Help to Grow: Management

Boost your leadership, strengthen your business, and build for long-term success.

About the programme

Help to Grow: Management is a practical, 12-week leadership development programme designed specifically for senior leaders of small and medium-sized businesses.

Delivered by Liverpool Business School, the programme helps you to identify new opportunities, build resilience, and lead your organisation with confidence. It includes access to one-to-one mentoring, peer learning, and a structured approach to applying what you learn directly to your own business context.

The programme is 90 percent funded by the UK Government. Businesses pay just £750 per participant.

What you will gain

By completing the programme, you will:

  • develop a tailored Growth Action Plan for your business
  • strengthen your strategic planning and innovation capabilities
  • explore new markets and customer segments
  • improve marketing, branding, and digital adoption
  • enhance your operational efficiency and financial management
  • lead change and improve employee engagement
  • access expert mentoring and connect with other business leaders
  • join the national Help to Grow alumni network for ongoing support

Programme structure and sessions

Part 1: Strategies for growth and innovation

Lay the foundations for your growth journey.

Session 1 - Strategy and innovation: Understand the role of innovation in driving growth. Review your business model and assess how innovation, productivity, and profitability are interlinked.

Session 2 - Digital adoption: Explore how digital technologies can support growth. Evaluate your current level of digital maturity and identify opportunities for transformation.

Session 3 - Internationalisation and winning new markets: Examine strategies for identifying and entering new markets, including international growth. Learn from real-world case studies of SMEs that have scaled effectively.

Part 2: Engaging with customers and building brand

Strengthen your value proposition and communicate it effectively.

Session 4 – Vision, mission and values: Clarify your organisation’s purpose and values, and understand how they shape your brand and organisational culture.

Session 5 – Developing a marketing strategy: Build a clear, customer-centred marketing strategy. Learn about segmentation, targeting and positioning to improve your marketing effectiveness.

Session 6 – Building a brand: Study how successful SMEs have developed their brand. Explore the alignment between internal culture, external messaging, and customer experience.

Part 3: Building a sustainable and agile business

Enhance internal structures, leadership capability and workforce resilience.

Session 7 - Organisational design: Examine the structures that support growth. Consider how to scale your operations and adapt roles, skills, and responsibilities for future needs.

Session 8 - Employee engagement and leading change: Develop your leadership style to build engagement, manage change, and create a high-performing, inclusive workplace.

Session 9 - High performance workplace case study: Learn from an SME case study that showcases innovative, people-focused ways of working. Reflect on what these approaches could mean for your business.

Part 4: Operational efficiency and financial management

Sharpen your operational practices and manage growth with confidence.

Session 10 - Improving operational efficiency: Understand the operations value chain. Identify inefficiencies and apply tools to enhance productivity and customer service.

Session 11 - Financial management: Use financial data to make informed decisions. Explore budgeting, forecasting, cashflow management, and how to finance future growth.

Session 12 - Implementing growth plans: Bring together everything you’ve learned. Finalise and present your Growth Action Plan with clear priorities and implementation steps.

How you will learn

  • Twelve structured sessions delivered over twelve weeks.
  • Eight interactive webinars delivered by subject experts.
  • Four face-to-face case study workshops offering real-world application.
  • Eight small-group peer learning sessions to share experiences.
  • One-to-one mentoring throughout the programme.
  • Continued access to support and events through the Help to Grow alumni network.

Eligibility criteria

To join the programme, your business must:

  • be a UK-based small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
  • employ between five and 249 people
  • have been operational for at least one year
  • not be a charity

Participants must:

  • be a senior decision-maker (for example, owner, managing director, or member of the senior leadership team)
  • have at least one direct report
  • commit to completing all sessions

Businesses employing between ten and 249 people may send up to two participants.

Cost

The full cost of the programme is subsidised by the UK Government.

The fee payable by participants is £750.

Get in touch

To apply for the Help to Grow: Management programme at Liverpool Business School, or to discuss upcoming cohorts, please contact us:

Email: lbsenterprise@ljmu.ac.uk