The Foreign and Commonwealth Office – Developing World Class International Leaders

Project overview

For 12 years Valerie Wark was the Ashridge Client Director for the FCO. The initial brief was to design and deliver with colleagues a programme to develop top middle managers at that grade and to prepare others wanting to compete to join the Senior Civil Service. The programme was highly interactive with input from Ashridge faculty and Senior Ambassadors. The design was innovative and memorable by including sessions that embraced learning from eg sport, music and drama. The programme was backed up by a team of highly experienced coaches to support participants in translating learning in the classroom into their personal practise.

Based on the success of the programme further programmes were designed and delivered for Deputy Heads of Mission and Heads of Mission.

With the setting up of Civil Service Learning, programmes and coaching assignments are now organised centrally across Whitehall and we have been successful in securing a wide range of new Civil Service Clients.

“I have known Valerie for over 10 years, and have watched her work with individuals, coaching one to one, and with groups at different levels. She has contributed greatly to the UK Foreign Service’s thinking and work on management, and to individual and organisational development. And she has done similar work, with similar success, in the corporate sector. Valerie’s book on why business leaders have to think politically broke new ground, and provided original thinking about the interface between business and the public sector. Valerie combines breadth of experience with a strong intellectual framework, and has the skills and empathy to put this to use to help individuals and teams learn and develop.”

Sir John Grant