University of St Andrews

A new leadership development programme was launched in academic year 2012-13 for the University of St Andrews’ Focus Clubs. The Saints Leadership Programme offers an opportunity for a small number of selected students to take part in a structured programme designed to develop their leadership skills.

The programme comprised 6 core workshops and tasks, delivered in semester 1 by members of staff from CAPOD and the DSE

• The workshops were:
• Launch briefing (part of pre-season 2012)
• Leadership Styles
• Fixed V Growth Mindsets
• Motivational Climate
• Culture Change
• Understanding Thinking Styles

As we head towards the final event of the year, comments from participants about the programme from the class of 2012-13 include:

•  [A benefit was] Getting to understand my own thinking style makes it easier for me to understand others and thus the best way to influence them and motivate them. 
• This session made me reflect on changing the underlying culture within my club. 
• It showed me the main things I need to work on as a leader. 
• The Motivational Climate task really sparked an interest in how I believe the club should look to go forward in the future through ways we can motivate team members. 
• [A benefit was] Thinking about what we want our culture to be. The club has changed a lot in the last year but it was helpful to think about which direction we actually wanted to go forward in.
•  The Fixed vs Growth Mindset workshop has changed our approach to selection for the teams and the culture within the club when it comes to fitness. 
• We've become significantly more professional. 
• We are more like a family - our short term goal was to increase membership and make new people feel included and we have done this so successfully. We are also a lot more focused on the sport, and our socials are no longer solely focused around drinking. 
• I really enjoyed this programme and I found it very helpful. I didn't think of myself as a leader beforehand but this has helped me to grow and I am a lot more aware of my actions and their influence on other people. I think it really helped, and feel like the next two years in the club will be a lot better because of it.

Class of 2012-2013