Highlights – 12 February

There’s a reason we believe so fervently in the power of apprenticeships for raising management standards: we’ve run the numbers. We found UK businesses stand to unlock £106m in revenue by investing in management apprenticeships. And this message is clearly resonating. Take this article in The Times, highlighting just how many people are taking up high-level apprenticeships ahead of looming changes to funding. A new report from CMI and Oxford Economics also evidences the powerful impact of management apprenticeships on individuals and the economy. Read a summary of the key findings here. In an article for FE News, Petra Wilton, CMI’s director of policy and external affairs, argues that management apprenticeships are a route to unlocking economic growth. 

In a Times article, Petra Wilton, also highlights how the NHS as one organisation will be affected by the upcoming changes to the apprenticeship levy. 

But the beauty of management apprenticeships is that they develop knowledge and skills that apply across all sectors. Richard Mortimer CMgr MCMI earned a degree in journalism before becoming a technical manager at the University of Staffordshire. In this week’s newsletter, he explains how his Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship helped shape the building of a cutting-edge e-sports facility at the university – boosting students’ career-readiness and creating invaluable new revenue streams for the university. 

Right people, right roles

We’ll continue to bang the drum for management apprenticeships, but that’s just one part of our wider mission to press for better management.

Also in this week’s newsletter, Dr Rodney Toh, principal teaching fellow in the Department of Management at Malaysia’s Sunway University, explores what ethical managers can learn from the mistakes of Icarus and King David. 

Back in the here and now, CMI chief executive Ann Francke OBE used her latest column in The Times to answer a reader’s dilemma over whether to cut middle managers to save money. Anyone struggling with that question should note our finding that 50% of the UK’s productivity gap with the US is due to poor management. Before you sack people, says Ann, ask whether you have the right people in the right roles. 

Strong support

You can also ask yourself whether you’re sufficiently invested in people’s wellbeing (that’s clearly an international consideration – our research into the subject has been referenced in Mexico’s El Financiero and Lado). That could mean supporting people who are embarking on fertility treatment; helping those with long-term health conditions; or simply offering people the most appropriate working environments. 

It’s also about training people up. In this week’s newsletter, Michelle Brown CMgr MCMI, infrastructure team leader at Conwy County Borough Council, North Wales, shares how she’s applying her CMI training experience to encourage more women and girls into engineering. You can read about how she’s inspiring the next generation here. 

Best,

Matt Roberts CMgr FCMI

Director of membership and professional development, CMI

Image: CMI