Highlights – 23 July

We hope you’re finding some respite from this sweltering summer. Sunburn is a very real risk right now, but so too is burnout. A recent article in The Times cited CMI’s findings that one in five managers are expected to work on their days off. Petra Wilton, CMI’s director of policy and external affairs, was quoted warning of a “worrying rise in expectations to stay switched on”.

“Employers need to be mindful of burnout risks,” she said. 

A wake-up call

From slapping on the sun block and going fishing, to reinforcing your firewall and stopping phishing attacks… Ann Francke OBE CMgr CCMI, CMI’s chief executive, has appeared in the print edition of the Edinburgh Evening News describing recent high-profile cyber-attacks at Marks & Spencer and the Co-op as a “wake-up call”. CMI data revealed that four in five managers have brought in preventative measures in response to those breaches. As Ann said, the “most critical line of defence is people”. 

Cybersecurity is just one area that needs more trained managers who can keep pace with change. Greig Rooney CMgr FCMI, managing director of Valneva Scotland, discussed our concept of the “accidental manager” for an article on Scotland’s life sciences sector in The Herald. He called for a “leadership skills accelerator to combat skills shortages and turn these accidental managers into leaders who can drive business value and innovation”.

CMI’s Better Management research found that 82% of UK managers are promoted into their roles with no formal training at all. But what training should we be offering in this economic climate? We asked the CMI community. You can read the responses in this week’s newsletter. 

Our Better Management research was also cited in an article in Malaysia’s The Star, which blamed poor leadership for the rise of ‘quiet cracking’ – a trend where the working environment leads people to drag their feet and disengage from their roles. 

On a related note, separate CMI research found that almost 80% of employers believe students aren’t fully equipped with the skills they need for work. According to The HR DIRECTOR, this is helping to fuel a youth confidence crisis. 

Bucking the trend

Given this backdrop, we love to see companies making a proper commitment to training. Starbucks UK has announced the launch of its new Accelerated Leadership Programme, a CMI-accredited fast-track route where people can become a store manager in just 13 months. 

Over in Saudi Arabia, Yelo Academy and Future Business Solutions are working together to provide Saudi talent with CMI-backed professional development – to help drive the country’s Vision 2030 initiative. 

Such programmes are especially important when the broader landscape of training and development is changing so much. Former skills minister Robert Halfon wrote an insightful opinion piece for The Sunday Times on cuts to higher-level apprenticeships in the UK. Robert used research from CMI and Oxford Economics to bust “persistent myths” that Level 7 apprenticeships don’t drive social mobility. He also highlighted CMI findings that more than 70% of management apprentices come from families where neither parent attended university. 

A healthier outlook

CMI has worked with NHS England to develop a modern management and leadership framework to bring rigour and consistency to how its managers are trained. In a Health Service Journal column [paywalled], Ann stressed that planned management regulation, while overwhelmingly welcomed by Chartered Managers in the NHS, needs to also address the other side of the coin.

“Creating a system that would punish the managers who are falling short in their roles, without offering the reward of professional development for those who are eager to not just deliver but to improve the service is not just short-sighted; it would not work.”

You can learn more about the realities of healthcare management in this week’s newsletter. Dr Hiba Khan CMgr FCMI, CMI Apprentice of the Year 2024, explains how she’s thrived in the sector by combining academic rigour with real-world application. 

The value of close ties between academia and business is echoed elsewhere in the newsletter too. Anthony Sturgess, author of The Engaged Business School (shortlisted for Management Publication of the Year 2024) explains how better relationships with business schools can help organisations to grow and become more competitive. 

We’ll end with another nod toward this week’s newsletter, and a fascinating article about ADHD. The piece explores a condition that’s often framed as a deficit, but which can bring a range of benefits to the workplace – if managers understand how it affects people’s attention, time perception, executive function and sensory processing. 

It seems managers have plenty to keep themselves busy. Just don’t forget to take that break. 

Best,

Matt Roberts CMgr FCMI

Director of membership and professional development, CMI

Image: CMI