Enterprise Ireland's Leadership 4 Growth programme aims to empower participants with the tools to drive international expansion, writes RENEE JONES.

ENTERPRISE IRELAND'S Leadership 4 Growth programme will expand next year to expose more companies to the initiative.

The 12-month programme for chief executives is delivered by Silicon Valley's renowned Stanford Graduate School of Business. It is designed largely for Irish technology, software, life-sciences and medical-devices companies, and aims to empower participants with the leadership tools to drive international growth.

Niamh Cooney, Enterprise Ireland's head of client management development, says it will target more sectors next year.

"We are looking to apply the model to other sectors for which leadership is key for a company to grow internationally," she says. "We are currently in the planning process for the next two years and there will be more sectors next year but we do not know what yet."

The annual programme, run in partnership with the Irish Software Association, Irish BioIndustry Association and Irish Medical Devices Association, only targeted technology and software executives when it was launched in 2006. It now covers a range of sectors such as engineering, which was included this year when the sessions began in April.

A programme for the construction industry has also been developed with the Construction Industry Federation and is delivered by Duke Corporate Education.

The initiative involves three week-long sessions for participating chief executives at Stanford's US campus in May, September and November. The three sessions cover strategy, leadership and execution respectively.

Chief executives from leading global companies present case studies of their firm's development during these sessions. Previous sessions have featured executives from US giants Palm, Google and eBay.

In between these modules, the executives work on practical assignments, have one-to-one leadership coaching and meet other members of the programme in cohort groups with local business advisers.

Last week, 130 senior staff from the participating companies attended the Insights Programme in Dublin, a section of the initiative that involves the companies' senior management teams in developing and executing new business strategies.

Participant Ciarán Meghen, managing director of IdentiGEN, says the strength of the programme lies in its varied content.

"Any one of these strands in isolation would be worthwhile, but it is the combination, knitted together by Stanford and Enterprise Ireland, that makes Leadership 4 Growth really compelling," Meghen says.

"Leadership 4 Growth is extraordinary in its scope and transcends management development. We have a grand design for our business and Leadership 4 Growth is like working with a team of international architects to help realise our vision."

Another participating executive, Abtran managing director Michael Fitzgerald, commends the inclusion of senior management in the programme.

"It is absolutely vital because the organisation is not just driven by one person. It is so critical the key methodology and learning are brought back into the organisation," he says.

"I do not think it would be half as efficient if it was just focused on the chief executive."

Companies pay from €20,000 to take part in the programme and Enterprise Ireland subsidises up to 70 per cent of the remaining fees.

"It is not bad value because they get a huge amount [ from it]. It is an investment in both the participating businesses and the sector as a whole," says Cooney.

She adds that the current economic climate has intensified the importance of the initiative.

"It is a practical programme that we know is proven to deliver results and if ever there was a good time to do something like this then now is the time.

"This is always going to be valuable but in this environment where companies have to do things differently it will give the tools and techniques to better manage the economic cycles in the future and be better positioned to respond."

According to Cooney, the programme's length is important because a certain amount of time is needed to process and implement the information.

Leadership 4 Growth was initially launched when a review by the Irish Software Association revealed that barriers to growth within the sector included a lack of ambition to achieve significant scale among indigenous companies.

"The purpose of the programme was to raise the ambition of the industry and to give individuals the ambition and capability to do it," says Cooney.

Fitzgerald describes the initiative as "exceptional".

"I think what it brings to the chief executives is the level of ambition. We were ambitious anyway but now it has taken it to another level altogether. There is a sense of purpose and knowing that you can do it.

"It is continual learning that we can bring back into our organisation and apply the most up-to-date research in what brings and drives success."

Johnny Walker, chief executive of Global Diagnostics, highlights some key benefits of the programme, including engaging with leading business minds at Stanford. "To sit with the chief executive of Cisco Systems and talk through the challenges they faced, that was just priceless," Walker says.

"Sharing the common challenges, sharing ideas and thoughts with all the other enterprises in a non-competitive environment has been great."

ThirdForce chief executive Brendan O'Sullivan attended last year and says it was "singularly the best management and business training I have ever had".

"It has changed some of the ways we look at our business from a management and strategic perspective," he says. "We were doing a lot of good things anyway but it has made us sharper and fitter."

Cooney adds: "These companies are going through the programme because they want to grow their business, so it is not about survival it is about growth.

"They are an ambitious group of companies trying to maximise opportunities. The recession is not the overarching conversation."