I am a Prison Chaplain, so I’m a Sikh minister, but also just a general Prisoner Chaplain at HMP Oakwood in Wolverhampton.

I’ve become more mindful and aware of leadership. As a Sikh minister and in my professional background as a schoolteacher, we don’t necessarily identify ourselves as leaders. We are helping people and try to make a difference to people’s lives. And this course is building leadership consciousness. So, whatever I’m doing, I’ve got that leadership consciousness and it’s giving me the vocabulary or language of leadership on something which I’m already doing.

It is nice to know that the challenges that I face in my faith community is something that is a challenge across the board with any community. So, we all have familiar challenges, and it is nice to share good practice of how people are overcoming those challenges.

Working with prisoners, we have to use influencing, and think about what type of power you are using as the dynamics can change. So, it’s about working out which kind of leader you want to be. In the prison setting, one style of leadership will not always work. There needs to be a range of styles. It has really helped me to be mindful of which one will work in each situation.

It’s consolidated what I already knew with added information and case studies.

It’s a fantastic opportunity to grow and learn about yourself, learn about your role, and it’s empowering yourself and empowering your team as well.