"It provided such a different perspective on leadership, delivered in an influential and unique way with highly valuable and practical tools."
Attending the High Performance Leadership programme helped Bhavika Patel, Global Business Development Director at Yourgene Health, to identify her purpose and validated what she valued most, leaving her feeling energised and confident to take a new path in her career.
Bhavika had enjoyed success in the biotech healthcare sector with her employer Yourgene Health, and as Global Business Development Director she managed high value accounts and was responsible for new market opportunities and customer relationships. But she had reached a point where she was seeking new challenges and growth in her career.
“I was feeling a strong desire to take my career to the next level, but I was uncertain about any specific path to pursue” explained Bhavika. “When my CEO suggested that I might attend the High Performance Leadership programme as part of my personal development I was intrigued by the concept that it offered ‘a finishing school for leaders focusing on the intangibles’. I had attended leadership programmes in the past, but this sounded different from the conventional approaches to leadership learning I had previously experienced.
“I really enjoyed the mix of physical activities, videos, slides, talks and discussions, which made the High Performance Leadership programme so engaging. Each part of the course contained content with its own merit, but it was the physical delivery of the content through guest speakers and activity that made the content so impactful.
"The programme leaders were fantastic! They brought great energy and humility, and fully engaged with everyone involved from start to finish. As a peer group we really bonded, and we found ourselves being great supporters of each other. We formed notable friendships during our time at Cranfield, making the experience that much more inspirational.
“I found that taking the time out of my professional circle and learning with peers from different industries who can relate to my environment objectively was hugely beneficial. For me this was a very effective way of analysing my current position and determining my future direction. My personal objectives for coming on the programme were to understand what makes my experiences and character distinctive, to identify and define my leadership purpose, and to help me focus on how the next stage of my career might evolve; the High Performance Leadership programme delivered this opportunity for me.
“What I’ve learned about myself is that the core, softer skills of leadership are an area that I excelled in more than I realised. The programme has really highlighted my positive leadership traits, but also helped to shine a light on some areas which were sitting in my blind spot where I could grow. I was able to bring those areas into my peripheral vision, and then improve and develop them.
“The programme has validated the importance of softer skills such as communication, negotiation, bonding, and emotional intelligence which are often neglected by leaders in a technical environment. This insight has helped to solidify my confidence as a leader, and also enabled me to share insights and motivate future leaders in my sector.
“I feel the impact from this programme has been something that will carry on throughout my career, and that the learnings will be applied over years to come. The programme offers a distinctive perspective, and while there are a few critical learnings that I applied immediately the main impact has been that it helped me identify my purpose and validated what I value most.
“Since the programme I’ve made some transformative decisions, including changing my career path to focus on my passions. I’ve taken the leap and started a new business venture in health tech, focussing on my career as an entrepreneur. The programme helped to endorse my decision to make this change and I feel fully energised to take on this new path and reassured by my choices.
“The High Performance Leadership programme is genuinely the best leadership programme I’ve attended. It provided a different perspective to leadership, with highly valuable and practical tools, and it was delivered in an influential and unique manner. An incredibly positive and energising experience. I would absolutely recommend this programme - it’s been an experience that is going to stay with me for a very long time.”
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