The Times Leadership Challenge is a knockout competition that tests participants’ leadership skills in a series of increasingly difficult and complex situations.
Up to 96 eight-member teams will take part in the first stage, which is a series of one-day events held across the country between May and July next year. The winning teams from each of the challenge days will be invited to a semi-final; the very best of these will progress to the final, which will be held in Malawi in October 2007. Finalists will spend five days working on a development project with a remote community in Salima, near the shores of Lake Malawi.
Duncan Burman, a partner at Ambur Associates, which is organising the event, says: “The challenge develops leadership skills by testing young professionals in crisis situations. The accent is on how they react and deal with fast-moving situations, rather than who finishes first.”
The event, sponsored by Michael Page International, is run by former military tutors, but the emphasis is on mental rather than physical ability. All teams are given feedback after their event so that they can assess their performance and see how they can apply what they have learnt in the workplace.
“It teaches through practical experience rather than classroom theory and as such can fit well alongside existing corporate leadership initiatives,” Burman says.
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Visit www.yplchallenge.co.uk to find out more.