AI leadership for growing businesses
AI leadership for growing businesses
You’ve used AI yourself and it’s been useful. Leading it across the business is a different job: what to spend, what to automate, what your policy needs to say, who on the team needs training. This course gets you there in six weeks.
For founders, directors, leaders, and senior managers in growing businesses.
Six Tuesday mornings, 10am to 1pm, live online. Starts 15 September. £1,285 + VAT · payment plans available.
Secure checkout. Your place is confirmed as soon as you book. Cohorts capped at twelve.
“The operating model for business has changed.
The ones pulling ahead aren’t just using AI, they’re rebuilding how they work around it.”
Crispin Read – who led the R&D on the UK’s new Level 4 AI and Automation standard with Skills England
Using AI yourself was the easy part
The leaders we work with have already had the personal win. An hour saved here, a first draft done in minutes there. Then the questions change:
- What should we actually spend on this?
- Which processes are worth automating, and which should stay human?
- What does our AI policy need to say before something goes wrong?
- Who on the team needs training, and on what?
Those are leadership questions, and personal fluency doesn’t answer them. You don’t need to become the technical expert. You need enough to lead it well.
“The insights into generative AI and the practical applications we explored have given us a new perspective on how to leverage technology for growth. The course was not only informative but also highly applicable to our everyday business needs.”
Jilly Parker
CEO, GoLive Experts
“The Coders Guild offered clear and practical insights into generative AI, which we’ve started applying in our business. The course was well-structured and relevant to our needs, making the learning process straightforward and effective.”
Michelle Stubbs
MD, Delemere Manor
“The course really helped us change a couple of our processes and start using tools we didn’t even know existed, which has saved us time and money. We’re now implementing a tool that saves considerable time in our sales process, following up with people who’ve visited our website but haven’t turned into an enquiry. I’d highly recommend it.”
Faresh Maisuria
MD, Blueberry Marketing
“It’s been brilliant. Catherine is already introducing ideas and new workflows that are improving our processes and efficiency. She recently led a session for our whole team reviewing how we’re each using AI, drawing on what she’s been learning. We’re all using AI in a more joined-up way now, and we’re starting to use it to support our project work in ways we didn’t before. We’re really happy with the process and appreciate the ongoing support.”
Frances Corcoran
CEO, Amazing People Schools
Six weeks to decision-ready
One three-hour session a week, live online, in a small cohort of leaders working through the same questions. Every session applies to your own business: your processes, your data, your risks. From week two, each session opens with group coaching on what you tried in the week between, so the learning compounds instead of evaporating.
The short course gives the decision-maker that knowledge. The apprenticeship and other short courses give the business people who can do the work and keep doing it after the training ends.
People, process, tools. In that order.
What you leave with:
- A drafted AI policy for your business
- A costed view of where AI pays, and where it doesn't
- A 90-day plan you've committed to
- A clear view of who on your team needs what training
Tuesdays, 10am to 1pm: 15, 22, 29 September and 6, 13, 20 October.
1. Leading with AI
Where AI pays and where it doesn’t. What you’ll be able to decide by week six.
2. Risk, ethics and governance
Connectors, permissions, and what you’re actually signing off when a tool asks for access. You draft the AI policy your business is currently missing.
3. Finding the opportunity
Mapping your processes to find where AI pays, and sizing the prize before you commit to anything.
4. Data, evidence and decisions
Whether you can trust what you’re being shown, and what evidence to ask for before you sign anything off.
5. Automation and agents: what to delegate
Demo-led. What’s realistic to automate, what it costs, and where human oversight is non-negotiable.
6. Your AI roadmap and 90-day plan
A committed plan for the next quarter, plus a clear view of who on your team needs what training next.
Who needs what training? You'll know by week six.
Leaders often arrive wanting to sort the whole team at once. You don’t have to guess: session six ends with a clear view of who on your team needs what, decided by you, based on what you now know. When you’re ready, here’s where the team goes next.
Frances Corcoran
CEO, Amazing People Schools
FOR THE TEAM
The skills to actually do the work
Funded through the Growth and Skills Levy
Your people can build hands-on skills through the Level 4 AI and Automation apprenticeship, funded through the Growth and Skills Levy, so most employers pay little or nothing. We created the standard with Skills England, and it’s delivered on live projects in your business from week one.
Ask about it when we’re in touch after you book, or read more here.
New short courses land in September
Session six of the course tells you who on the team would benefit from which. Three new courses join AI for Leaders and the apprenticeship in September:
Foundations
Getting Started with AI in Business
3x3h sessions over 3 weeks
AI Foundations · 3 sessions ·
Just £495 – From scrappy use to fluent. The starting point for anyone not yet confident with the tools.
INTERMEDIATE
Building Business Workflows with AI
6x3h sessions over 6 weeks
AI Intermediate · 6 sessions · £1,285 – For doers: business data, process mapping, and working automations that stick.
ADVANCED
Going AI Native
8x3h sessions over 8 weeks
AI Advanced · 8 sessions · £1,785 – Build what you couldn’t before: agents, orchestration, and working with Claude Code. For the one or two people who’ll take it furthest.
