What is Taking the Lead?

Taking the Lead is professional and personal development programme for AONB staff, part of the Future Landscapes project (funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and led by the National Association for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty). It was delivered to a cohort of 40 AONB staff to help develop greater collaborative working across the AONB Network, from October 2018 to November 2019.

Participants from the programme, coming from 26 AONBs in England and Wales, have received personality profiling (Lumina Spark, a service of Lumina Learning) and coaching (facilitated by Odyssey Learning & Development). They have established Topic Working Groups to address complex problems facing the AONBs, and have delivered useful and tangible outputs of great value to the AONB Network.

On 19th November 2019, Taking the Lead participants got together to celebrate their success, and more importantly to pave the way forward for further collaboration across the AONB Network. Great enthusiasm and commitment sparked across the room throughout the day, and this small website is now our tool to collectively take their ideas forward.

A cohort of 11 AONB Staff has also been taken through a webinar programme, Virtual Spark, to receive training on Lumina Spark.