Leadership and Management

Leadership and Management Developement

Why Leadership and Management Devlopment?

Leadership and Management is the No. 1 skills issue identified by business. not just in the south west but through the UK. Like the rest of the country the south west suffers from a shortage of leadership and management skills. It is estimated that 10,500 leaders and managered in the SW need leadership and management development (LMD). Over the next few years it is estimated that the number of managers required in the SW will increase by 50,000 and potentially two thirds of those with be women.

 The challenge for the region is to improve our economic performance which lags behind top performing regions, and in particular levels of productivity must be improved. LMD contributes directly to improvements in performance and gains in productivity; it also has a positive effect on workforce development in general. 95% of those south west businesses that have undertaken LMD have seen clear business benefits, including;

• Improved quality performance (73%), increased productivity (66%), increases in turnover (36%) and profitability (31%), improved working practices (90%) through skills gained being embedded within the management team and reflected in new ways of working
• The encouragement of training in their workforcse (88%) and the significant proportion (45%) that felt their own participation in training encouraged employees to train.

RSP Leadership and Management Standing Group

This group has a core team consisting of the RDA (chair), LSC and Leadership South West, with a South West Leadership and Management Development Startegy Action Leads Group. Action Leads include Sector Skills Alliance, HERDA SW, SW TUC - Unionlearn, Equality SW, SW SLIM and the members of the standing group. You can download the terms of reference for the standing group by clicking on the link on the right had side of the page.

In addition to the standing and strategy action leads groups, the region now has a South West Leadership and Management Development and Strategy Stakeholder Group. This group was instrumental in the development og the LMD strategy and have now met twice. First in December 2007 when the standing group held a workshop to consult on the strategy and then in May 2008 when implementation was discussed.

 If you want to know more about these groups, please contact: Liz Georgeson - Tel: 01392 229561 Email: Liz.georgeson@southwestrda.org.uk

South West Leadership and Management Development Strategy

A region where high performing work environments are the norm and where individuals and organisations are inspired and able to rise to the challenge of leadership and management today and tomorrow. This is the vision of the new South West Leadership and Management Development Strategy.

Through this strategy we aim to equip today's leaders and managers with 'fit for purpose' skills in leadership and management and to create an environment conducive to the development of the skills of tomorrows leaders and managers.

 The downloadable document on the right hand side (SW Leadership & Management Dev Strategy) outlines the objectives and actions; we want to build on what we have learnt from regional leadership and management activity over the last three years. These have included mapping leadership and management development across the region and the delivery and evaluation of the South West Organisational Leadership and Management Development Programme. Visit the RDA Leadership and Management Web Page for more information.

So the strategy is not about creating new provision, changing the access routes or spending public money. It sets out to better understand what works and why, listen to businesses when they tell us what they want from providers, send clear messages on the value of investing private finance in leadership and management development and anticipating the needs to tomorrow's world and communicating all of this to those who work to privde leadership and management development. This main focus for delivery is partnership working, no one organisation will bring this strategy to life it is too big a topic and too big a region. The full document strategy can be downloaded from the right hand side.

Employability, Progression, Productivity and Sustainability will be the measurable outcomes; another way to look at the strategy is through the Learn, Apply and Share lens. (Download on right hand side)

For further information on the strategy or stakeholder group please contact:

Liz Georgeson - Head of Skills, South West RDA, Sterling House, Dix's Field, Exeter EX1 1QA. Email: liz.georgeson@southwestrda.org.uk. Tel: 01392 229561

Marion Sweet - Skills Development Manager, LSC The Bora Building, Westlea Campus, Westlea Down, Swindon, SN5 7EZ. Email: marion.sweet@lsc.gov.uk Tel: 01793 608057 or 07796 523214

Jim Hanbury - Leadership South West, Centre for Leadership Studies, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter, EX4 4ST. Email: jim.hanbury@exeter.ac.uk Tel: 01392 265233

Useful Links

Train to Gain - Leadership and Management Advisory Service - TBC

All Sector Management and Leadership Skills Development

Inspirational Leadership

Higher Level Skills Pathfinder Project, Expert Solutions

News

• £9m Leadership and Management boost for South West firms.

The South West has a new opportunity to develop leadership and management skills for business leaders with the launch of a new £9m Leadership and Management Advisory Service in the South West from the 1st August 2008. You can read the whole story by clicking on the link on the right under "News".