Leadership and business development programme (Lancashire Forum Creative)

Training and development

Are you a creative or digital SME looking for leadership development training?

Supported by

Lancashire Forum Creative is a leadership and business growth programme that is tailored to meet the learning and development needs of Lancashire’s creative and digital SMEs. The programme has been designed to equip your business with the necessary confidence, knowledge and skills to thrive. The project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and delivered by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).

How can we benefit your business?

Businesses that have participated in the project report:

  • Business growth and increased profits
  • Increased confidence as leaders
  • They have adopted strategic thinking
  • The development of new products and services
  • They are better equipped to delegate and empower teams

We appreciate that every company has different aims, objectives, needs and goals, so our facilitators work with businesses and organisations to decide on the best route for you.

Route one: Think Tanks

A series of interactive, business-focused Think Tank sessions are led by experts from the business world and UCLan. Recent Think Tank topics have included ‘What Is Digital?’, ‘Building Resilience’, ‘Growing your Business’, and ‘Digital Marketing’.

Route two: Lancashire Forum Creative Extra

This six-month, in-depth Extra programme for senior managers and SME owners uses a range of innovative techniques to help you take your business forward. You will work with a group of peers throughout the programme and learn from and with one another to develop your business in the way that is right for you.

The Extra programme includes:

  • Facilitated group sessions using action learning to resolve business issues and develop ideas
  • In-depth Think Tanks on topics like Business Models and Growth, and Strategic Thinking
  • Lego Serious Play – a creative tool to help you visualise your business and identify what you want to work on
  • Think Differently Sprint and Toolkit to develop new products and services
Rory Southworth, Laurie Smith, Juliane Lowe and Elena Vasilieva from the Lancashire Forum Creative team
Rory Southworth, Laurie Smith, Juliane Lowe and Elena Vasilieva from the Lancashire Forum Creative team

Who is it for?

The Lancashire Forum Creative is an ERDF programme (meaning there is no cost to participants). We work with companies that are Lancashire based business-to-business (B2B) employing fewer than 250 full-time employees. The companies show an annual turnover of less than £40 million and/or an annual balance sheet total of less than £35 million and received less than €200,000 of publicly funded support in the last three fiscal years.

As the government funding for this project ended on 30 June 2023 please contact our Business Enquiries Team or call us on +44 (0) 1772 895500. We can discuss with you what other options may be available to you to support you. This could be in your research, development, training and consultancy needs. 

Contact us

Lancashire Forum Creative

Email: lancashireforum@uclan.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1772 892707

Twitter: @UCLanBusiness / @UCLansme

Facebook: Lancashire Forum