Nine young professionals from various companies and areas of the leasing industry were selected by the Leasing Foundation’s governors in August 2013, on the basis – according to the Foundation – that they have a "significant potential to change the face of both their organisation and the industry".

Since then, the participants have attended a series of educational events and had the opportunity to meet with key industry
figures, in an industry effort to foster new talent.

Senior leaders of the leasing industry identified the need to develop a succession plan, as the existing lack of young people in key positions could be a threat to the industry’s sustainability once the present leaders retire.

Lisa Marks, asset finance partner at law firm Stephenson Harwood, believes the initiative aims to solve that by accelerating the personal development of the participants.

"My personal view is that because of the age of senior managers, the younger people coming through will have to climb the career ladder quickly. I think an objective of the programme is to try to bring people into senior roles at a faster rate than the past," she says.

New ways of thinking

The Foundation’s governors and fellows recognised that the new generation of leaders could influence the sustainability of the industry through bringing in innovative ideas and new ways of thinking.

The Leasing Foundation’s chief operating officer Peter Thomas says: "The people in the Future Leaders programme represent a different generation; the views of people in their 20s and 30s are completely different to those of people in their 50s.

"One of the innovations for business is to try to understand and harness that new way of thinking."

Thomas suggests that companies are sponsoring employees to join the programme because they acknowledge that "change is inevitable" and want to play a part in this transformation.

According to Marks, the industry has proved it doesn’t resist change. She says: "I think the leasing industry is quite versatile and flexible, accepting new ideas.

"If you take a look at the last few years, at one stage it was heavily based on capital allowances and their availability, and that slowly disappeared. It had to reinvent itself. I think there has been quite a lot of change forced upon the industry which it has responded to well."

Structure of the programme

The support of existing senior leaders to the programme is evident from the fact that they volunteer to deliver workshops and interact with the participants.

For the ‘crucible sessions’, the group of young leasing professionals is invited to get together behind closed doors with a chief executive for discussionss on leadership.

Another element of the programme is a series of industry sessions, when the participants visit different companies for half-day workshops. Presentations by company executives allow attendees to gain company and market insights.

Four times a year, participants gather together for the ‘action learning sets’, which involves the sharing of personal experiences and challenges.

In addition, the programme includes personal coaching sessions. These one-to-one sessions are confidential and they are focused on the participants.

The goal of the programme is to prepare the chosen industry professionals for senior roles, by providing industry knowledge, exposure and networking opportunities.

"All of the participants gain different things from the programme and no one person would react the same way to the programme. My view is that they acquire confidence, exposure and insight into different ways of thinking about the work they do and the industry they are in," says Thomas.

Knowledge

"I think the mixture of sharing best practices, gaining a deeper understanding of what’s happening in the industry, as well as time to think away from your business to further develop my skills has really benefited me," says CIT marketing and communications director Rachael Woods, who is part of the first cohort.

The participants found that industry visits helped them acquire a better insight of the leasing industry. They visited a number of companies, including CIT and NetApp Capital Solutions, and had the chance to learn more about the services and products.

The majority of the first cohort members stated that outside this programme they wouldn’t have been able to learn about these in such detail.

Woods continues: "We went to NetApp, which is a software solutions provider. Sharon Butler, who is EMEA sales director for the NetApp captive, organised an interactive session. We heard about the company and its products. Then we met with their sales VP who gave an overview of the business. We also had the opportunity to work together with the company’s HR leader to complete a Myers Briggs MBTI scorecard.

"We not only learnt about NetApp Capital Solutions but also had some valuable time understanding our own leadership styles and how we interact as a group."

Marks, who sponsored senior associate at Stephenson Harwood Mette Rolle to take part in the second cohort of the programme, says: "Learning about other parts of the industry is very useful, especially for lawyers. You get to understand what ticks people’s boxes, how they operate and you can potentially advise people better knowing that."

According to the people who took part in the first session, one of the most valuable features of the programme in terms of knowledge building were the crucible sessions.

They discussed various topics with key industry figures, including the history of the leasing industry, the UK market and ideal leadership style. Derek Soper (IAA-Advisory), Marie-Christine Ducholet (Société Générale Equipment Finance) and Rich Green (CIT) were among the senior professionals who took the time to speak to the young leaders.

