BRITISH bosses need to boost their management skills, says a Huddersfield woman.
Business education expert Narinder Uppal has called for more senior and middle managers to go for professional management qualifications.
Narinder, who hails from Fenay Bridge, made the plea on her appointment as head of the awarding body at the Chartered Management Institute.
Narinder joined the CMI in March last year to build up a business leaders’ network promoting best practice for managers.
Now she will be responsible for promoting the CMI’s management and leadership qualifications and developing its links with its network of approved centres – colleges, universities and private providers – offering CMI qualifications to more than 34,000 middle and senior level managers each year.
Said Narinder: “In a climate where managers and leaders are often the first to be blamed, it is imperative that they take steps to develop the skills which other criticise them for lacking.”
But she added: “Developing management capability isn’t just the domain of the employer. It should be everyone’s business. The opportunity to drive home this realisation and make a difference to the quality of UK management is something I cannot wait to begin.”
Narinder said the case for managers seeking professional qualifications was stronger than ever – forecasts suggested the number of managers in UK organisations will rise by 900,000 between now and 2017.
Employers also needed to get their management teams qualified as a way of improving retention rates – against a backdrop where four in 10 people leave their jobs because they are not given the training they were promised.
Narinder said individuals should take more responsibility for their own skills development to improve their employment prospects. Evidence suggested that a professional qualification makes someone 9% more employable.
Narinder has almost 20 years experience in the business education sector.
She began her career in the sector as a programme leader for Huddersfield training provider S&S Training before becoming assistant head of faculty at Calderdale College’s business and professional department.
Later, as interim director of international development at the London School of Business and Finance, she helped increase revenue by more than £1m in little over a year.
She also spent five years as head of education networks at the Chartered Institute of Marketing, where her shake-up of its accredited study centre network resulted in it generating 40% of total organisational revenue.
