This document summarizes feedback from the 2015-16 Rugby Football Union Leadership Academy program. It provides statistics on the 83 candidates and 19 mentors who participated. 94% of candidates said they would recommend the program to others. The top 5 training needs identified were legal and financial compliance, risk assessment, governance structures, generating commercial revenue, and business process monitoring. Candidate and mentor experience ratings were mostly positive. The document outlines progression and new roles attained by some alumni and proposes areas for improvement in the next cycle.

1. 2015-16 Review
Feedback from
83 candidates
and 19 mentors
August 2016

2. Would you recommend
the RFU Leadership to others?
94%
yes possibly no
4%
Recommend
“I have and will continue to
promote this course to
colleagues in rugby. It has
been an excellent and
rewarding experience.”
“Yes, but I would
be careful who I
suggest it to.”
“Great programme,
will recommend to
others in the future.”
“I will tell all key
players in my
club about this.”
“Thoroughly
recommended course
for any aspiring club
leaders.”
2014-15: Recommend? 81% yes. 19% possibly.

3. 2015-16 Growth
76increase in the
number of
candidates
%
757candidates have participated in
the Academy from 2005-2016

4. Candidates
academy
groups
across
10 Constituent
Bodies
13
2014-15: 5 academy groups across 11 Constituent Bodies 2005-2015 16% candidates female
53
123
30%
of candidates
are female
CompletedDropped out
17622
89%

5. 17
Cheshire
9
Surrey
13
Staffordshire
8 Somerset
5
Northumberland
17
NLD
18
Middlesex
15
Hampshire
17
Gloucestershire
25
Eastern
Counties
11
Durham
13
Dorset & Wilts
20
Devon
5
Locations

6. Training
Needs
The top five training needs identified…
Ensure compliance
with legal, tax,
regulatory, ethical &
social requirements
Develop & implement
a risk assessment plan
Understand
governance structures
including being
incorporated or
unincorporated
Generate Commercial
Revenues for your club
Monitor and review
business processes
✓ !
£

7. Fully met Mostly met Partially met Not at all
Overview
Excellent Very Good Good Satisfactory Poor
59%
61%
52%
52%
54%
17%
30%
32%
43%
42%
32%
26%
10%
5%
5%
6%
14%
30%
1%
1%
20% 7%
Support &
Challenge Groups
Mentors
Leadership
Workshops
Management
Workshops
ILM Membership
1%
Candidate Experience
22%
88%
18% 82%
6% 40%
Objectives met
Fully Partially Mostly Not at all
1 83%
12%
Raising awareness of
leadership in rugby
Identifying the
next generation
of rugby leaders
Investing in
future leaders to
help them develop
Sharing good practice
in rugby leadership &
management
16%
54%

8. …be able to
describe the key
qualities of
effective leaders
8.6
…be able to
establish a
purpose & strategy
to guide your club
8.2
…practice key
leadership skills
including
questioning &
listening
8.7
…describe Belbin
team roles &
understand how
this relates to your
leadership style
8.8
…create an
ongoing personal
action plan to
develop your skills
8.3
Leadership
Workshop
10 = Excellent
How effective was the
Leadership Workshop in helping you to…
1 = Poor

9. confidence
planning
risk landscape
networking
strategy
recruitment
delegation
organisation
governance
RFU
revenue
volunteeringfundingknowledgestructure sponsorshipsuccession
club
CB
Development Where has the academy helped to meet
specific personal development needs…?
Larger the text size, the more frequent the word

10. ||||||
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|||||
||
Excellent Very good Good Satisfactiry Poor
Excellent Very Good Good Satisfactory Poor
42%
37%
16%
37%
47%
42%
21%
16%
11%
Mentor
Training
Mentor
support
Candidate
selection/
nomination
Mentor Experience
Mentors
32%
89%
yes possibly no
11%
Would you volunteer
as a mentor again?
mentors
55
2014-15: 29 mentors

11. On-line
support
262
223
40%
60%
Did you activate your
ILM Membership?
Yes No

12. Alumni attendance
ILM
endorsed
Oxon,
Bucks
& Berks
5
Cornwall
& Devon
6
Kent
9
East Midlands &
Leicestershire
12
Lancashire
CANCELLED
0
32%

