The Executive Development Programme (EDP) is a high potentials talent programme designed to broaden perspectives and build leadership capability.

We devised an extension to the programme to help participants practise, apply and embed key EDP leadership behaviours – by connecting them with ex-offenders who had overcome drug and alcohol addictions.

The rationale for this approach? The behaviours learnt on EDP are highly transferable to people facing challenges that are uncommon to most of us in the business world.

So after helping the Lloyds participants to get to know the ex-offenders – and to overcome certain levels of judgment and cynicism – we tasked them to use EDP content to devise and deliver personal leadership workshops that would help the ex-offenders make progress in their lives.

They discovered that applying ‘nuggets’ from EDP – such as using strengths and tackling development areas, active listening, personal impact and staying positive – was of genuine benefit to the ex-offenders. Those who found themselves out of their comfort zones and questioning what they could do to help people far removed from their own worlds experienced the best kind of development – being thrown into an uncomfortable situation and dealing with it successfully.

The bear hugs at the end of each day were testament to the success of the project for the Lloyds participants and the ex-offenders – an unlikely, but effective and memorable alliance.