Are certifications no longer optional in management?
There's an interesting article in Business Week this week claiming that certification is no longer optional in the IT world.
Are we at a similar stage with management certification yet?
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We should be, but I suspect we aren't yet.
Given that aproximately only 1 in 4 managers has an accredited management qualification (CMI report), how important do members feel that this will be in either retaining a job or getting another one over the coming months and years?
As it will be likely that mainly the managerial and administrative functions will be the ones taking the biggest hits in the public sector particularly, will an accredited qualification be mandatory rather than optional and will people start to pay for one themselves more in future instead of expecting their employer to pay?
It is a very interesting point, as someone who paid for the course myself, rather than via a company, i feel that it is very important for mangement certificatation of certification of any sort, there are alot of individuals that are unable to get jobs due to the fact that dispite experience, they lack a certificate to prove it. i myself had this problem, prior to completing my CMI course. This also shows committment to learn and develop which i feel i crucial in any role.
I think we are approaching a day (2011 maybe?) when it will be seen as a 'licence to practice' - practically every other professional or skilled technical occupation already takes this view - and many in those roles or sectors do indeed pay for it themselves. Can't see too many managers forking out £25,000 plus for an MBA though... at NCSL we're trying to make professional qualifications more accessible and affordable to individuals in all kinds of ways, for just this reason. I was looking at some courses at one of the big business schools the other day, which were 3 x 1 week and more rthan £15,000 - with no accreditation or certification at the end.... I think those days are at, or at least are coming to, an end....
I think that certification shows a basic level of competence when combined with experience. However, I do not feel that it should be mandatory since it restricts employment for those who cannot afford the course themselves. I have just completed all my work for my level 5 Diploma and enjoyed the experience enormously and would hope that the qualification could assist me in finding employment in the future. I paid for it myself.
I do not agree with Nigel's point about the demise of training courses at major business Schools though, even though I love many of his other posts. Elite Business Schools can command such huge sums for three reasons in my opinion. The first is they offer access to alumni associations which offer superior networking. Second, they tend to offer focussed education to more seasoned executives who might find the other areas of CMI curriculum old ground. Third, the quality and currency of the lecturers in some of these establishments are truly outstanding and inspirational. Something which lesser academic institutions do not always provide. I base this upon my experiences attending such a course at such an institution. It has cost me personally £8K and my employer paid the rest. I value every penny of it.
OK, Martin, you got me...it's a fair cop! I don't doubt there will still be people able and prepared to pay the prices to go to Ashridge, Henley and the other elite schools. I also agree about the calibre of the people who deliver there... which also of course drives the pricing strategy, as these people aren't cheap. My concern is that it tends to mean that only the 'cream' tend to access these opportunities.... and it's not them I'm worried about! My underlying point is really to do with the size of the 'leadership skills gap' - we have over 3.5 million managers and leaders in the UK who aren't professionally qualified to lead. Every week I see examples of organisations, teams and their people being mishandled (BP anyone? Enron? RBS? Lehman Bros?), led up a garden path or simply ignored by leaders without the leadership and people skills needed to engage their people and release that 30%+ of 'discretionary performance' that lies within.... and business schools putting 30-50 people through an MBA every year isn't going to fix it.... actually, the UK Skills audit of a couple of months ago showed 'corporate managers' as the largest growth area for new jobs and skills for the next 7 years.... so the current provision won't even keep up with demand, let alone make inroads into the 'leadership skills gap'.
I am just concerned that, unless we can make professional development easily accessible - and that means in terms of time commitment as well as price - then we will continue the current cycle where the best organisations and best people continue to drive forwards on development and improvement.... and the rest languish.
I remember my first Post-Graduate Diploma in Management back in the 80's - giving up 2 afternoons and evenings a week for 2 years.... How many in-post senior leaders are likely to be able to do that these days? (I struggle even to find time to write blog posts - and so usually have to do it at 7am!)
Finally, Martin, I applaud and honour your commitment and hope you will inspire others to do the same. There aren't enough leaders prepared to do what you have done - I really hope it pays you back tenfold.
Picking up on Nigel's points, the critical things to me as a provider - apart from 'quality' which I'll come back to - are cost, time and flexibility. When I started Partners in Management over 10 years ago it was to deliver 'any time, any how, any where' to suit the clients need not the providers!
That philosophy still applies today and as an example we still have a few places left on our next Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management & Leadership starting in Huddersfield, July 13th priced at £3000 and delivered one day per month over a year to dates agreed with the participants who number less than 12 per group. As a small organisation we work hard to keep overheads down but personal customer service high. If anyone can suggest how we can make it more flexible and time and cost effective then please let me know - quickly!
At a University you'll probably have to wait until October to start, finish in May for a long break and pay possibly 3 times the price to 'taught and tested' in a class of 30+ maybe if you are lucky.
With regards to quality, its fundamentally about philosophy. I believe that effective management combines academic knowledge with practical skills and abilities along with self-development. I used to refer to these as 'knowing, doing and being' but following a recent rebrand prefer the strapline - "Innovation = knowledge + experience + attitude". What we do is develop all these areas and the final assessment is through students completing an 'academic portfolio' where they analyse and reflect on how they have managed an innovative project in their organisations. They also have to present to the group for an hour on what they have achieved, personally changed and learnt - so no hiding places!
A superb example now is one student just completing who works for a housing association. As her project she is just setting up a new facility for teenagers who come out of care with no support mechanism for them. She has researched the issues, determined a solution, found premises, funding and staff and will have the facility operational by September and provide a vital public service that didn't exist before despite the need. It is unlikely she would have done this 'voluntarily' without being on our course and if it had we are certain it wouldn't have happened as well without the academic, personal and group inputs she has got from the course. Try and calculate the return on investment on that course fee if you can....
Would the Harvard Case Study approach have delivered such an effective outcome and practically developed manager?
Anyway, rant over, the point I am trying to make is that I passionately believe it is possible to provide excellent quality, flexible delivery, cost and time effective accredited qulaifications but to do so has to challenge the existing traditional academic 'teach and test' approaches. If you don't agree then fine but please check out Mintzberg's 'Managers not MBA's' first!
David
First off what a refreshing way to deliver education and secondly I think the price you quote is really what somebody should be looking to pay for an educational experience. The £10-16k mark we see being peddled elsewhere is not in 100 years going to address the issues we see prevalent in many organisations who have failed to appreciate and develop management appropriately or worse still know the issue but do not have the means by which to fix it E.g. School leadership teams.
To the main point though. Sadly I think the absolute requirement to study and/or attain a professional qualification in management is far away. In the meantime we should all, when in a position to influence, be looking to help organisations realise the benefits they are missing out on. In present times though these really have to take the form of increases in profitability or reduction in costs and this is where management training falls down. We must get our act together and show solid ROI on management development in terms that let then see a 3 fold return on the £3k investment.
I am hoping that Nigel's NCSL launch will give some teeth to this and other challenges we face in driving management to new levels of professionalism in the UK.