BRACAU 27 BLOG'S

The Accidental Leader Programme starts tomorrow!
We had a quick chat with Lynn Kelly, Head of Skills at Northwest Vision and Media about why they decided to back the course, created to help develop ‘Accidental Leaders’ in team effectiveness and digital.


How come you are financing a course for Accidental Leaders? What do you see is the need?
Vision and Media has worked with media companies for a long time and in lots of ways - through investment, helping them to find new talent and developing leaders themselves through industry specific mentoring and coaching around business planning, discovering new markets, international programmes etc. Generally though, leaders of creative and digital companies have not been big takers of management and leadership training - they tend to be really good creatively or technically, so much so that their business flourishes and before they know it they've got an expanding number of employees to look after as well as everything else a business needs to continue being successful, hence the name Accidental Leader!
Bringing leadership training to the Northwest has been a big priority for Northwest Vision and Media, the Northwest Development Agency (the primary funders of this programme) and Skillset (the Sector Skills Council) over the last few years and especially now that MediaCityUK is taking shape, it's vital that our business leaders have the right personal and business skills to enable them to take any opportunities that come their way. This is why we've worked hard to get the funding for this programme and get something really special for the region.

What are your expectations on the course?
We hope that the people who attend this course find it invaluable, something they can look back on as a defining moment for themselves as leaders and for their businesses. Looking at it from an investment point of view though, we hope it has a positive impact on the bottom line of their companies!

How come Hyper Island got the very exciting job to deliver the course?
We wanted something specific to the Digital and Creative industries, a provider that the participants could connect with and understood their needs as well as their industry. So, we had a long and robust selection process: we put the contract out to open tender (it received the biggest number of proposals we've ever had for a tender), the best were shortlisted for an interview and to make sure we chose a provider that our industries could relate to, we had members of the TV and Digital industries on the panel. Hyper Island came out top across the board! They have a long history and a great reputation across the world plus they have developed an array of fantastic programmes specific to the Creative and Digital Industries. They also have a really different approach to training, this won't be any ordinary leadership course!

What else is going on in Manchester?
We're also funding the Accidental Manager course as part of the Digital and Media Skills Programme, this is aimed at the next tier down - the rising stars! It's being delivered by Kirkbright.

Thank you, Lynn!

Hyper Island is coming to the UK to do a leadership course for leaders in the creative industry; Accidental Leader Programme UK. There will be a mix of companies with expertise within many different areas: interactive, animation, radio, TV production and video production among others. They will go through a total of six days of very intense training, the first session being in July and the last one in November.

The first session is getting closer. On July 14th - 16th, 20 leaders will get together at the Imperial War Museum in Manchester to experience and learn through the Accidental Leader Programme.
We asked one of the participants - Tony Foggett, CEO & Founder at Code Computerlove a couple of questions:


Tell us a bit about yourself and your company?
We are a Digital marketing agency based in Manchester - there are 55 of us at the moment, but we are growing so on the look out for new talent. Code look after brands like Matalan, Waterstones, Butlins and the NUS, we do their consumer experience planning across the channel and online promotional activity.

What are your expectations on the Accidental Leader Programme?
I hoping for leadership training that deals with the particular challenges that come with running a creative and digital agency.

How, would you say, should the ideal leadership programme be like?
Not sure I understand the question. But for me it would be a combination of inspiration with practical tools I can take away and apply back in the agency. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with some of the other agency folks from Manchester. We all know one another pretty well so I'm hoping outside of the training this might actually be a chance for us to discuss the digital scene within the city and what we can do to collectively improve it.

What do you know about Hyper Island?
You're Swedes who understand creativity. And there was something about a walnut?

It seems to be a buzz about Manchester, what are your thoughts about Manchester right now?
There is no buzz about Manchester, it's all a big lie, shushhh now you crazy Swedish people. (The longer we can perpetuate the myth that London is really where its at the longer they will leave us alone) Unfortunately with the BBC moving up here and Media City around the corner it's getting harder to hide the scene that is developing here.


Thank you, Tony!

Hyper Island's Accidental Leader Programme is launching in Manchester and Liverpool next week, together with Accidental Managers which is being delivered by Kirkbright.
RSVP now!

Manchester Launch
Date and Time: 6pm Wednesday 20 May 2009
Venue: Museum of Science & Industry

Liverpool Launch
Date and Time: 6pm Thursday 21 May 2009
Venue: Tate Liverpool

Click here to RSVP!

For more information about the Accidental Leader programme - Download this PDF.


Hope to see you there!

Hyper Island now offers a leadership program to SMEs in the Digital and Creative Industries in the Northwest of England. The digital and media skills program is delivered by Northwest Vision and Media in partnership with Skillset with the support of the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

“We have been sending graduates to the UK for 14 years. Now it is time for us to start educate the British industry on their home ground as well. And the boiling centre of MediaCityUK in Manchester is a perfect place to conduct this course”, says Mattias Hansson, CEO, Hyper Island.

Hyper Island will bring it’s unique educational method to the table and will focus on developing ‘Accidental Leaders’ in team effectiveness and digital.

“We eventually went with Hyper Island because of their innovative and experiential approach to Leadership. We feel they will offer something very different and meaningful for leaders of companies in the Digital and Creative Industries in the Northwest. They are renowned worldwide for their training programs and Northwest Vision and Media is proud to have brought them to the region”, says Lynn Kelly, Head of skills, Northwest Vision and Media.

There will be two launch events in Manchester and Liverpool on the 13th and 14th of May.

The Hyper Island Team will work in close collaboration with a UK-based management development training company, Kirkbright, which won the contract to deliver the linked ‘Accidental Managers’ program. Kirkbright was founded by creative industries management expert Greg Orme, who also founded and ran the globally respected Centre for Creative Business between 2004 and 2008.

“We were obviously pleased to be part of this innovative training initiative. Our excitement at delivering this was only increased when we realised it would give us the opportunity to work closely with the digital experts at Hyper Island”, says Greg Orme, Managing Director, Kirkbright.

This is a truly unique opportunity and the funding from Northwest Vision and Media will make it affordable for SMEs in the Digital and Creative industries in the region. The funding is from the Digital and Media Skills Programme, a £2.8 million investment by the North West Development Agency, delivered by Northwest Vision and Media in partnership with Skillset.


For more information, please contact:
Maria Eriksson, Project Leader, Hyper Island