Impact

As a result of Common Purpose courses, a growing number of people around the world are making a difference in their organisations, communities and wider society.

Our impact
Inspiration
Knowledge
Connections

Leading change, lasting impact

Common Purpose gives leaders the inspiration, the knowledge and the connections they need to produce real change. Through our unique leadership development courses, a growing number of people around the world are making a difference in the industries and places where they work, in the communities where they live and in wider society.

The impact of their Common Purpose experience and the course they take part in, can be seen in the changes they make in their organisations, communities and in wider society.

"Wherever Common Purpose operates, you will find leaders doing unusual things; taking responsibility for problems other than their own - at work and in their community - connecting efforts, recognising consequences, asking difficult questions and gathering disparate teams. These leaders are able to build sufficient trust so that people actually change things. There will be many leaders who face up to the complex, messy, long-term problems that really matter; the unusual part is when they become almost limitless as leaders - when they have recognised the need to operate beyond their own space and started to learn how to actually do it, working with others so their efforts combine more often, and add more.

Locally and internationally, Common Purpose graduates will be 'lighting small fires' to create change in their organisations and communities, which are both deeply interconnected and frustratingly fragmented. The Common Purpose effect is best illustrated by the many stories of small changes brought about by leaders, who themselves have changed. It is this individual shift, combined with its local nature and now its sheer scale, that makes it so exciting and sustaining."

Julia Middleton, founder and Chief Executive of Common Purpose

Inspiring people

4 in 5 graduates report that their experience improved their overall effectiveness as a leader
80% of graduates say they now look for innovation in different places
1 in 3 graduates say they have spearheaded a new initiative

Inspiring innovative partnerships to tackle youth homelessness

Estelle Rowe is the Regional Director of the Engineering Development Trust. In 1997, she took part in Matrix Birmingham. At the time of the programme, Estelle was working for Young Enterprise and the information, insights and perspectives about housing and the homeless that she gained from the speakers and the other participants on the programme inspired her to collaborate with another participant who worked for St. Basils, a charity that focuses on young homeless people. Together, they created a Young Enterprise programme specifically aimed at the young homeless. This new programme provided young people, who were originally isolated from their peer group and disengaged from the education system, with a chance to explore opportunities and their own potential within a business context.

Their Common Purpose experience inspired...

Rob Eastaway, an author and lecturer on maths education, to start 'Maths Inspiration', which puts on shows for teenagers in theatres around the country, encouraging them to pursue mathematical subjects to a higher level. (Graduate of Matrix South London 1995)

Neil Bishop, Community Development Manager at Darnall Forum, to look at new ways of funding community work which led to him developing a project in Leeds into a not-for-profit nursery. (Graduate of Matrix Leeds 2001)

Kath Toward, Partner at Herdship Farm, decided to focus on preserving the environment. Her subsequent conservation work won several national awards. (Graduate of Focus Durham 1996)

Kevin Oakhill, Partnership Manager at the Learning and Skills Council, to work with The Prince's Trust two days a week, offering advice on educational policy. He creates new policies to increase its effectiveness such as a new apprenticeship scheme for young people. (Graduate of Navigator London 2007)

David Mitchell, an international development consultant, to set up a project to develop leadership skills in 11-13 year olds. (Graduate of Matrix Durham 1995)

Trevor Rees, a Partner at KPMG, to take on the role of Chair of Governors for a school in Manchester and a governor at a further education institute. (Graduate of Matrix in Manchester 1992)

Tim Bailey, Managing Director of Xsite architecture, to start his own architecture practice. (Graduate of Matrix Newcastle 1996)

Andrew Donald, Sector Manager for NTL, to become Chair of the Gorseinon Development Trust, a governor for both a local primary school and a further education college. (Graduate of Matrix Cardiff 2000)

Alisdair Chisholm, the General Manager at NHS Grampian, to set up a partnership that offers school leavers work experience to help drive workforce recruitment for NHS Grampian. (Graduate of Matrix Aberdeen and Shire 2008)

Sharing knowledge

91% of our graduates say they have improved their ability to see the wider context and their role in it
78% of our graduates say they have improved their ability to think more strategically
1 in 3 of graduates say they have generated new revenue/greater cost efficiencies

Delivering real business benefits

Harvey Guntrip is the Director of Crystal Energy in Kent and a Non-Executive Director of Bromley Primary Care Trust. In 2005, he took part in Focus in North Kent, which had a profound impact on his business, leading to it developing internationally: "Common Purpose gave me a view of the Thames Gateway that enabled me to start three new businesses and expand into Europe and Sub Saharan Africa".

Realising the value of a diverse society

Ken McIntosh is a Superintendent with the North Yorkshire Police. Participating in the Focus programme in York and North Yorkshire in 2005 inspired him to implement change in his own police force: "I set up a diversity programme within my department where staff members come together to discuss the challenges facing the force in a multicultural society. We debate how serving people of many different backgrounds should affect our organisation, and what we can do to help them more effectively". Ken has also set up a mentoring programme for local prisoners with other Common Purpose graduates.