13. Progression
▶ New role as Executive Committee Adviser
▶ County Young Official Development Officer
▶ Appointed Director of Rugby and Coaching Coordinator
▶ Joined County coaching team
▶ Taken over lead of Website/GMS
▶ Vice chair of mini & youth
▶ Became a Club Director
▶ Progressed from Youth Chair to Director of Rugby and club coaching coordinator
Have any 2015-16 candidates already progressed?
/

14. Progression
Mini & Junior Chair Tim Dyer
Stoke-on-Trent RUFC
Club Chair + Leadership
Academy Mentor
Coaching Coordinator
+ coach
Nick Page
Lewes RFC
Club Chair + Director
Committee Member Gary Vaughan
Cornwall Referees Society
Chair
Committee member at
Huntington RFC
Jonathan Hutton
East Midlands Referees
Executive committee
member
Mini & Junior Chair Nigel Busby
Camp Hill RFC
Chief Operating Officer
Coach Russell English
Deal & Betteshanger RFC
Director of Youth Rugby
Volunteer Coordinator

15. Progression
Women & girls contact Barry Waterfield
Devonport Services RFC
Fixture Secretary + Coach +
Devon Schools Rugby Secretary
Club Captain
David Carson White
Hartlepool RFC
Club Captain +
County Representative
Eccleshall RUFC Club
Mini & Junior Chair
Becky Davies
Staffordshire RFU President/
Chair (first female) +
Leadership Academy Mentor
West Bridgeford RFC
Committee Member
+ Referee
Rob Linthwaite
West Bridgeford RFC Hon Sec
Nottinghamshire RFU
President (youngest)
NLD RFU Volunteer Coordinator

16. Leadership
in Union
48%
11 out of 23
candidates
20 out of 32
applications
Leadership
Academy Alumni
63%

17. “It was a pleasure to be with
such motivated and committed
Rugby volunteers. The future
really is in safe hands!”
“Thank you to everyone that
organised the Leadership
Academy. So much info and an
unbelievable amount of support.”
“This is the best course I’ve done,
(including several with work).”
“Well done for providing
such a positive experience
and engaging syllabus.”
Ivan Torpey
RDO, Hampshire
Feedback “Congratulations to all the students for your hard work,
the mentors for looking after the students so well, and the
organisers both RFU and Middlesex for the whole
programme. It was a privilege to present the awards.”
Brian East
President, Middlesex RFU
Ian Kerr
President, Hampshire RFU
Lisa Murfin
Candidate
Mike Killeen
Luton RFC
“After mentoring this group,
I can honestly say that we are
very lucky to have such quality
volunteers in Gloucestershire.”
Rez Aminnia
Mentor, Gloucestershire RFU
“The candidates learned
loads and understand the
RFU and CB far better.”
Tim Dwyer
Mentor, Staffordshire

18. Programme
Management
Key challenges in 2015-16
Late set-up of some Academies
resulted in insufficient time to
recruit suitable candidates.
ILM Membership administration
failed to meet candidates’ expectations.
Poor attendance at Alumni workshops.
Not all candidates completed a
Personal Development Plan.
✘
✘
✘
✘
Progress from 2014-15
Engaged CBs and Area Managers.
Successfully doubled delivery.
Implemented two-year cycle.
Majority of groups run across one CB.
New ‘Rugby Landscape’ module & support
material delivered 13 times with positive
feedback.
55 mentors trained using revised modules
including case studies. 19 mentors retained.
Candidate sign up support from
Leeds Beckett University.
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔

19. Improve the
administration of the
ILM membership.
Enable access to the
‘Leadership in Union’
support tool: Virtual
Ashridge.
On-line
support
Better explain the PDP process.
Emphasize flexible format and
evolving content.
Encourage mentors to gather
and review PDPs from all
candidates.
Personal
Development
Plans
Proposals
ILM
endorsed
Further engage
Constituent Bodies and
RFU Area Managers in the
nomination and selection
of appropriate candidates.
Improve the pre-course
information for
candidates, for example
using a ‘welcome’ video.
Candidate
identification
Introduce a new business
planning module.
Be realistic about amount of
content delivered in the
Training Needs workshop.
Continue joint delivery of the
Rugby Landscape module by
the CB/RDO
Module
Development
Form a Leadership
Development group.
Review, synergise and
develop leadership and
mentoring programmes.
Integrate with the RFU
Volunteer Recruitment and
Leadership pathway.
P 3 a r
Strategy