Action learning groups

You can apply if: 

1. Your spinout company is from one of the five North East universities (Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, and Teesside)
2. The registered address of your spinout must be inside the boundaries of the North East Combined Authority or the Tees Valley Combined Authority
3. You are a founder, CEO, or in a C-level or senior management role in the company.

Our groups work well with a diverse mix of leaders. You’re likely to be a good fit if you are: 

• Currently in a leadership position in a spinout based in the North East
• Are facing difficult decisions in trying to establish and grow your spinout 
• Are eager to connect with peers from other local spinouts
• Are keen to learn from, and share your skills and knowledge with your peers
• Are part of a spinout created within the last 12 months 

Yes, trust and confidentiality are a massive part of the effectiveness of our action learning groups. So the operating conventions, created when the group launches, ensure a safe-space with a ‘Chatham House Rules’ type of environment. 

The group will meet for a full afternoon every other month. The group is facilitated by Executive Coach and former Northumbrian Water HR Director and multi non-Executive Director, Sarah Salter. 

Our meetings tend to take place at venues in Newcastle or Durham, depending on availability. 

Membership of the action learning group is completely free of charge as the programme is fully funded by Northern Accelerator, with funding from Research England’s Connecting Capability Fund via the SCENE programme. 

This is a valuable offer of support and to deliver maximum value and benefit to yourself and fellow members, you will be asked to fully commit to the programme schedule. 

Our peer groups are designed to help spinout founders and executive leaders support one another with whatever issues are keeping them awake at night – so no two meetings are the same! 

Some examples of issues we’ve covered include: 

• attracting and retaining talen
• scaling up
• creating the right culture
• how to develop sales and marketing
• problems with banks, accountants, solicitors
• building a strong board
• difficult conversations
• managing performance
• juggling the pressures of running a business with childcare, elderly parents or academic interests
• finding suitable premises
• and many more…

The issues of the day in each session will always be a collective decision by the group around whatever represents a serious threat or opportunity to one of its members. 

Subject to having a minimum of six confirmed members, we will hold an introductory taster session on the afternoon of Tuesday 16 June, prior to the official group launch on the afternoon of Tuesday 21 July. 

Our facilitator is Sarah Salter. Sarah is an independent business coach with over 20 years’ experience of coaching and mentoring senior leaders, drawing on her extensive executive and non-executive board experience, and running her own coaching practice since 2019.

Sarah brings engaging and creative energy which enables everyone to make their individual authentic contribution, holding appropriate space for whatever challenges arise in the group. 

The benefits are many and varied. Here’s what some of our current members have told us: 

• I like using a structured process that allows me to talk through an issue, be questioned by people with no vested interest in the outcome and coached to find solutions for myself. We are all open and constructive in feedback and the sessions can help you get unstuck.
• I’ve implemented quite a lot of the advice I receive via the group on how to tackle difficult conversations, navigate change and put in place operational mechanisms that work.
• This is a great opportunity to build a supportive and helpful peer group with other small business leaders, to learn from their experience and workshop solutions to the many challenges faced by people in these roles.
• I value the Action Learning Group because I get to interact with a group of peers, where I can learn from their different approaches to solving real issues.
• I have learned a lot from these experiences, and I find it useful for challenging my own views and assumptions.
• The Action Learning Group has connected me to other people in similar positions – it can be lonely working in smaller businesses and I now have a network of people/friends that support each other.
• The sessions have helped me to break down a problem, look at it from other angles and bring in fresh thinking. It gives me confidence, especially in a new role.
• I make space in my diary for this because it keeps me in touch with others in similar positions and stops me getting isolated.
• I particularly enjoy interacting with the other members of the peer group in a friendly and supportive environment, learning from their experiences and helping to workshop

Once you’ve read the FAQs and decided the Action Learning Group could be for you, please complete this short application form. 

If you have any questions or would like a discussion with our Network Development Manager before you apply, please email northern.accelerator@durham.ac.uk 

Northern Accelerator’s project management team will review all applications. The goal is to create a peer learning group which brings together a variety of experiences and skills.

We will inform every applicant of the outcome of the selection process on 28 April 2026.