New outlooks, new initiatives

Chris Shaw is the Chief Executive of Advocacy in Wirral. In 2007, he took part in Matrix Merseyside: "Undoubtedly Matrix has helped me in the development of our organisation from a very small organisation employing six paid workers when I arrived here in 2005, to now employing over 30 paid staff and 15 volunteers dedicated to the support of a large and growing number of highly vulnerable adults. The new outlook has certainly influenced the way I work and led to the creation of new initiatives. For example, we've just started an 'England Athletics' jogging and running club because mental and physical fitness are heavily linked. This is not something that we'd have done previously but Common Purpose encouraged me to find new opportunities to help local communities."

As a result of new insights gained on Common Purpose...

Nick Venning, Marketing Director - Global Industries at PricewaterhouseCoopers, discovered new perspectives:

"In business today, even if we don't necessarily always agree with colleagues or clients, it is vitally important to be able to stand in others' shoes and look at issues and problems from more than one perspective. Common Purpose teaches you how to do this with very real examples!"

Graduate of Matrix Birmingham 1992

Katy Best, Business Development Director at Belfast City Airport, gained:

"An insight into what the airport needs to consider from a business point of view and the many assets in the local community."

Graduate of Profile Belfast 2008

Liz Page, UK Director for the South East at the British Red Cross, says that her participation:

"Definitely helped me improve the impact of the work of the British Red Cross. I have a much wider sense of London and I feel more confident in extending my authority beyond my immediate sphere. We are expanding our work with refugees and asylum seekers, and I feel better able to understand the context, and where appropriate, influence other agencies working in this field."

Graduate of TheKNOW London 2007

Making Connections

85% of graduates say they have increased their willingness to engage with a diverse group and different approaches
90% of graduates say the programme was definitely value for time
1 in 3 of graduates say they lead teams more effectively

Sharing the benefits of a new network

Erinma Bell is the Chief Executive of Carsima, an organisation in Manchester that networks key stakeholders with the aim of helping young people who are drawn into street crime, providing them with advice and alternatives. A Matrix and 20:20 graduate, she has been able to share the benefits of the Common Purpose network. A Carisma awards ceremony was sponsored by several of her Common Purpose contacts, many of whom attended the event. Erinma says: "This gave the local people who received the awards a chance to network with Common Purpose graduates across Manchester."

Better connections, growing the bottom line

Judith Thorpe is a Director of Thorpe Molloy Recruitment, a recruitment consultancy in Aberdeen. She graduated from Navigator Scotland in 2000. The broad range of people that she met on the course has helped her develop her networking skills: "I am now a more confident networker and able to talk to anyone on a wider range of subjects." She has also benefited from being part of the Common Purpose network which she describes as 'phenomenal'. Judith now encourages her staff to enrol for the different Common Purpose programmes: "Thorpe Molloy Recruitment is essentially a service industry, so while technical skills are important, personal development is crucial. Basically, assisting members of my team to fulfil their personal development objectives is good for business."

Building links within fractured communities

Cecilia McCloskey is the Principal of St. Gemma's Girls School in Belfast. In 1998, she took part in Matrix and says that the new and diverse Common Purpose network gave her: "An understanding of the difficulties that other organisations faced. At the time, Northern Ireland had a very fractured society but the experiences on the programme created, among a very diverse group of people, a level of trust and common understanding that has made it easy to pick up the phone and maintain the links that were developed ever since". This network has been invaluable to Cecilia's school. She has been able to bring business managers into the school to help the students with interview skills and career choices.

New connections made through Common Purpose led to...

Mark Willett, a Partner at EC Harris, and several other Common Purpose graduates establishing a number of regeneration schemes across Hull. (Graduate of Matrix South Humber 2005 and Matrix Hull 2006)

Sunny Crouch, Director of Capital and Provident Management, securing a donation for a community group. (Graduate of Matrix London 1992)

Trevor Saunders, Executive Director of Linc-Cymru housing association, was involved in planning the development of a new care scheme to provide independent living for older people. He met the Deputy Head Teacher of the local secondary school via Common Purpose. As a result, they began working together and there are now students working in the care centre on work experience. (Graduate of Matrix Cardiff 2006)

Cath Follin, City Centre Manager of Leeds City Council, teaming up with other Common Purpose graduates to help to establish Emmaus Leeds, a charity that aims to provide meaningful employment for homeless people. (Graduate of Matrix Birmingham 2001)

"Working in partnership for the benefit of the city is key to its success. Common Purpose is a framework to help educate and inform key decision makers at Jaguar assisting and making the critical links to the other important sectors of the city."

Les Ratcliffe, Community Relations, Jaguar Cars (Graduate of Matrix Coventry and Warwickshire 1999)

"When I started working in a different area, I was able to contact Common Purpose and plug into local networks that they provided, which I would otherwise have been unable to access directly."

Lisa Hilder, Head of Planning, Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Mental Health Foundation Trust (Graduate of 20:20 in 2007)

Twitter

RT @franceshwilson: Final day of @CommonPurpose ldn navi, been to prison,jcp and lambeth council, heard from inspiring brixton orgs....