Extract from Aspire best practice case study

Since taking over Newcastle-under-Lyme's housing stock in 2000, Staffordshire's largest registered social landlord Aspire Housing has been keen to nurture a management population grown from within the organisation. To this end, it developed and launched its Aspiring Leaders Programme in 2005.

Designed in partnership with Staffordshire University, the programme combines external knowledge and internal expertise with the aim of cultivating middle managers' leadership competencies and increasing their effectiveness within the organisation. One of the ALP's unique features is the performance measurement system, in which participants complete "reactionnaires" to evaluate the content of sessions. Further measures look beyond the course itself, and determine the impact and validity of assignments in relation to each manager's function and team. The result has been a marked increase in staff satisfaction and commitment to Aspire, witnessed by a 50% increase in the number of internal career moves and progressions...