Case Studies | Resources
Springboard Personal Development Programme at Croydon Council | Case Study
Springboard at Croydon Council: Women’s Personal Development
What happens when participants are given dedicated time and space to focus on their own development, reflect on what matters to them and consider where they want to go next?
As part of Croydon Council’s recent celebration of its positive action programmes, we attended the event to hear first-hand about the experiences of the Springboard Work & Personal Development Programme for Women. The result is a case study told by the people who experienced it.
“If you want to inspire your staff, if you want to support them, if you want to give them the tools that they need to get to the next level, you just have to invest in a programme like Springboard”.
Creating space for personal and professional development
Springboard is about more than developing skills for a particular role or preparing someone for their next promotion.
It gives women dedicated time to step away from the demands of everyday work and life, reflect on themselves, explore what matters to them and take greater ownership of what comes next.
In the video, Springboard Delivery Manager Jenny Lal introduces the programme and the celebration event at Croydon Council, before handing over to the people at the heart of the experience.
Three Springboard participants share their perspectives on taking part in the programme and what the experience has meant to them, while the programme organiser at Croydon Council provides an organisational view of Springboard as part of the Council’s wider positive action activity.
Together, their experiences offer an insight into what women’s personal and professional development can look like in practice.
Development that starts with the individual
One of the principles behind Springboard is that personal and professional development intertwine, and when approached in this way it leads to whole person transformational change.
Confidence, communication, values, priorities, relationships, boundaries, wellbeing and future aspirations can influence how we experience both work and our wider lives.
Rather than telling participants what their next step should be, Springboard creates the space, structure and support for women to explore these areas for themselves.
Through facilitated workshops, practical activities, reflection, peer discussion and continued action, participants are encouraged to better understand where they are now, what they want and the steps that can help them move forward.
That might mean progressing professionally. It might mean communicating differently, setting clearer boundaries, recognising strengths, approaching change with greater confidence or simply making more intentional choices. The destination is personal to each participant.
Positive action with a lasting purpose
For organisations like Croydon Council, programmes such as Springboard can form part of a wider commitment to developing people, creating inclusive opportunities and supporting diverse talent to thrive.
The Croydon Council celebration provided an opportunity not only to recognise participation, but to hear directly from those involved about why making space for this type of development matters.
While programme content, delivery models and organisational objectives all play a role, the real measure of a development programme is what people take away from it – and what they choose to do differently afterwards.
This video offers just a snapshot of those individual experiences at Croydon Council.
Discover the Springboard Work & Personal Development Programme for Women
Springboard supports women at different stages of their careers and lives, creating an environment for reflection, connection, practical development and action.
For organisations, the programme can be delivered to dedicated internal cohorts, while our accessible open programmes provide opportunities for individual employees and smaller groups to participate alongside women from different organisations, roles and backgrounds.
If you are exploring how to support women’s personal and professional development within your organisation, discover more about Springboard, our upcoming open programmes and how we can work with your organisation.
If you would like to find out more about how we could help your organisation invest in its people, contact us today.