This organisation needs professional leaders

22 May 2019 -

This organisation is yours

Welcome to The Organisation.

Here, employees complete their projects on time. They monitor budgets and meet them. They share their workload and ideas with colleagues. To the outside world they are reliable; they could even be described as capable.

They are simply ticking the boxes.

At The Organisation, employees understand their clients' needs, but they don't exceed them. The Organisation has been providing the same service for five years. Unfortunately, it gains very few new customers.

The Organisation looks productive and well led. It isn't. Long-standing processes are managed by long-standing employees, who have progressed because they can lead tasks, not people.

Is The Organisation yours?

The signs that your organisation is led by untrained leaders might not be low morale among employees, or even low profitability. When accidental managers lead a company, very little changes over time. There is an inability to embed strategic thinking into practice.

In a business world with new demands and opportunities, accidental managers struggle to exceed targets – and struggle to boost performance.

YOU DON'T NEED TO HIRE ANY MORE MANAGERS

Thankfully, there is a solution. And it’s not employing more managers. The CMI Corporate Membership offering helps organisations to professionalise their managers through personalised qualifications and training.

Existing team leaders can be transformed from rule-makers into role models. As Chartered Managers they have the ability to make changes and improve performance, and they can do this by motivating those around them. Research shows that 86% of Chartered Managers have improved operations at their organisations since becoming accredited. Eighty per cent of them have developed new products; 73% have exceeded targets; and 64% have made savings. Read more about Chartered Managers' personal experiences.

Huddersfield University is one organisation that has begun transforming its 83-person management team. Its ambition is to become the first organisation in the world with only Chartered Managers in place – a business landmark that it will achieve by 2020. "This has significantly enhanced our leadership ability within the organisation," says chief executive Professor Bob Cryan CBE.

The senior team was asked ‘what gives you the right to lead?’ before tackling the Level 7 Certificate in Strategic Management and Leadership, which gains managers the well-respected Chartered status. This course was tailored to the business – and the results are telling.

Staff display strategic thinking and present ideas to the CEO regularly. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for managers to share their thoughts on how the business should move forward,” says Cryan.

This has a positive impact on change management and productivity. “It maintains interest, allows employees to innovate and has allowed a whole series of projects to be conducted across the organisation,” he adds.

And fundamentally, great leadership drives great business. “Our view is simple – if our people stop growing then the organisation stops growing.”

More information on overcoming the five weaknesses of accidental managers is available here

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