Invest in yourself and your business at RGU

If you have ambitions to grow your business, you might be interested to know that RGU's award-winning Aberdeen Business School is delivering the Government’s Help to Grow: Management course.

The 12-week course is designed to be completed alongside your full-time work as a senior business leader. It will help boost your own leadership skills as well as your business’s productivity, performance, resilience and long-term growth. By the end of the course, you will have built a growth plan tailored to your own business.

You will also gain access to expert led webinars, case studies, peer-to-peer networking opportunities and will even be mentored by high profile industry experts who will be matched based on your particular business needs.

The cost of Help to Grow: Management is 90% funded by Government, meaning you can complete the course for only £750. You find about more about Help to Grow: Management and the eligibility criteria at www.rgu.ac.uk/helptogrow.

The benefits

• Develop your leadership skills across all areas of business including strategic planning, employee engagement, finance and marketing
• Develop strategies for market segmentation, positioning and targeting to streamline your marketing approach
• Gain exclusive access to a local, regional and national peer network to share practical challenges, ideas and experiences
• Work with your mentor to develop a Growth Action Plan tailored to your business and its unique journey
• Learn how to engage employees on your business journey and plan the future structure of your organisation
• Identify new technologies and digital approaches to enhance innovation and productivity in your business model
• Improve operational efficiency to save time and money
• A blended course that combines interactive, online sessions with face-to-face learning to suit you

The course

The 12-week Help to Grow: Management course is built around a practical curriculum and will be delivered by Aberdeen Business School in partnership with local industry leaders. It will be delivered through a variety of sessions online and face-to-face, supported by mentoring and peer networking.

The fourth Cohort of Help to Grow: Management at RGU will run from 7 September 2022. Applicants for this Cohort are open until 14 September 2022.

The course will feature:

• Eight facilitated online 2-hour sessions
• Four practical and interactive case study workshops
• One-to-one support from a mentor, providing you with personalised support to develop your business growth plan
• Peer networking, including peer group calls that give you the opportunity to share experiences with a small group of other small business leaders
• Access to the Alumni Programme featuring events with inspirational speakers, business clinics and networking events

The course will cover key areas of leadership including:

• Strategy and Innovation
• Digital Adoption
• Internationalisation and Winning New Markets
• Vision, Mission and Values
• Developing a Marketing Strategy
• Building a Brand
• Organisational Design
• Employee Engagement and Leading Change
• High Performance Workplaces
• Efficient Operations
• Finance and Financial Management
• Implementing Growth Plans

Funding and fees

This 12-week Help to Grow: Management course has been designed to fit around the workload of senior managers. The course is 90% funded by the Government - the fee payable by participants is £750.

Eligibility

To join Help to Grow: Management, your business must:

• Be a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) based in the United Kingdom
• From any business sector, employing between 5 and 249 people
• Have been operational for at least one year
• Not be a charity
• If your business employs between 10 and 249 people, you can send up to two people on the course. If your business employs between 5 and 9 employees, you can send only one person. For more information, please read the HELP TO GROW MANAGEMENT - FAQS

To join Help to Grow: Management, the applicant must:

• Be a senior decision maker, such as Chief Executive, Finance Director, Operations Director, etc.
• Have at least one direct report
• Commit to completing all sessions

“I gained a lot of learning from the peer network. The in-class and peer group discussions were great and highlighted to me that some of the challenges being faced in my Company were also being faced in others. It was great to chat through these and hear how others have made it through.”
- Kerry Scott, Help to Grow: Management Alumna and HSEQ+ People Director, Motive Offshore Group