Introduction

Engage Renfrewshire works to promote, develop, grow and support local Third Sector Social Enterprise activity. Part of this ongoing commitment is to provide information for local Social Enterprise organisations to enable them to access contracts, business and networking opportunities.

Recently Engage Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire Council Economic Development and the Social Enterprise Academy (SEA) met up to discussed the potential of a match funded bespoke training programme. SEA brought the support of match funding via the Scottish Government as part of their Third Sector support initiatives.

The format of the training programme consisted of two elements delivered over 10 days,during the 2016/17 financial year. Theprogramme complemented and built on the success of the previous year’s Business Planning workshop enabling further development of local Social Enterprise’s

Engage Renfrewshire proposed, negotiated and secured funding from both the SEA and Renfrewshire Council’s SE small grant fund. This match funding proposalof£6,735.00 (SEA) and £6,245.00 (Renfrewshire Council) enabledthe training programme to go ahead and assist the organisations to work towards meeting the following goals:

  • Local Social economy organisations become more enterprising
  • The piloting or development of new services which will be revenue generating
  • The development of relevant economic impacts

Engage commissioned the Social Enterprise Academy to deliver 10 days of business development training to key directors, staff and volunteers of social enterprises in Renfrewshire.

There were two key elements to the programme:

  • A 6 day ‘Leading Your Organisation’ programme, delivered in 3 x 2 day sessions, spread over a 3 – 4 month period. This particular programme also had an option for the participants to register for the accredited ILM Award SCQF Level 9. In between the modules, participants were asked to reflect on, and use, what has been learned.
  • 4 topic days – on ‘Developing an Enterprising Approach’, ‘Managing Finance and Generating Income’, ‘Marketing Your Social Enterprise’ and ‘Monitoring and Evaluation’

For those learners opting to achieve the internationally recognised qualification, the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) Award in Leadership they must complete a 2000 word assessment in which they must apply leadership theory to assess their own organisations leadership capability and performance. The Social Enterprise Academy’s Learning Manager will provide full support for any participants wanting to complete the external qualification.

This is a versatile leadership programme that provides an in-depth introduction to leadership and organisational management when leading a community and third sector organisation.Specific learning outcomes are identified for each input. The courses should significantly develop the day to day business skills of course participants, leading to stronger individual enterprises and a stronger sector through better networking and sharing of experiences.

A total of 5 courses were delivered over a 10 day period from September to December 2016 which attracted 32 delegates representing 18 separate local SE organisations.

Participants’ feedback:

“Everything was new to me; I now have a basic insight to Social enterprise and how it works – will be back for more”

“Good opportunity to meet and chat with other organisations”

“Sharing ideas & experiences with other people”

On completion of the course 9 delegates from 7 SE’s indicated that they are interested in taking up the option of working towards the accredited ILM award qualification SCQF level 9.

SEA course tutor Gill said;

“After working with a group of entrepreneurs to support them in developing their business plans Iwas privileged enough to be invited back by Engage to deliver a six day Award in Leadership. The learners were so enthusiastic, questioning and engaged in the programme, it was a real joy to work with them, especially as many were return learners from the original 'Develop Your Social Enterprise'. I witnessed them grow in confidence and adeptness and enjoyed so much listening to how they had returned to their enterprises and used the techniques and understanding gainedduring the sessions. They formed a tight support network in each other, which I am sure they will have continued to use. I have no doubt that their learning and development will continue and that they will strive to gain even deeper understanding and insight into the potential of their enterprises, themselves as leaders and the people that they lead”

Leadership Participants’ feedback;

“I felt that all aspects of the course were helpful, especially interacting with other organisations & finding out about their experiences”

“I have a clearer understanding of having to use different leadership styles in different circumstances”

“I have learned what type of leader I’ am and what a good leaders strengths are”

The 4 topic days were also very popular with all 4 workshops being well attended. 16 SE’s represented by 24 delegates totalling 41 learning interventions.

SEA course tutor Ayeshah said;

“Just completed a series of 4 workshops on behalf of Social Enterprise Academy for Engage with a fantastic bunch of Social Entrepreneurs, I get real fulfilment and joy when working with such enthusiastic learners who want to come together to learn new concepts, share their experiences with each other and grow as individuals, which then has an obvious impact on their social enterprises. I wish them all the very best as they continue to grow and develop as individuals and in turn, grow and develop their social enterprises”

Marie from the Social Enterprise Academy said:

“It has been a pleasure to work in partnership with Engage Renfrewshire and contribute to the hard work and support they provide for their members. Renfrewshire is a great example of how social enterprises can flourish and become sustainable businesses when you have the joint support of the local authority and the Third Sector Interface (TSI).”

Engage Renfrewshire provide a wide range of services for their SE Network members throughout the year, Iain Cunningham, Third Sector Development Officer at Engage said:

“The SEA Development workshops proved to be a big hit with the local SE organisations – the work of SEAmakes a real difference, supporting participantsgain the necessary skill sets to be able to lead their organisations, and get them up and running.”

Engage is currently supporting local SE’s with a variety of training opportunities, ensuring that Social Enterprise activity will continue to grow and develop within Renfrewshire.