Finance Companies Turn to Military Style Manoeuvres for Leadership Training and Team Building

‘Sandhurst is no fun, but it is an experience worth enduring.’ Once upon a long time this is a statement you would expect from one preparing to fight for king and country. Think again. I have just discovered that Sandhurst is a sought after training facility in the worlds of finance and commerce in the 21st century.

Rewind to the statement. I really heard it from a friend who at most is a thirty something year old manager in a finance outfit. She was at the time musing over the events of a week she spent at Sandhurst. The more she spoke about it, the more it sounded as if she was involved in a physical for some kind of combat exercise.

She spoke of multitasking moves; manoeuvres more than waist deep in mud, star jumps and marathon chases. I was baffled. Why would anyone without the slightest inclination for the military want to put herself through exercises at Sandburst. Could be a kind of fad way to loose weight or maybe an outlandish way to impress a suitor? Neither of the above; it’s called ‘The Experienced Manager Programme.’ EMP, she glibly explained is a comprehensive Sandhurst initiative, designed as a leadership and performance development programme, which the Royal Military Academy makes available to the commercial sector.

In fact, the programme, now in its sixth year started when the Academy teamed up with Inspirational Development Group in 2001 to offer what it described as ‘leadership and team working’ training to the private sector. And according to an article in the ‘Wish Stream’ journal, it favours the initiative as a way to enhance the reputation of the academy as ‘global centre for leadership excellence.’

So far, banks, mortgage and other finance institutions have been among the chief takers up of a training programme which exposes senior and middle management staff to at least a week long grooming of new habits that encourage change in their approach to customer service, leadership and team building.

All this sounds good. So good that maybe, just maybe its time for the likes gas and in fact utility companies in general, to seriously investigate the programme. It may be all it takes to establish the kind of customer service most of them long for, but for now, only dream of.