We offer our grantees a changing programme of workshops and briefings as well as tailored training for individual organisations and teams.
We are not able to offer training for the wider sector so please only contact us about the sessions listed below if you work for a UK-based organisation that is currently in receipt of Pears Foundation funding.
We offer Pears grantees a changing programme of reflective workshops, either online or in person, focusing on skills for teamwork, problem-solving and leadership. The sessions are mainly aimed at professional staff but can also work well for trustees.
The workshops introduce various tools and frameworks and give participants time to practise them with each other. They are a safe space to explore the challenges you face in your work and connect and learn with other Pears partners.
Pears grantees can book these sessions via the links in our professional development emails. Please email us at admin@pearsfoundation.org.uk if you are a Pears grantee and would like to receive these emails or are having difficulty booking a session.
Most of the sessions are taught by our in-house trainer and Director of Leadership and Learning, Shoshana Boyd Gelfand, but we occasionally work with external presenters or organise ‘lunch and learns’ with guest speakers.
Our Pears Professional Development ‘toolbox’ includes:
Polarity Management: a tool to help map and manage the underlying tensions and dynamics within organisations.
Belbin: a framework for exploring the various types of roles necessary to build high-performing teams and maximise working relationships..
Adaptive leadership: a practical leadership framework that helps both organisations and leaders adapt to changing environments and address complex, long-term challenges.
The art of gathering: a workshop based on Priya Parker’s framework for creating meaningful gatherings, designed to help grantees who are putting together anything from a team away day to a fundraising event.
Leaning into conflict: an introduction to the Thomas-Killman Instrument (TKI) to help individuals and teams learn about different approaches to conflict and how each of us can choose to react to conflict in the most constructive way for a particular situation.
Managing transitions: a theoretical framework for leading people through transitions and the importance of attending to ‘endings’. This can apply to any kind of ending – from a role or project coming to an end to redundancy and retirement.
We also offer regular opportunities to join one of our Action Learning Sets. These offer peer support in a constructive and confidential setting.
Our Director of Leadership and Learning Shoshana Boyd Gelfand offers tailored training for teams and/or senior leaders. These bespoke workshops can be run on Zoom or in person at your office or the Pears Hub – whatever works best for you.
Any of the ‘toolbox’ sessions above can be adapted for individual teams or organisations. Some of these tools are particularly useful for teams to do together, either as a whole organisation, a senior management team, or a single department. Belbin, MBTI and Polarity Management in particular are useful for helping leaders and teams reflect on how they can adapt to the changing realities of hybrid working, virtual programming, and remote team-building.
Shoshana would be happy to talk you through them and help plan something that will meet your needs.
Please contact your grant manager to request this support or a conversation with Shoshana.
Pears Foundation’s Philanthropy Expert in Residence, Dr Rhodri Davies is on hand to talk to Pears Partners about a wide range of topics to do with philanthropy.
Whether you want to get a better sense of the historical context for modern giving, find out more about key trends and current debates in philanthropy, explore the ethics of ‘tainted donations’, or tap into insights about what the future might bring, Rhodri can help you and your team navigate these complex issues in an accessible way and understand how they might be relevant to your work.
Rhodri offers workshops for organisations and teams as well as consultations for CEOs and senior leaders who have a question about philanthropy or who would like to explore how greater engagement with philanthropy might support them in their work.
Please contact your grant manager to book in a call with Rhodri.