Design on Growth

6 Month Business Growth & Management Development Programme

The Business Growth & Management Development Programme is an innovative learning and development response providing the owner/managers of design and creative businesses with best practice business management skills and knowledge to support sustainability and increase revenue in their business.

This bespoke programme is sector specific and designed to fully support you to develop a winning strategy for your business. You need to be in business in excess of two years and be an employer.

Duration

6 months

When

March 2021

Why should I attend?

• Effectively address your business challenges
• Improve performance
• Develop your design or creative business practice going forward
• Manage your team effectively

Deadline for expressions of interest: February 2021 – limited places .

What past participants had to say:

“My experience of the Designs on Growth programme has been overwhelmingly positive. As a fast track for creatives, who often don’t possess the knowledge and skills to diagnose and encourage fiscal wellbeing, Designs on Growth has been very beneficial. Expert and personable mentors and workshop leaders are complemented with easy to understand notes that build to create an invaluable resource for extracurricular reference. The Designs on Growth programme helps you take the firsthand, in-depth knowledge of your own business, structure it, assess it, set realistic goals, and create a road map for growth.”
Oran Day, Atelier David Smith

“We chose to participate in Designs on Growth as a means to both understanding the design landscape in the RoI and to take stock of how we have been operating as a business. Our business is approaching an age where we felt that we need to better define our process, our client engagement and our delivery for existing clients, whilst moving to potentially attracting new clients. The Designs on Growth programme has been really effective by allowing us to step out of the business and take some time to learn new methodologies, begin to understand how we might apply them and share experiences with a very diverse and friendly peer group. The sessions are very well structured and thought-provoking and the follow-up mentoring helps provide the answers to questions that you may have or things you wish to test.”
Stephen McGilloway, MD Big Small Design, Product Design

“The course was a great opportunity to step outside and look back in on the business side of the studio. There was great solidarity seeing other studios on the course also faced similar issues. It has had a positive impact on how we’re now developing our studio.”
John Gavin, Creative Director, True Output

“The most valuable aspect of this programme was learning with a collective of peers who also run design practices. Working in the same industry gave us an opportunity to talk shop and learn from each other. Group exercises and discussions invited us to share similar challenges, approaches and experiences which proved to both cathartic and insightful. To receive six 1:1 mentoring sessions from experts of different disciplines in addition to the group learning was a very worthwhile investment of my time. The group continues to meet informally on a monthly basis.”
Zanya Dahl, Founder/CEO, Artizan

Design Skillnet training focuses on helping designers and creatives in their careers and their business to up-skill their teams and attract and service clients in a rapidly changing commercial landscape.