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]]>The report outlines the findings from over 30 projects supported through the UK Futures Programme which explored how to improve management and leadership skills and practices. Businesses, Chambers of Commerce, Universities and other organisations came forward with new solutions to addressing the problem of comparatively low levels of management skills in the UK. But when they did, they often found that the needs were greater than they anticipated.
And I’ve experienced this first hand. I was in a classroom one evening with around 20 other managers, getting comfortable ready to begin a seminar on statistics for business and management, a core module on my MBA. The lecturer was displaying a page full of numbers in a spreadsheet set to teach us about statistical methods covering sampling distributions, hypothesis testing and so on and so forth. He began, “So you have your data in Excel and you want to….” But he didn’t get any further because a hand went up on the front row. He stopped to take the question. And it was a curve ball that derailed his whole session. The question went like this, “So, what’s Excel?” He hadn’t been expecting that (you could tell by his face).
Similar to my lecturer, some of the projects on the Futures Programme found themselves re-working their leadership and management course materials and having to go right back to basics first, helping managers write mission statements, prepare business plans and marketing strategies.
It was common also to have to entice managers to take part in Management and Leadership development programmes. Often they weren’t sure of the benefits and in some cases didn’t see themselves as leaders.
None of this is too surprising. UKCES research shows that less than half of Managers (48%) are likely to be trained in any one year compared to 63% for all staff. The Programme focussed on managers who did not usually receive training and their needs were found to be more basic than expected in many of the projects, with many having no form of business plan or marketing strategy. This is consistent with UKCES research which shows that almost 4 in 10 businesses (39%) do not have a business plan.
The projects achieved numerous successes and the really good news is that the report finds that when managers are encouraged to consider their leadership and management skills, it whets their appetite for more development.
Paula Harris, Solicitor and Head of Civil Department at David Gray Solicitors, said of her experience on the training provided for new managers by the Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG):
“The LAPG provided invaluable training to me. As a person new to management, with no previous training, the course offered me the opportunity to learn the theory of management and develop the practical skills. I have already put many of the new skills I have learned into practice and have the literature close at hand for reference!”
Teesside University led a programme of learning for local small businesses which also hit the right note with businesses including Alison Johnson of GCS JOHNSON LTD who said:
“The understanding of theory, strategy and reflection within the business environment has made such an impact on me, and the way in which the company goes forward. Turnover and profit will still be important, but now I understand more than I did before that the internal strategy of the business is equally important in the company’s future”.
Equally, the ‘bigger’ firms also found real value in providing management development to the firms around them. David Woodhead, of Robert Woodhead Ltd, a Construction company which developed ‘Good to Gold’, a leadership programme for their supply chain, said of the experience:
“We have had great feedback from Good to Gold, and have learned as much about how to work with our supply chain as they have learned about how to work with us. We are on a journey to improve our systems and methods of working to improve our efficiencies. I am sure that our supply chain will reciprocate and this greater understanding will increase trust, and trust will be the foundation of the future.”
The report shows that, while it is challenging to engage firms in management development if they have not done so before, other firms or trusted institutions can use their relationships to persuade them it is worthwhile. This is of real value not just to the managers being developed, but also to the firms that they do business with, a win win.
So two important lessons here from the UK Futures Programme (and indeed my lecturer). One: establish the capability of your audience first, tailor the offer. And two: management development is beneficial for those undertaking it as well as those around them.
The UK Futures Programme has generated a great deal of other learning and evidence in relation to what works, and indeed what doesn’t, in enhancing skills among the workforce. Read the full report here.
]]>At UKCES, we have been working with seven projects supported through our UK Futures Programme to test how businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors can help address some of their key problems by supporting pay and career progression for low paid staff. Problems include ‘talent loss’ (not being able to retain staff, sometimes because of seasonal troughs) and the knock-on problems of poor customer service and high recruitment costs.
The businesses and organisations we worked with looked to make career pathways clearer to staff; provide support for apprentices to help them overcome barriers to work; and change how work was carried out to allow staff to develop a wider range of skills and be more flexible in the workplace.
The projects also provide toolkits and guidance for other employers to consider how they can change what they do to improve their business.
The projects showed that there is greater potential for change where employers and the public sector work together. For example, in Cornwall, Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant, St Austell’s Brewery and Watergate Bay Hotel worked with Cornwall College and Visit Cornwall to share best practice in employment practices amongst each other and other small hospitality businesses through their Experts Grow toolkit. The intention is not just to improve prospects of those businesses and staff within, but through partnering the College and Tourist Board, to grow Cornwall as a year round destination with a reputation built on the professionalism of its staff.
