In 2022 we made a decision to take our Sync Intensive programme and explore how it might work with Sync Leaders with learning disability and autism in the UK and Canada, shaping and steering it on their terms.
Sync Shorts was inspired by the leadership work of Access All Areas (AAA) in the UK and their Transforming Leadership Programme and working with AAA’s Charlene Salter and Emma Selwyn alongside Kelsie Acton from Sync Ontario. Alongside co-founder Sarah Pickthall, the team worked with participants from Toronto and Ottawa to shape a new way of being in coaching conversations about leadership and leading in both countries in its first research year.
It was felt by all to be a really successful Sync starting point and we managed to secure more funding to run Sync Shorts again in English and French in 2023.
*Sync understands that language is used differently in different societies. We use the UK definitions and understand that in Canada, people with learning disabilities or autism are often labelled as having developmental delay and/or autism.
I resonated with the flock of geese because I am collaborative and I like taking the lead and giving it. The image of a glass also because I am a glass half full guy and whenever I am working with children they love my attitude, I am the energy in the room.’
Ben Clements, Sync Shorts Participant, 2022
Sync Shorts showed me that i am an inclusive leader because of where my work has led me. But also a collaborative leader because of the type of person I am as I like to connect with other artists and further my arts journey through dance. Also transformative because of the projects I have completed which I hopes transforms people’s ways of thinking about people like me.
Jessie Huggett, Propeller Dance Company
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