Interview:

#getchartered: How Chartered Manager is Transforming Careers

Friday 14 July 2017
Some 1,000 managers have made the leap to become a chartered manager in the past year, here’s why you should do the same
Sandra Ossenbrink

The Chartered Manager accreditation has the power to transform careers. That’s why today, CMI is launching its ongoing campaign to promote the power of Chartered.

The campaign kicks off by celebrating the 1,000 or so managers who became Chartered in 2016/17 in a double-page spread in today’s issue of The Times – the names of every new Chartered Manager has been published.

We’ll also be running a social media campaign – follow @cmi_managers #GetChartered to find out more.

The campaign will also introduce you to some remarkable stories of individual Chartered Managers, and how they, and their employers, have benefitted from Chartered status. Every month we’ll be featuring video and written interviews with Chartered Managers from different fields and different backgrounds.

We start with HSBC process consultant Sandra Ossenbrink, for whom Chartered Manager status transformed her self-belief, opening the door to a new career.

For Ossenbrink, being a manager is about more than leading a team to success – it’s about getting the best out of people and pushing them to be better versions of themselves.

Ossenbrink grew up in Grambergen, in north-west Germany. As a young woman, she studied at a catering college, where she acquired various qualifications, before moving to Northern Ireland. But all the time she knew that her low self-confidence was holding her back.

“I used to be insecure as a person. I didn’t feel able to challenge people and would just agree with what they said,” she recalls.

The turning point was becoming a Chartered Manager.

The skills Ossenbrink learned on her path to becoming Chartered (by way of CMI’s Level 5 Diploma in Management and Leadership and Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership) have been invaluable in securing new roles that otherwise might have seemed out of reach.

When she applied for her current role as a process consultant at HSBC, the job description required a ‘black belt’ accreditation in Lean Six Sigma; Ossenbrink only had a green belt. Her Chartered Manager accreditation was key. “It demonstrated that I had the necessary skills, and meant I was successful in getting the job.” She’s now working towards that black belt.

The Chartered Manager accreditation is far more than a piece of paper to hang on the wall, says Ossenbrink. “This is something you can apply in your job and something that helps you believe you can be an effective manager.”

The research required as part of the Chartered Manager process will help you develop an array of management skills, she says. “People should not underestimate the impact it can have on them.”

Find Out More About Becoming a Chartered Manager

Becoming Chartered also shaped Ossenbrink’s leadership style and made her a more rounded manager.

“It is really important as a manager to help other people and coach them to be better managers,” she says. “I want to be a role model. If I work with someone, I want to show them that I behave in the right way and have the skills needed to do the job, because that will bring out the best in them.”

“If I can help other people develop their skills, then I know I have done a good job,” she adds.

As part of becoming a Chartered Manager, Ossenbrink did a lot of research around change management, teamwork, and how to make change actually work in practice. These are transferable skills, and she now applies them all the time, with different people and targets.

Ossenbrink admits her approach used to be “very black and white”, but she now appreciates the “shades of grey” in between – that there are other ways and means to achieve particular goals.

“You have to listen to other people more, and I am now much better at integrating the team into what I am doing, and getting them to think in an aligned way,” she says.

That nervous young apprentice seems to have gone forever; today, Ossenbrink is a confident, assured professional. “Being a Chartered Manager gives you credibility and provides you with the reassurance that you have the tools and skills to be a manager,” she says.

“Lots of people call themselves managers, but they haven’t been taught how to manage and they lack the necessary skills. Chartered Manager status has given me that belief, and con rms that I am on the right track.”

Another Reason to #getchartered

Thousands of leaders at all levels and across all sectors have become Chartered Managers. We want you to join them, so, until the end of August 2017, we are offering a 20% discount for all new registrations.

In as little as two weeks, you could have the highest professional status that can be achieved in management and leadership. Not only that but your employability will immediately soar as you demonstrate your managerial competence and prove that you possess the transferable managerial skills needed to make a real impact.

To start your journey and take advantage of a 20% discount, visit managers.org.uk/getchartered or call CMI on 01536 207429.