Martin Ward, senior associate at Shoosmiths, says: "Through the crucible sessions we had an opportunity to sit down with an industry leader and hear their views on leadership and the industry as well as the ways they managed to rise to the top. We spent time with very impressive characters and it was great to hear their stories."

Apart from learning by listening to the experiences of existing leaders, participants say they also learned a lot from each other.
Despite coming from different parts of the industry, they felt the sharing of challenges and successes could help everyone.

Second-cohort member Mette Rolle says: "You feel more able to deal with your own problems, if you know that other people have been able to deal with their challenges. Even if they are not directly equivalent, you can still draw parallels and that in itself is a very useful exercise."

Marks considers the sharing of good and bad experiences pivotal. "If you can learn from other people’s mistakes, it’s sometimes a quicker path," she adds.

An alternative learning source for participants has been the coaching sessions, through which they were able to self-reflect, evaluate their performance and discuss their career aspirations.

Rolle says she has already spoken to junior employees about some of the things she has learned through the coaching sessions.
She has identified certain aspects that needed a greater focus earlier on in her career and she has advised junior members of her team to consider them.

Networking

It is acknowledged that having a large network is vital for a person holding a senior role. Through the programme, the young professionals had the opportunity to expand their network substantially in a short period of time.

Woods says: "You get to meet with the future leaders alongside people from across the industry, including business leaders we had not previously been exposed to. I estimate that I have met over 100 industry professionals that I didn’t know a year ago."
The chance to build a network is invaluable for young people in the industry, as the majority of networking events are mainly for senior leaders.

"Most of the networking events available are for senior people. The cost of networking events and time out of business is a prohibiting factor for a business to send younger, more junior employees.

Ward comments: "I think the future leaders programme is good in that way, because it allows young and upcoming people to get together and spend some time with each other."

Recognising the importance of networking and building relationships between people, the Leasing Foundation created an alumni network for the programme. The aim is to keep everyone connected and potentially involved in mentoring and coaching for future applicants.

Confidence

Marks, who has practised in the leasing and asset finance industry for more than 25 years, believes participants benefit considerably in terms of confidence.

"The confidence boost is a huge positive impact of the programme, maybe more than exposure," she says.

"The first cohort had to do public speaking and a number of them are now involved in other projects of the Leasing Foundation, so their confidence has really grown. I think I’m most impressed with the amount of confidence they now have."

According to the participants, having been recognised by governors as "future leaders" has increased their confidence, in combination with the exposure they get from activities.

Rolle says: "We’re getting to speak with very senior people that we wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to speak to.
"Also, we get to know each other very well over a short period of time in the session. You build your confidence knowing that you have a network of people around you, which can act almost like a safety net."

When individuals take part in the Future Leaders programme, they naturally have to take some time away from work in order to attend the sessions.

However, businesses seem to believe that the benefits of sending employees through the programme outweigh the costs, and this view is supported by the fact that demand for places exceeds supply.

An obvious benefit for a company is that it develops its employees, as they gain knowledge of the leasing industry that they can apply in their work.

New business models

At the Leasing Foundation Thomas believes the industry knowledge that the participants acquire could lead to the development of new business models.

"One of the reasons why we go around to different parts of the industry for workshops is that some of the Future Leaders would have never understood other sides of business. It provides a real insight into how these businesses work," he explains.

"This leads not only to improved relationships as businesses collaborate, but it could also give rise to new kinds of business models as participants see opportunities that other people might not see because they are not looking outside their own business."

Participants’ learning in terms of leadership is likely to influence their style when they get to more senior positions and inevitably their companies’ approach.

Ward adds: "I’m sure some of the participants will try to implement the lessons they have taken from the programme. Some of those are probably the philosophies that are put forward by the Leasing Foundation in general, in terms of diversity, education and philanthropy.

"I think if you come from a background of thinking about those things from a reasonably young age, when you get to a senior position you’ll be considering those things," he adds.

In addition the participant have built up a group of connections that might be useful to their companies – depending on their fields of operation – in terms of future deals.

Rolle comments on this from a law firm’s perspective: "It’s easy to see the direct benefit for a law firm, because it’s very much a
client-driven industry and the companies that take part in the programme are our clients or potential clients."

Both individual companies and the wider industry could gain from this initiative to help sustain young talent in the leasing industry.

According to Marks, the participants increased confidence and expanded network could be factors that could trigger them to stay and grow in the industry.