Back by popular demand, we are delighted to announce that East Midlands Councils will host the East Midlands Challenge event, taking place on 23 April 2024 at Leicester Racecourse.

The challenge offers a fantastic opportunity for aspiring leaders to gain exposure to issues outside of their normal work giving them a taste of what senior management is really like. To successfully complete the challenge teams will have to work with neighbouring stakeholders and partners to deliver a new strategy for their organisation. They’ll have to identify which areas to prioritise, deal with politically sensitive issues and maintain customer focus when determining how to provide the public with the best services possible despite limited resource.

Previous participants enthused about the value this event brought to their personal development, highlights of which are below.  For all the feedback from the previous event please click here

Sally Moseley from Oadby and Wigston BC wrote a fabulous article for their staff newsletter saying: “We all thoroughly enjoyed the day and felt it really helped with our own personal development, networking, and decision-making skills along with lots of laughs throughout the day…  “The Challenge is a great opportunity to gain exposure on what it’s like to be a member of SLT by taking over a ‘Council’ that has had its previous SLT “removed”.

Last year the Challenge Director, Richard Wills commended everyone involved saying: “ The East Midlands Challenge has had the highest calibre of teams and delegates taking part that we’ve ever seen in all of the Challenge series”.

The East Midlands Challenge – Preparing tomorrow’s leaders
The country of Boroland is a former British Overseas Territory planted somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. The country is split into 24 counties with each area having its own unitary authority, fire service, police service, Police Fire and Crime Commissioner, NHS trust, a housing association and a major charity. Each of these organisations have had their senior leadership team removed by the government due to poor performance and today see’s the arrival of a group of new senior leaders who have been seconded in from the UK to help sort the mess out.

Can you and your colleagues step up to become saviours?
Can you rescue your new organisation and Boroland from the brink of disaster?

Benefits of entering a team….

• An opportunity to develop resilience to rapidly changing priorities, demands and timescales.
• An opportunity to put analytical and problem-solving skills and tools to the test.
• Exposure to intense time management constraints.
• An opportunity to collaborate with and create lasting bounds with colleagues from across our sectors and services.
• A rare opportunity to develop political acumen by working alongside real life elected officials in a highly pressurised environment.
• Exposure to tasks and situations that senior managers face daily and some that luckily only occur occasionally!
• An opportunity to win the challenge and be crowned as East Midlands Challenge Champions

Who can enter?

Organisations can enter as many teams as they wish. Each team will comprise of 6 people who aspire to reach a senior post within their organisation and are currently working in:

• Local Government
• Emergency Services
• Housing
• Health

Venue & Date

23 April 2024

Leicester Racecourse
Leicester Road
Oadby
Leicester
LE2 4AL

Timings

• Registration will start from 8:30, with instructions to the event at 9:30 ready to for the lights to go down at 9:45.
• The competition element will conclude at 17:00, with dinner and awards to follow. Anticipated finish time 20:00.

Cost

For 2024’s Challenge we are offering an early bird rate, register a team by 9 February 2024 and the cost is £1,750 plus VAT. After this date the cost to register a team will be £1,995 plus VAT.   For information about purchase orders please click here.

Closing date for all bookings is 22nd March 2024.

How to enter the Challenge

Teams are invited to register by emailing lisa.bushell@emcouncils.gov.uk or lisa.butterfill@emcouncils.gov.uk .  You don’t need to confirm all team members’ details at the point of booking, just register your intent to submit a team of 6.