These open for booking in September. Ask about the waitlist when you book.
“Businesses need outputs, not certifications. That’s why our training returns value fast: people do the work on your business, instead of watching videos and hoping some of it sticks“
Crispin Read, CEO The Coders Guild
We didn't just learn this. We wrote the standard.
Built from real business needs, not a syllabus
Crispin led the R&D to create the UK’s first Level 4 AI and Automation apprenticeship standard, working with Skills England and the Alan Turing Institute. It started with the businesses themselves. He sat down with dozens of leaders in high-growth companies and worked through their real projects, their blockers, and what AI adoption would actually need to look like to work for them. We designed it around a practical AI adoption programme for SMEs, then reverse-engineered the qualification from that. That standard is now delivered by apprenticeship providers across the country. We’re the ones who designed it.
The research went wider than our own conversations. Through UKRI and Innovate UK we drew together the evidence from the previous eighteen months on digital skills and AI adoption among UK SMEs, and pulled the useful parts into a white paper you’re welcome to read here.
None of this is new ground for us. We’ve spent over a decade delivering technical training that holds up at work, across software development, testing, and cybersecurity. That time has taught us how people actually learn hard technical skills: training tied to business outcomes, built into the working week rather than bolted on, so your team spends less time away from the job and the return shows up sooner.
Proven in our own business first
And we use all of this ourselves. We’re a growing business with the same pressures as the ones we work with, and the methods we teach have changed how we operate. Early projects gave us gains of around 20%, and the ones we’ve taken furthest have compounded well beyond that. You can see how we think about AI, teams, and automation across our webinar series.
We led the R&D
the UK’s first Level 4 AI and Automation standard, now delivered UK-wide
10+ years
delivering vocational training tied to business results
20%+
immediate efficiency gains in our own work, compounding from there
The next cohort starts Tuesday 15 September
Six Tuesday mornings, 10am to 1pm, live online. £1,285 + VAT, payment plans available. You leave with a drafted AI policy, a costed view of where AI pays, and a 90-day plan.
Rather talk it through first?
Book 20 minutes with me – about the course, the team’s options, or whether it’s right for you at all. No pitch.
Francesca Roberts, Head of Commercial
How we think about this
We work through the real questions leaders are asking about AI in our fortnightly webinar series. Sign up for invites here
The founder's dilemma: delegating to agentic AI
Most founders are better at building than letting go. Where that instinct helps with AI, and where it holds you back.
How SME's build AI-ready teams
Most businesses treat AI as a tooling problem. It’s a structural one. A realistic field guide to building capability that sticks.
Connecting Claude to your business tools
How to wire AI into the systems you already use, safely. The permissions, the risks, and where to start.
FAQs
FAQs
What is AI leadership training?
AI leadership training helps the decision-maker in a business learn enough about AI to lead its adoption well, without becoming a technical expert. At The Coders Guild it’s AI for Leaders: a six-week course applied to your own business, covering where AI pays, risk and policy, what to automate, and who on your team needs what training.
Who is the AI for Leaders course for?
Founders, directors and senior managers in growing businesses who already use AI in their own work and now have to make decisions about it across the business: spend, policy, automation and team training.
How much does AI leadership training cost?
AI for Leaders costs £1,285 + VAT (£1,542 including VAT for UK businesses). Payment plans are available at checkout. The course runs over six weeks with one three-hour session a week.
How confident do I need to be with AI tools?
You should be using AI in your own work already. If you’re not yet comfortable with the tools day to day, join the waitlist for AI Foundations, a three-session course at £495 opening in September, then join a later Leaders cohort.
What do I leave the course with?
A drafted AI policy for your business, a costed view of where AI pays and where it doesn’t, a committed 90-day plan, and a clear view of who on your team needs what training next.
What if I can't make a session?
Every session is recorded, so you can catch up before the next one. The group coaching at the start of each session means you won’t be lost when you rejoin.
Can I book for more than one person?
Yes, the booking supports multiple places in the same cohort. For more than twelve people, or a private cohort run on your own dates, get in touch and we’ll shape the right delivery for you.
What about training my team?
The course answers that in session six, where you map who needs what. From there, one to three team members can build hands-on skills through the levy-funded Level 4 AI and Automation apprenticeship, or join our short courses opening in September. If you want a picture of your whole team’s capability first, our free AI Maturity & Skills Gap Report covers that.
How do I find out if this is right for my business?
Get in touch and tell us what you’re working on. No long forms, no sales process. If it helps to talk it through, we’ll set that up.
What's the difference between an AI course and an AI apprenticeship?
AI for Leaders is a six-week direct-pay course for the person making the decisions. The Level 4 AI and Automation apprenticeship is an 18-month funded programme that builds deep, hands-on skills in a team member while they work. The course suits the decision-maker; the apprenticeship suits the people doing the work.
How do I book?
Use any Book your place button on this page. Payment is by card through Stripe, VAT is calculated at checkout, and payment plans are available. Your place is confirmed as soon as you book, and one of the team will then be in touch with orientation and joining instructions.
