Develop Better Managers. Build Stronger Leaders.
Strong leaders improve performance, support employees and help organisations achieve their goals.
Elite’s Leadership Development Pathway offers Bronze, Silver and Gold programmes for managers and leaders at every stage. Each combines practical leadership skills with the ability to navigate change, make informed decisions and respond to emerging technologies, including AI.
Tailored to your priorities and delivered flexibly by experienced facilitators, the pathway helps you develop new managers, strengthen existing leaders and prepare people for greater responsibility.
Elite-Unilode Programme Nominated for Leadership Innovation Award
Due to the success of their Global Leadership Pathway, the Institute of Leadership shortlisted Unilode for the ‘Most Innovative Institute Approved Programme Award’ in 2024. Elite were awarded tutor membership for the design and delivery contribution to the pathway delivering topics such as Commercial Acumen, Leading Others and Critical Conversations.
Leadership Development That Makes a Difference
Managers and leaders influence how effectively teams perform, how employees respond to change and how organisational priorities are delivered.
Developing these capabilities requires more than attending a training course. Participants need opportunities to practise, receive feedback and apply what they have learned to the challenges they face in their roles.
Our Leadership Development Pathway is designed around practical workplace application, helping organisations establish consistent leadership expectations and support managers as their responsibilities develop.
We work with organisations to develop management and leadership capability through practical, tailored training. Our experience includes working with public-sector bodies and commercial organisations with different structures, leadership challenges and development priorities.
Let’s talk leadership.
Our Programme
Elite’s Leadership Development Pathway comprises three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold, providing a structured approach to developing managers and leaders at different stages of responsibility. Each five-day programme combines practical learning, workplace exercises and opportunities to apply new skills, with flexible face-to-face or virtual delivery. Programmes can be tailored to your organisation’s objectives, with additional coaching and specialist training available where required.
Our pathway also reflects the growing role of AI in leadership and decision-making. Participants develop the skills to use AI responsibly, evaluate AI-generated information and recommendations, challenge assumptions and make informed decisions. The depth of AI content progresses across the three levels, reflecting increasing leadership responsibilities, with an emphasis on sound judgement, ethical considerations, risk and accountability.
Program outlines
Our program is tailored to help you grow and learn new skills so that you can reach your goals.
Level 1: Bronze
Step up to leadership.
Program description
This 5-day development programme is designed for new and aspiring managers who want to develop the confidence and practical skills needed to manage people and lead a team effectively.
The training will explore the responsibilities of a manager, including establishing expectations, communicating effectively, delegating work, motivating employees and managing performance. Participants will also develop practical approaches to problem-solving, decision-making and supporting employees in different working environments.
The programme introduces the responsible use of AI as a management support tool, including how to assess AI-generated information and recommendations before using them to inform decisions.
Sessions will be interactive and can be delivered virtually or in the classroom. The programme will include practical exercises, workplace scenarios, self-reflection, group discussions and opportunities to apply learning between sessions.
Overview
Newly appointed managers, aspiring managers, supervisors and team leaders who are taking responsibility for managing employees or coordinating the work of others. The programme is also suitable for managers with limited formal management development who wish to strengthen their core skills.
None. Previous management experience is not required. Participants should be preparing for, or already undertaking, responsibilities involving the coordination, supervision or management of others. Attendance at the full 5-day programme is recommended.
This programme will enable participants to:
- Establish clear responsibilities, expectations and priorities for themselves and their team
- Adapt their management approach to the needs and experience of individual employees
- Communicate objectives, instructions and feedback clearly and constructively
- Delegate tasks effectively and monitor progress without unnecessary supervision
- Set appropriate performance objectives and conduct regular performance conversations
- Identify practical ways to improve team motivation, engagement and collaboration
- Apply a structured approach to routine workplace problems and decisions
- Use AI-generated information responsibly, checking its accuracy, assumptions and limitations before acting
- Develop and implement a personal management development action plan
Course content
- Introduction to management:
- Moving into a management role
- Responsibilities and expectations of the manager
- Establishing credibility and positive working relationships
- Managing personal priorities and workload
- Management v leadership:
- Understanding management and leadership responsibilities
- Balancing the needs of the task, individual and team
- Recognising how management behaviour affects team performance
- Self-awareness and leadership styles:
- Identifying personal strengths and development areas
- Recognising the impact of individual management approaches
- Adapting leadership behaviour to employee experience and support needs
