Captured works on the principle that experienced managers from large organisations can be a valuable resource to a small business owner. We have partnered with large regional employers to identify managers within their business to participate in the programme.

The programme is targeted towards micro-businesses and consists of four half-day facilitated workshops over two months. Each series of workshops has a cohort of up to eight small firms and for the middle two workshops the small firm owner is paired with a manager from a large regional firm. However, the Covid-19 Pandemic has meant that we have had to change the way that we deliver the sessions and the face-to-face workshops will now be delivered online. 

Workshop 1: Small firm owners identify key areas of the business they want to lead or develop more effectively.

Workshop 2: Small firm owners and managers work to get to know each other and identify key challenges and priorities facing the small business.

Workshop 3: Small firm owners and managers focus on discussing the action plan that the small firm wants to pursue in light of their resources, capabilities and capacities.

Workshop 4: A month after Workshop 3, small firm owners return to review progress against the action plan and reflect on experiences of the programme.

We always arrange briefings for managers before connecting them to a local small firm owner. This enables us to get to know the managers so we can match them to the small firm owners and it gives the managers an insight into the life-world of the owner manager and the skills that they will be drawing upon in working with the owner manager.

The programme is focused on providing time and space for the owner manager to reflect on where they are, where they want to go and how they are going to get there. The manager’s role is to listen, question and challenge. This process is supported by facilitators and we emphasise that the small businesses are not taking time away from their business: they are spending time working on the business with experienced business people and fellow entrepreneurs.

If you are interested in participating please see our upcoming dates or read more about our previous participants in our case studies.

You can also download the Captured Programme brochure here: Captured 2021 Brochure‌