“Managers owe it to others to reflect on the impact they are having”

It’s hard to find time to reflect on what impact you are having as a manager while working a busy day job, but you owe it to the people you are managing. So says Sara Spear CMgr MCMI, professor and executive dean of the Faculty of Business and Law at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. 

“It’s very easy to become an accidental manager in academia, when you take on leadership responsibilities alongside teaching and research,” says Sara. “But investing in your own development is crucial to make sure you are stewarding people well.” 

Sara was head of the School of Management at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, when she became a Chartered Manager. She had been aware of CMI for many years, having taught on CMI-accredited programmes and encouraged students to make the most of CMI resources and networks. 

• Chartered stories: “It’s given me a much more strategic mindset”

“The Chartered Manager accreditation became appealing to me as a way to show that I valued the management and leadership aspects of my role,” says Sara. “It was the right time in my career for me to complete the accreditation, because it really brought together everything I’d been doing.”