- Building trust through consistency, fairness and accountability
- Effective communication:
- Communicating expectations and instructions clearly
- Listening and questioning techniques
- Choosing appropriate communication methods
- Communicating with employees working remotely or in hybrid arrangements
- Practical communication exercise
- Delegation and motivation:
- Identifying appropriate opportunities to delegate
- Agreeing responsibilities, authority and expected outcomes
- Understanding what supports employee motivation and engagement
- Encouraging autonomy, recognition and development
- Personal commitments and action planning
- Review of commitments and experiences since the last session
- Managing performance:
- Setting clear and measurable objectives
- Agreeing standards and expectations
- Monitoring progress through regular conversations
- Recognising achievement and addressing early performance concerns
- Giving and receiving feedback:
- Providing specific, constructive feedback
- Recognising the importance of timely feedback
- Encouraging two-way discussion
- Practical feedback exercise
- Developing your team:
- Recognising individual strengths and development needs
- Supporting learning through everyday management
- Using basic coaching questions to encourage ownership
- Building trust, collaboration and psychological safety
- Problem-solving and decision-making:
- Defining problems and identifying their causes
- Gathering relevant information and comparing options
- Considering consequences, risks and practical constraints
- Recognising assumptions and common decision-making errors
- Making and communicating decisions within delegated authority
- Using AI to support management decisions:
- Identifying appropriate uses of AI for routine management tasks
- Using AI to organise information and generate possible options
- Checking AI-generated information against reliable evidence
- Recognising inaccurate outputs, unsupported assumptions and potential bias
- Protecting confidential information and following organisational policies
- Maintaining personal accountability for management decisions
- Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace:
- Recognising signs of excessive workload or reduced engagement
- Supporting healthy working practices and appropriate boundaries
- Knowing when to seek additional organisational support
- Coaching for results:
- Using a coaching approach to support employee development
- Asking questions that encourage problem-solving and ownership
- Knowing when to coach and when to provide direction
- Practical coaching conversation with feedback
- Putting management skills into practice:
- Applying communication, delegation and performance management techniques
- Working through a realistic management scenario
- Reviewing a management decision, including an AI-generated recommendation
- Identifying improvements through peer and facilitator feedback
- Review of programme
- Development planning and commitments
Level 2: Silver
The influential leader.
Program description
This 5-day development programme is designed for experienced managers who are responsible for achieving results through others, leading teams or departments and influencing colleagues and stakeholders across their organisation.
The training will focus on developing leadership influence, improving collective performance, managing competing priorities and leading operational change. Participants will explore how to build accountability across teams, manage challenging situations and make informed decisions where there are competing interests, risks and resource constraints.
The programme also examines the increasing use of AI in operational decision-making. Participants will practise evaluating AI-generated recommendations, challenging assumptions, assessing potential consequences and determining when additional evidence, human review or escalation is required.
Participants will be encouraged to use feedback, workplace challenges and practical exercises to assess their leadership effectiveness and identify opportunities for improvement.
Sessions will be interactive and can be delivered virtually or in the classroom. The programme will include case studies, group exercises, leadership scenarios, action learning and opportunities to apply learning between sessions.
Overview
Experienced managers, departmental managers, operational leaders and managers of managers who are responsible for delivering results through teams and influencing people beyond their direct reporting relationships.
Participants will typically have responsibility for team or departmental performance, operational decisions, resource allocation or the implementation of organisational initiatives.
Participants should have practical experience of managing people, delivering team objectives and handling routine management responsibilities.
Completion of Bronze is beneficial but not mandatory. Those entering directly should already be confident in the core management skills covered at Bronze, including communication, delegation, performance conversations and day-to-day decision-making.
Attendance at the full 5-day programme is recommended.
This programme will enable participants to:
- Assess their leadership impact using feedback and identify specific development priorities
- Develop and apply influencing strategies to secure stakeholder support and commitment
- Establish shared objectives and accountability across teams or departments
- Delegate authority and develop the capability of team leaders and managers
- Plan and lead the people-related aspects of an operational change initiative
- Resolve challenging stakeholder situations and competing departmental priorities
- Evaluate operational options using evidence, business impact and risk
- Critically assess AI-generated recommendations for accuracy, bias, feasibility and potential consequences
- Establish appropriate human review, decision ownership and escalation for AI-supported operational decisions
- Develop and implement an action plan to improve departmental or cross-team performance
Course content
