In The Times Leadership challenge, companies are invited to send their potential future leaders to compete against their peers, learning valuable leadership lessons along the way.

The challenge is a knockout competition between teams of six competing in one-day events across the country between May and July 2008.

Each team competes against three others on each challenge day. Success will hinge on their response to a series of increasingly challenging and complex situations. The focus is on mental and emotional responses rather than physical ability. All teams will receive a feedback session after their event to assess how well each performed and how they might apply their learning in the workplace.

The winning team on each day will progress to a semi-final (in September) and then to a five-day final in Malawi in October 2008, where they will work on a development project with a remote community at the Majete Game Reserve and in Salima on the shores of Lake Malawi.

Next month the finalists in the 2007 challenge head to Malawi for the final. The finalists are BDO Stoy Hayward, Deloitte, Kingston Technology and the London and Quadrant Group.

Steve Nunn, of the London and Quadrant Group, says: “We spent our semi-finals at times way out of our comfort zones, but we really threw ourselves into it.”

The teams will build a new school block for children at a local primary school and help to improve the childrens’ literacy and numeracy; work with staff at the Majete Game Reserve on wildlife conservation; and work with staff at an orphanage in Salima.

“The challenge develops leadership skills by testing young professionals in crisis situations, with the accent on how they react and deal with fast-moving situations rather than who finishes first,” says Duncan Burman, of the organisers Ambur Associates. “It takes participants out of their normal work environment and gives them greater confidence and understanding to take on leadership roles early in their careers. It is delivered not by lecturers, but by tutors who have all led high-performance teams in the military, emergency services and crisis management. It teaches through practical experience rather than theory and fits well alongside existing corporate leadership initiatives.”

The challenge is sponsored by Michael Page International and supported by three professional affiliate organisations who have endorsed the initiative as providing valuable personal and professional development: the Law Society, the Chartered Management Institute and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Download an entry form and the leadership challenge brochure

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