A Cumbrian firm which trains people to be effective leaders has won a regional business award.
Leader Connect has won Business Training and Education of the Year 2024 for Cumbria at Business Awards UK’s Business Training and Education Regional Awards.
The Kendal-based business runs residential training programmes and is an online video streaming platform designed to teach people everything they need to know about leadership and team development.
Leader Connect was founded by Neil Jurd OBE, author of The Leadership Book.
Neil, a former Army officer and Sandhurst instructor, said: “I’m delighted that the work Leader Connect is doing has been recognised with this award. Although we work with organisations all over the UK, we are very proud to be based in Cumbria and be honoured alongside other great businesses in the region.”
When Neil started Leader Connect, he was determined it would offer something different to traditional leadership training companies which focus on delivering presentations and Powerpoints. Those taking part in Leader Connect programmes don’t just sit back and listen to the trainer, instead they are encouraged to get involved and come up with their own ideas.
Neil said: “Telling doesn’t work – my approach is to create the right conditions for people to learn about leadership for themselves. If you come up with an idea yourself, you are always going to be more excited and energised than if you were simply told about something.”
Alongside the residential leadership programmes, Leader Connect also offers a Netflix-style platform where people can watch video trainings for a monthly subscription. The first big subscriber to the platform was the NHS, which signed up 100 of its staff as users, and it has proved popular with businesses, schools and universities as well as individuals wanting to boost their leadership skills.
Neil, 54, added: “Many of the videos on Leader Connect cover similar ground to my book but there are also videos on other topics too including HR, mindfulness, wellness – anything which would be useful to people wanting to be better leaders. There isn’t really anything else like Leader Connect out there and I want the platform to be my legacy.”