- My current role:
- Expectations of an experienced manager and leader
- Moving from direct supervision to leading through others
- Recognising personal leadership strengths and development areas
- Using feedback to assess leadership impact
- Influential leadership:
- Building credibility and trust across the organisation
- Understanding stakeholder interests and priorities
- Influencing without formal authority
- Selecting appropriate influencing approaches
- Developing a personal stakeholder influence plan
- Influential communication:
- Communicating proposals and recommendations persuasively
- Adapting messages to different stakeholders
- Presenting evidence and addressing objections
- Communicating challenging decisions
- Practical influencing exercise
- Achieving business results through others:
- Establishing shared objectives across teams
- Managing competing priorities and interdependencies
- Delegating authority and maintaining accountability
- Developing managers and team leaders
- Reviewing collective performance
- Personal commitments and action planning
- Review of commitments and experiences since the last session
- Leading through Change and Transition:
- Translating organisational change into departmental priorities
- Assessing the impact on employees, roles and working practices
- Engaging stakeholders and responding to concerns
- Supporting teams through uncertainty
- Monitoring adoption and identifying further support requirements
- Managing difficult situations:
- Handling challenging conversations with colleagues and stakeholders
- Addressing competing priorities and disagreements
- Managing conflict between teams
- Maintaining constructive working relationships
- Practical workplace scenario
- Operational problem-solving and decision-making:
- Evaluating options involving people, resources, cost and service delivery
- Distinguishing evidence from assumptions
- Assessing risks, trade-offs and potential consequences
- Making decisions with incomplete information
- Communicating decisions and establishing accountability
- AI-supported operational decisions:
- Identifying appropriate opportunities for AI-supported analysis
- Evaluating AI-generated recommendations against operational evidence
- Recognising unreliable data, bias and unsupported conclusions
- Assessing implications for employees, customers and service quality
- Establishing human review, approval and escalation arrangements
- Documenting the rationale for decisions informed by AI
- Building resilience and sustainable performance:
- Recognising organisational and operational pressures
- Managing workload and competing demands across teams
- Creating an environment where concerns can be raised
- Supporting sustainable performance and appropriate wellbeing practices
- Building high-performing teams:
- Establishing shared accountability and clear expectations
- Identifying barriers to collaboration
- Encouraging constructive challenge and knowledge sharing
- Reviewing team effectiveness and agreeing improvements
- Developing other leaders:
- Identifying management capability and development needs
- Delegating responsibility to build confidence and competence
- Coaching and challenging managers
- Supporting future leadership capability
- Action Learning Sets:
- Using action learning to address live leadership challenges
- Presenting an operational leadership issue
- Challenging assumptions and exploring alternative approaches
- Agreeing practical actions and follow-up commitments
- Review of programme
- Development planning and commitments
Level 3: Gold
Leading strategically.
Program description
This 5-day development programme is designed for senior managers and leaders who are responsible for shaping organisational direction, influencing strategic decisions and delivering results across departments or the wider organisation.
The training will focus on strategic thinking, organisational performance, commercial awareness, leadership culture and the ability to make sound decisions in complex and uncertain circumstances.
Participants will explore how to evaluate strategic options, allocate resources, assess investment proposals and lead significant organisational change. The programme will also consider the responsibilities of senior leaders in overseeing AI-enabled decision-making, including governance, risk, ethical considerations and accountability.
Participants will use real organisational challenges and case studies to develop and defend strategic recommendations, while reflecting on their leadership impact and the capability needed to deliver future organisational priorities.
In addition to the 5-day programme, each participant will be invited to receive a 30-minute to 1-hour coaching session with an experienced coach.
Sessions will be interactive and can be delivered virtually or in the classroom. The programme will include strategic case studies, practical exercises, peer challenge, action learning and opportunities to apply learning between sessions.
Overview
Senior managers, heads of department or service, directors and experienced leaders who contribute to organisational strategy, make significant resource or investment decisions, lead major initiatives or influence senior internal and external stakeholders.
Participants should have responsibilities extending beyond the direct management of an individual team and be expected to consider wider organisational outcomes.
Participants should have substantial management or leadership experience and current responsibilities involving strategic planning, cross-organisational leadership, significant operational or financial decisions, or the implementation of organisational strategy.
Completion of Silver is beneficial but not mandatory. Those entering directly should already be competent in influencing stakeholders, leading through other managers, managing operational change and evaluating complex operational decisions.
Participants should be able to bring a genuine strategic or organisational challenge to the programme. Attendance at the full 5-day programme is recommended.
