Students get inspired after taking part in Common Purpose’s Future Leader Experience

Students at GCU had the opportunity to take part in an exciting leadership programme with Common Purpose - designed to inspire and encourage future leaders.

The Future Leader Experience is a three-day programme which brings together students from universities across the UK to help prepare them with the skills and qualities needed to succeed in their future careers.

The programme, which took place online this year, allowed students to hear from successful leaders and even take part in an “Immersion” activity which allowed students to experience examples of leadership in different organisations.

Fourth year Social Sciences student Erin Barr was among the students who took part in the Future Leaders Experience and felt that the programme really helped her come out of her comfort zone.

We spoke to Erin about her experience of the programme:

Firstly, could you tell us a bit about how you found out about the Future Leader Experience and why you decided to take part? 

“I found out about the programme through an email from my programme co-ordinator. I thought the programme looked like a great opportunity for me to develop my leadership skills and for me to meet leaders from various companies and organisations.

As I am a final-year student, I thought that the course would be beneficial to prepare myself for future employment opportunities after graduation. I am quite a quiet person and I decided this would push me out of my comfort zone, allowing me to build my self-confidence.”

I understand that the programme ran for 3 days – what was involved? 

“On day one we were introduced to the idea of leadership; what it means to be a leader and what skills are required to be successful in the 21st century. Throughout the day we were put into different breakout groups, giving us the opportunity to get to know everyone on the course as we were tasked with introducing ourselves and sharing our current leadership experiences. This encouraged me to speak out and it also developed my cultural intelligence as I collaborated with a diverse range of people.

Day two built upon this and we were given the opportunity to take part in a virtual immersion with different leaders and organisations from Glasgow and the surrounding areas. I joined the Police Scotland immersion and I was able to learn about leadership in practice. This helped develop our leadership skills as we were responsible for ensuring the leader stuck to the allocated time and we were responsible for ensuring everyone had the opportunity to ask the leader a question.

On the final day, we were put into small groups and paired with a local organisation. Here, we were given a real-life challenge that the organisation currently faces and as a group, we were tasked with coming up with a solution on how to address this problem. We were only allocated a short period of time to discuss this in our groups and then we were required to present our ideas back to the organisation. I was part of the Alcohol Focus Scotland group and the challenge I had to address was how to sustain and increase their training income in the context of COVID-19.”

Now that the programme is finished, what did you think of it overall? 

“I thought the programme was excellent! The organisers of the programme were so supportive, and everyone was so engaged. It was great to meet so many different people from such diverse backgrounds.

As much as it was challenging to push myself out of my comfort zone, it was worth it! It allowed me to develop my interpersonal skills, build self-esteem and become more agile, which all contribute to being a successful leader today.”

For those who may be interested in getting involved in the future, what would you say to them? 

“Go for it! This was a fantastic programme and I highly recommend it to anyone at any stage of their education/career. It was an invaluable experience and I learned so much.”

Find out more about the Future Leader Experience on the Common Purpose website

By Rachael McAlonan

Got a SCEBE or GSBS story? Email me at Rachael.McAlonan@gcu.ac.uk or connect with me on social media  here