management, leadership and organisational effectiveness. The final module extends the personal development theme, facilitating greater self-awareness and valuing others. Experiential activities are included to stimulate learning about others and provide a basis for giving and receiving feedback.

“We will shortly be starting our third programme with Nelson Consulting,” said Graham Beesley, Development Training Adviser for Northcliffe Newspapers. “Because Richard and his team are responsive to our needs we have been able to continually review each programme throughout its delivery and make changes to it. This is enabling us to develop a programme that meets the specific needs of our managers and our business.”

Updated

Northcliffe Newspapers Group started their third Advanced Management Programme with Nelson Consulting in October 2003. This Programme, described in detail in the May/June 03 edition of The Column, consists of five 4-day modules delivered over a period of nine months. The success of this programme is demonstrated by the quality of delegates attending – this year’s participants have all been identified as potential directors of Group companies.

As a general management programme, topics from strategy and finance to leadership and inter-personal skills are covered. The feedback we have had from the participants shows that these areas are of great value in their current and future careers. Most people have indicated that they have a greater understanding of business as a whole and also of themselves. Running alongside the programme, participants work on a business project that will improve their business’s performance. To support this, we run a session on Project Management delivered by Peter Simon.

Nelson Consulting firmly believes in ‘learning through doing’. This is an integral part of the programme as each major session includes practical sub-group working to enable participants to consider and plan how they will apply the learning to their own business situations.

Further Update from December 2005

We are pleased to see that our work with Northcliffe Newspapers Group has been recognised.

Northcliffe Newspapers Group has been awarded a Greater London Regional Training Award in the Government’s National Training Awards, supported by the Department for Education and Skills, for its Management Development Programme. The development programme consisted of a series of training programmes for managers at different levels of the organisation.

The training for senior managers, the Advanced Management Programme, was delivered by Nelson Consulting. Graham Beesley, Development Training Advisor, said: “Our aim in developing a management programme was to engender a cultural change, away from the old-fashioned management culture towards an inclusive, participative style. Our bi-annual Employee Opinion Survey shows that we have already moved a long way down the road and that process is continuing, with the help and support of Nelson Consulting.”

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