This programme will enable participants to:
- Evaluate the organisation’s strategic position and identify priorities for action
- Assess alternative strategic options using evidence, risk, resource requirements and expected benefits
- Evaluate investment or resource-allocation proposals and defend a reasoned recommendation
- Establish measures for monitoring strategic performance and organisational outcomes
- Develop approaches to shaping organisational culture, inclusion and leadership accountability
- Influence senior stakeholders and build support for strategic priorities
- Assess opportunities for AI-enabled organisational improvement and transformation
- Challenge AI-generated forecasts, strategic scenarios and recommendations
- Define appropriate governance, human oversight, decision rights and assurance requirements for AI-supported strategic decisions
- Present and defend a strategic leadership proposal and develop an implementation action plan
Course content
- My current role:
- Responsibilities and expectations of a strategic leader
- Moving from operational management to organisational leadership
- Recognising the wider impact of senior leadership decisions
- Identifying personal leadership priorities and challenges
- The organisation:
- Organisational purpose, values and strategic objectives
- Assessing organisational culture and leadership behaviour
- Establishing accountability and inclusive leadership practices
- Aligning leadership decisions with organisational priorities
- Strategic thinking, change and innovation:
- Assessing the external and internal environment
- Identifying strategic opportunities, threats and constraints
- Evaluating alternative strategic directions
- Making decisions under uncertainty
- Translating strategic priorities into organisational action
- Commercial acumen and organisational performance:
- Understanding the financial and operational drivers of performance
- Evaluating investment proposals and business cases
- Assessing costs, benefits, risks and alternative uses of resources
- Selecting meaningful strategic performance measures
- Practical strategic decision-making exercise
- Inspiring and engaging others:
- Influencing executive colleagues and external stakeholders
- Building commitment to strategic priorities
- Communicating significant organisational decisions
- Leading through uncertainty and organisational transformation
- My leadership challenge:
- Presenting a current strategic leadership challenge
- Using peer challenge to examine assumptions and alternatives
- Agreeing areas for further investigation
- Personal commitments and action planning
- Review of commitments and experiences since the last session
- Creating your leadership brand:
- Using feedback to assess leadership impact
- Aligning leadership behaviour with organisational values
- Communicating sensitive or challenging strategic messages
- Identifying personal development priorities
- Impact and Influence as a Leader:
- Understanding influence and decision-making at senior level
- Managing complex stakeholder relationships
- Negotiating competing organisational priorities
- Encouraging constructive challenge in senior teams
- Practical stakeholder influencing exercise
- AI, Strategic Decision-Making and Governance:
- Identifying strategic opportunities and limitations of AI
- Evaluating AI-enabled investment and transformation proposals
- Challenging AI-generated forecasts, analysis and strategic recommendations
- Assessing data reliability, bias, privacy, security and wider organisational risk
- Establishing decision rights, accountability and human oversight
- Determining appropriate testing, assurance and monitoring requirements
- Deciding when to approve, pilot, revise or reject an AI-enabled proposal
- Practical executive decision-making exercise
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Organisation:
- Embedding fair and inclusive practices into organisational decisions
- Recognising potential bias in leadership and management systems
- Assessing the equality implications of organisational change and technology
- Establishing accountability for inclusive leadership
- Health and Wellbeing in the Organisation:
- Recognising organisational factors affecting employee wellbeing
- Establishing expectations for sustainable performance
- Considering wellbeing when making strategic workforce decisions
- Leadership challenges:
- Action Learning Sets to revisit strategic challenges
- Testing proposed decisions and actions through peer challenge
Coaching session
Each leader will be invited to receive a 30-minute to 1-hour coaching session with an experienced coach.
The session will provide an opportunity to reflect on individual leadership challenges, consider feedback and identify practical actions to strengthen strategic leadership effectiveness.
- Developing leadership capability:
- Identifying future leadership requirements
- Developing senior managers and potential successors
- Creating opportunities for delegation, challenge and development
- Strengthening organisational leadership capacity
- Strategic leadership application:
- Preparing a recommendation addressing a real organisational challenge
- Assessing evidence, alternatives, risks and expected benefits
- Considering stakeholder implications and implementation requirements
- Presenting and defending the recommendation
- Receiving constructive feedback and challenge
- Review of programme
- Action Learning Sets
- Development planning, follow-up support and commitments
Let’s talk leadership.
A few words from our clients
"We were very pleased to use Elite Training and Consultancy as our partner when designing and delivering a new Management Development Programme across the organisation.
We felt that Elite listened to our needs and showed good flexibility in adapting existing leadership and management modules to suit our requirements. The trainer engaged very successfully with all members of our two cohorts of delegates and showed great listening skills and, despite delivering virtually throughout, got to know the participants and encouraged them to contribute. There is a real ‘buzz’ in our organisation about the Programme and I have already been asked to consider a second schedule for later in the year."
About us
Founded in 2006 with headquarters in Glasgow, Elite Training offers a comprehensive range of IT, Professional Best Practice and Business Skills training across the UK.
At Elite Training, we understand that every client is different and as such customise training solutions to suit your individual requirements. We are interested in building strong, long lasting business relationships based on high quality training and customer care. We pride ourselves on responding quickly to queries and providing advice on all your training requirements.
We’ve spent over 15 years building a diverse client base with an almost equal split between public and private sector contracts. We’ve worked extensively across all branches of Scottish Government, local government and the NHS. We’re also proud to have met the training needs of private sector organisations such as TSB, Telegraph Media Group and BNP Paribas.
Our main business is conducted with mid-to-large companies and organisations, which are more inclined to invest in training and tend to have cohesive learning development plans.
We believe in improving organisational productivity through the reduction of skills gaps and tackling workforce skill shortages. Our role in helping clients address these issues has led to tangible productivity and skills improvements across the whole of our client portfolio.
1 Blythswood Square
Glasgow G2 4AD