John Parker is the CEO of The Academy of Leadership and Management based in Ayrshire in Scotland. Working alongside his wife, Janet, this husband and wife team are at the heart of the Academy, which gained its IOEE accreditation last year. We interviewed John for the very first issue of Think Enterprise, and this month we caught up with him to see how the Academy is continuing to evolve, the opportunities provided by blended learning, and how it will be expanding its offering even further in the year ahead.

John Parker is the CEO of The Academy of Leadership and Management based in Ayrshire in Scotland. Working alongside his wife, Janet, this husband and wife team are at the heart of the Academy, which gained its IOEE accreditation last year. We interviewed John for the very first issue of Think Enterprise, and this month we caught up with him to see how the Academy is continuing to evolve, the opportunities provided by blended learning, and how it will be expanding its offering even further in the year ahead.

The Academy of Leadership and Management’s strapline captures its commitment to the development of outstanding learners, with its powerful promise of delivering Executive Education and Key People Development.

For three years, the Academy operated as a SFEDI Awards Centre, offering SFEDI programmes as part of its extensive range of professional enterprise qualifications, before the decision was made to become an IOEE Academy in 2016.

Through a combination of practical work-based programmes, executive coaching via Skype, and online distance learning, the Academy is dedicated to developing strong leaders, managers, coaches, mentors and business advisers - and whilst its offering is available to businesses of any size, John says that he and his fellow team members have always specialised in the development of small businesses:

“We have a strong team with a wealth of experience in both business development and business advisor programmes, throughout Scotland and further afield. Between us, we have trained and supported around 1000 small business professionals so far, as well as the leaders and managers of businesses, small and large, and we’re constantly growing.”

The Academy’s principle delivery process is delivered blended learning, and John explains how this enables them to have a greater outreach than a traditional campus-orientated learning experience:

“Our blended learning methods allow us to have quite a major outreach, so we are literally able to influence and educate all over the world. We’ve delivered programmes in Russia, Australia, America, Mexico, Czech Republic, the Middle East… as well as our beloved Scotland, of course, and other parts of the UK! A number of our learners are from the island of St. Helena, 1200 miles off the west coast of Africa - it’s famous for where Napoleon was incarcerated at the end of his life. With no commercial flights yet, the only way to get there is a five-day journey on the Royal Mail Ship St. Helena! We’ve been delivering programmes there at a very senior level, delivering Level 5 and Level 7 qualifications to government officials and others. Janet and I visited there in October 2015 – an experience of a lifetime! A five day journey by sea, with not even a seagull to keep you company, to visit a remote island with 4000 inhabitants and its own government. An extraordinary experience!

“We have also helped to develop the BA Business and Enterprise online, which is a one year top up degree progressing from our level 5 courses, delivered through Edinburgh Napier University. I have to say that it’s great to be able to connect and reach places like this all over the world.”

However, John says that although their distance learning methods enable a global outreach, educating through online platforms does come with its own challenges:

“I think that one of the problems that people find with online learning is that, naturally, the taking away of the human element can be a strange prospect. We overcome this by using Skype for individual coaching and tutorials, as well as group workshops on occasion, and this works extremely well for our learners.

“People can also be put off by the idea of a lot of solitary reading. Of course, there will be an element of reading, which you would find in any course at this level, but through the interaction with their coaches and application of their learning in the workplace, our learners get the opportunity to gain an in-depth knowledge of key issues as well as chances to bounce ideas off their coaches, apply their learning in safe environments and gain useful feedback on their work.

“We’re always looking to improve our online offer as well as - trying to make our offer as engaging as possible. What we don’t want to do is make it appear more exciting, by putting a load of flashes and bangs on the screen, but with the content remaining the same. We’re not going for ‘flashy’, that’s not who we are - we want to enhance the way that we deliver our learning process so that it is accessible, engaging and extremely rewarding.”

Part of the way that The Academy of Leadership and Management works is to ensure that measuring skills and knowledge is achieved through practical assessment processes. John says:

“It’s the reason that we’re so involved in the assessment process. We know that it’s about applying what you’ve learned to achieve results and then getting useful feedback that helps learners to get even better at what they do. It’s hands-on. And the learning journey doesn’t just end once you’ve gained the qualification either. For example, we work closely with an organisation, based in North-East Scotland, which provides business support and incubation to businesses with growth potential.

The team at The Academy of Leadership and Management has, as part of its extensive portfolio, specialised in developing and accrediting Scottish business advisers for well over a decade now and has won many awards for their programmes. These credentials have led the Academy to its recent position of working closely with one of Scotland’s largest local authorities to support the development of their business growth team. John says:

“One of the biggest changes in the Academy in the last year or so is that we are expanding our portfolio of programmes. This is enabling us to evolve the business and work with different clients and in different areas. We’re currently in the process of adding the new business adviser and business support qualifications that the IOEE and SFEDI have recently brought out onto the market, with a particular focus on Level 5 and Level 7 learning, and will be delivering most of these so that our learners have access to an even broader offering. This will involve working with business support professionals, small business coaches and mentors and business information specialists, as well as small businesses and their leaders.

We’ve achieved a lot so far, but over the next couple of years our aim is to get even bigger and better; to expand our offering, continue to grow, and to connect with the broader business support community in the rest of the UK and with even more far-flung corners of the globe!”

For more information about ALM, you can visit their website: www.academylm.co.uk