Those entering leadership roles for the first time need to be fully equipped to do so, particularly when those roles involve leading academic teams and colleagues. Transition to Leadership (TTL) is an established programme that has three main themes:
- Personal leadership
- Team leadership and collaborating with others
- Leadership in times of change.
Enhancing your leadership skills
The Transition to Leadership programme will explore your personal leadership, team, and change leadership approaches within your organisational context. By increasing your self-awareness and exploring how you can influence and inspire others, you will learn new approaches to manage difficult situations, improve colleague engagement and empower change. Transition to Leadership will allow you to develop:
- Your emotional intelligence and influencing behaviours as a positive leadership role model
- An understanding of leadership styles and skills and apply this learning to your own context and sense of identity as a leader
- Your relational skills, to support achievement by others that you work with
- Your capabilities as a team leader and builder, to optimise your team or project groups performance
- Your role in enabling and empowering organisational change
- Your self-awareness and reflective practice
“The Transition to Leadership Programme has given me the confidence to take on new challenges and go outside my comfort zone when taking on a leadership role. “The programme offered an environment where I could be honest and vulnerable with fellow professionals as we shared and learned from one another’s experiences. I feel I have grown immensely because of the programme, and I have been able to support and lead my team, when necessary. Similarly, I believe I now have the tools to reflect on my performance as a leader and to find areas for continuing development. “Months later, I still meet with my group from the course to check-in on how we are progressing, and I am very thankful to the programme for providing such a supportive community.”
Nick Cheesman, Planning and Performance Manager, University of East London
Who is Transition to Leadership for?
Transition to Leadership is designed for colleagues across higher education in the early stages of their leadership journey or those expanding their leadership responsibilities.
For academics, you may be a senior lecturer or reader, or moving from an informal to a more formal leadership role, for example from module to programme leadership, or stepping into a school or faculty-level leadership role.
For professional services colleagues, you may be building on your experience as a manager or section head and are looking to expand your leadership influence beyond your immediate functional team, both within and beyond your division.
The programme brings together academic and professional services colleagues, enabling participants to learn from a diverse mix of roles, experiences and perspectives.
Booking Information
We are pleased to offer a 5% early booking discount on bookings made before 31 August 2026:
Member Ticket: £1665 and Member Early Booking: £1580
Non-Member Ticket: £2215 and Non-Member Early Booking: £2105
Event type
Open Programme
Event summary
The Transition to Leadership programme is for both academic and professional services colleagues to enable a mixture of experiences and roles, to enable participants to gain insights into the workings of their organisation.Explore your personal leadership, team, and change leadership approaches within your organisational context. By increasing your self-awareness and exploring how you can influence and inspire others, you will learn new approaches to manage difficult situations, improve colleague engagement and empower change.
Event times
Wed 21 Oct 2026 – Wed 24 Feb 2027
Event prices
| Transition to Leadership 26/27 – Member Ticket | Member Ticket | £1665 |
| Transition to Leadership 26/27 – Early Booking Member Ticket | Member Ticket (Early Bird) | £1580 |
| Transition to Leadership 26/27 – Non Member Ticket | Non-Member ticket | £2215 |
| Transition to Leadership 26/27 – Early Booking Non Member Ticket | Non-Member Ticket (Early Bird) | £2105 |
How is the programme delivered?
The programme is delivered over a period of 4-5 months. You can expect to spend up to 3 hours between modules, in addition to 3-hour workshops.
In addition to a pre-programme introduction session, there are 6 x 3 hour long workshops, held approximately 3 weeks apart. You will be invited to prepare for each workshop. This preparation is likely to take up to 1 hour and may include completing a diagnostic or self-assessment, reading, structured self-reflection or other activities to support your personal insight and learning. Electronic copies of any slides and materials will be provided to all participants in advance of each workshop.
Between each module, there will be 5 x 1 hour long self-organised action learning peer groups. These will be scheduled in the Introduction workshop at mutually convenient times for group members. In workshop 1, participants will be introduced to a model for action learning, which will be used as a structure for peer group sessions. TTL is digitally recognised and will provide attendees will a certificate of learning.
The Introduction session will take place on 21 October 2026. The focus areas of individual modules can be found below:
Workshop 1 – 4 November 2026
What is the context in which you are working? Context and culture Purpose and alignment Power and leadership
Workshop 2 – 18 November 2026
How do you show up as a leader? Values and motivation Emotional intelligence Leadership styles
Workshop 3 – 9 December 2026
How do you build relationships? Relationships and networks Collaboration Influence and empowerment
Workshop 4 – 13 January 2027
How do you enable groups and teams? Group dynamics Decision making and action taking Participation
Workshop 5 – 3 February 2027
How do you work with complexity and change? Complex systems Well-being Change
Workshop 6 – 24 February 2027
What impact do you want to have? Personal leadership challenge Reflective practice Goal setting
Advance HE curated a well structured and inspiring course that provide a safe place to admit insecurities and explore alternative ways of addressing the challenges in my role.”
Ian Whadcock, Manchester Metropolitan University
Find out more
To enquire about this programme, please complete the form below.
Facilitators
Hannah Fromageau
Senior Consultant in Leadership and Organisational Development
Hannah Fromageau is a Senior Consultant in Leadership and Management at Advance HE. She is an experienced consultant and coach with expertise in leading and managing leadership development programmes for staff within higher education and research environments. She is leading on the overall development and delivery of this Academic Leaders Survival Series.
Sarah Hubbard
Senior Consultant in Senior Leadership and Strategic Transformation
Sarah Hubbard (she/her) is a Senior Consultant in Senior Leadership and Strategic Transformation at Advance HE with expertise in co-creative change and organisation design.
My learning experiences – transitioning to senior management
Ruth Seabrook
Making the transition from Head of Partnership to a senior leadership role for the Secondary PGCE programme at the University of Roehampton, Ruth Seabrook shares her thoughts on Advance HE’s Transition to Leadership course she attended and the benefits gained since.
