In March 2020, following recommendations from the group formerly known as the West Yorkshire and Harrogate BAME Network, the Partnership's System Leadership and Development Programme developed The Fellowship Programme.
This programme is aimed at colleagues from ethnic minorities aspiring to move into senior leadership. It builds on current good practice and complements existing local and regional programmes to make sure we have good representation of colleagues from ethnic minorities in our next generation of leaders.
Objectives
The main objectives of The Fellowship Programme are;
to prepare future systems leaders; increase the sphere of influence across the Partnership's senior leadership;
and add value through the enhancement of diversity.
The programme is made up of the following three leadership development streams to enable participants at different stages within their careers to progress to the next stage.
- Senior Placement - aimed at experienced leaders looking to bridge practical experience gaps coupled with strategic board level, system leadership development that has proved a barrier to career progression in the past. Started November 2020
- High Potential Level 2 - aimed at leaders looking to progress into a senior system leadership role combined with strategic board development. Starts July 2021
- High Potential Level 1 - aimed at those working towards managing teams or projects with a system approach and looking to develop project and people development skills. Launches December 2021
Sayma Mirza, Associate Director for system Leadership and Development, is on the Senior Placement development stream.
In this leadership blog, Sayma shares her experiences and looks at how The Fellowship Programme is helping to create change.
An award winning initiative
In 2020, The Fellowship Programme won an HSJ Award for System Leadership Initiative of the Year.
The HSJ organisers highlighted the Partnership's relentless focus on increasing the diversity of our leadership to better serve our communities.