Celebrating GCS Inspire… and welcoming its successor!
This month we mark the end of our flagship leadership development programme – GCS Inspire. The programme began in 2017 and was designed to accelerate the development of high potential senior communication professionals.
The programme aims were to develop exceptional communication leaders and practitioners, and build a strong talent pipeline for future senior communications roles. On completion of the programme, participants received a Postgraduate Diploma with the option to progress to a MSc in Strategic Communication Leadership.
Over 200 colleagues have graduated from the programme, many of whom are now leading teams as Directors of Communications across a range of departments and Arm’s Length Bodies. The programme played an invaluable factor to their career development. Alumni highlighted how the structure of the programme delivered by the University of Huddersfield was a particular benefit, with one saying, “being able to dedicate time to L&D is great. It’s often a luxury at grade 6 so it was great to have that structure and formality in place.”
The academic content was also positively received, with participants stating, “there is a good balance between theory and practical models and how to apply the academic content to the day job”. Learners also appreciated the opportunity to work together and share good practice by saying, “the course was very valuable and a unique way of getting experienced comms professionals together over a set period of time.”
Closing event highlights
To celebrate the class of 2024 and to bring the Inspire programme to an end, we held a networking event on 5th June in London, hosted by Leah McTaggart, Deputy Director of the Government Communication Service (GCS) People and Membership team.
This event provided an opportunity for past and present students to connect, celebrate, and talk about future plans, including what’s next. We were thrilled to be joined by Simon Barrett, Director of Communications at the Ministry of Justice, as a guest speaker. His talk on leading with vulnerability sparked a lively conversation about the obstacles faced by senior communication leaders today, as well as the importance of leading with authenticity.
During the event we also heard from Gem Walsh, the Chief Operating Officer at GCS, and Shema Julien, Deputy Director of Internal Communications at the Department for Education, who formed a panel with Simon. They spoke about their experiences in leadership, and provided excellent tips on how the graduates could further develop their careers.
The event was a great opportunity to get the cohort back together and hear from GCS leaders, with one attendee highlighting, “it was really good to reconnect with my peers. I had a good talk with Gem about the future of GCS and the new GCS Advance Leader Programme. Finally, the session with Simon on authentic leadership was really engaging.”
What’s next for the GCS senior leader community?
With GCS Inspire coming to a close, we would like to remind you about our new offer for senior communications leaders.
GCS Advance Leader is our new leadership programme that helps talented GCS senior managers with expert technical skills make the transition to strategic leaders of communications who inspire multidisciplinary teams, encourage innovation, drive change and have the confidence to operate at the highest levels.
An integral part of GCS Advance, our major new L&D and talent offer for GCS members, the programme is for Deputy Directors and Grade 6 leaders preparing for the next level.
Nominations for the first cohort of this programme opened on the 10 June and closed on the 26 July. We’re excited to see so many nominations come through so quickly – over 60 people started a nomination across 41 organisations and 14 locations. Nominees will be notified of outcomes from 19 August.
Watch this video for more information on the programme and the nomination process.
The programme will be running annually. If you wanted to be part of this year’s programme but missed the nomination window, please contact us at gcstalent@cabinetoffice.gov.uk for more information.