“I hope more employers recognise the benefit in formally training their managers”

In 2022, Dr Jeremy Chambers CMgr FCMI was appointed management coach and mentor at City College Plymouth and took over the running of the CMI programme. At the time, the programme had just five students and consisted of one CMI course.

The college dean must have seen something in Jeremy, however, because he’d barely completed his Level 7 Postgraduate Certificate in Education when he was effectively headhunted into a top teaching position. 

Three years later, Jeremy has just welcomed his 140th student and has introduced several new CMI courses, including the Level 5 Certificate in Project Management and the Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership Practice.

Keeping it fun

The dean – Jeremy’s manager and biggest cheerleader – was also one of his first students, and she has now graduated from the Level 7 Diploma course, too. 

“I wasn’t nervous having her join the class,” says Jeremy. “I am the god of my class and I know my stuff. And I absolutely brought her to task on many things, like some of her managerial habits and assignments, so there was absolutely no special treatment!”

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Jamaica-born Jeremy is not fazed by anything, let alone VIPs attending his classes. He worked for a large consultancy firm in Japan for 12 years, advising major Japanese corporations such as Toyota and Nissan, alongside teaching. He often had regional mayors and people from Japan’s Ministry of Education visiting his classes. 

Jeremy’s professional experience, as well as his playful teaching style, has been a big draw for students who are managers themselves. 

“Managers who I mentored found my level of professionalism and formality quite refreshing. But I also created a safe learning environment and kept it fun, too. I’m a little animated when I teach and I can sometimes see that my students go from ‘I don’t know what to think about this guy’ to suddenly ‘Oh, I like him, he’s both fun and knowledgeable!’”

Culture shift

Jeremy attributes the success of the programme to his multi-pronged approach and various ‘enrichment exercises’. From the start, he set up regular ‘CMI Meet and Greet’ evenings to allow prospective students the opportunity to visit the college, meet with Jeremy and discuss the course and the different available options. He invited guest speakers from across the local business community. Students also had the ability to embark on the course at any point in the academic year. 

Word of mouth grew, raising the profile of the college’s CMI programme in a relatively short space of time.