Matthew Thomson, Chief Executive of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall, says:
We are thrilled to have been invited to work with UKCES. The hospitality industry is central to our regional economy and we need thriving, professional hospitality businesses to deliver sustainable and inclusive growth in Cornwall and beyond. Companies flourish when the people who make them are well rewarded and can shape their own careers. Our partnership of progressive hospitality businesses is keen to make a difference across the south-west and we would love to hear from anyone with the same ambition.
There are other actions that businesses can take to tackle the twin troubles of talent loss and low pay. Findings from the projects include:
Sean Taggart UKCES Commissioner and owner of a number of small tourism businesses, concludes:
For me, it is simple: providing progression opportunities helps firms to retain good staff, develop their workforce and reduce costs. This in turn achieves better quality service and sales along with increased productivity and ultimately more sustainable and successful businesses. Why wouldn’t you?
Our brochure provides key information on each project and how you can contact them to take action.
]]>All partnerships must start somewhere, but new research from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) shows that multiple local ‘anchor institutions’ can come together and support local small businesses to develop their leadership skills, but it really helps if they are already used to working together.
The findings come from a series of projects testing how local ‘anchor institutions’ can use their expertise and influence to develop leadership and entrepreneurship skills in small businesses.
The report highlights a series of characteristics of successful anchor institutions that can help reach out to small businesses and to successfully develop their leadership skills, but of paramount importance was the creation of partnerships that draw on the strengths of different organisations. For example, in Doncaster, an established partnership of the Council, Chamber of Commerce and private sector consultancy, brought together complementary public and private perspectives on management development.
Claire Bossward, Project Manager at Doncaster MBC says:
This project has not only allowed us the freedom to experiment, learn, adapt and evaluate (and the results have been surprising!), it has also strengthened our partnership, benefited business and effected change. We have recognised that within the Council walls we have valuable knowledge and experience that absolutely can work and be delivered in a private sector setting. The blend of commercial versus empathetic styles really added value to the small firm’s experience. The organisations involved in the delivery feel like one organisation, not separate entities, and that’s when you know you are in a true partnership.
Successful partnerships are built on established relationships, mutual interest and time commitment. Where personal relationships already existed, and organisational interests were aligned, partnerships got off to a smoother start, those which had to develop these partnerships took longer to get the building blocks in place.
Other factors that led to successful projects included:
• The profile of these organisations usually attracted small firms because they had a good reputation or could offer access to other services, such as Innovation Advisers that were offered in Teesside University’s project.
• Offering a structured but flexible learning programme, responsive to busy small businesses. Laura’s professional partner will need to offer that for the foxtrot to be fantastic!
Small businesses have really gained through these partnerships, reporting ‘light bulb moments’ leading to the development of strategies, unblocking of bottle necks and improvements in management and business performance. And what’s good for small businesses can also be good for anchor institutions who reported benefits of taking part in the programme as:
• An opportunity to tackle local skills issues and tailor to the needs of the local economy.
• Develop those vital relationships with new partners that could support the evolving devolution agenda.
• An additional market for trading expertise amongst small, ambitious businesses.
There is huge potential for local anchor institutions to work together to develop management skills in local small businesses. The reports we have published show how this can be done, without the need for glitter and sequins!
Carol Stanfield
Assistant Director, UKCES
This is a question we’ve asked again and again at the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES). It was the driving force behind our Management and Leadership in Supply Chains Productivity Challenge of the UK Futures Programme, our innovative, co-investment research initiative. We asked leading UK businesses to explore this question with us by using their influence to drive up management and leadership skills in their supply chains. And we found that the answer might be closer to home than you think.
We know that good management and leadership underpins other aspects of a firm’s success. But it can be challenging to find the time to think about better ways to manage the business when there are deadlines to meet. Over just a few months, those businesses we worked with not only increased abilities in their supply chains, but this also encouraged small firms to reconsider their approach towards developing their managers in the future.
How did this come about?
Nigel Whitehead of BAE systems, speaking at the recent launch event for these findings, identified the crucial element as being the use of existing relationships within the supply chains to encourage participation and persuade busy managers to spend time on the business, not just in the business. As well as that, face to face contact was really important to grow relationships and trust. This personal contact also helped network members to share ideas and even develop new business contacts and opportunities. All this is made much easier if you don’t have to travel far to take up those opportunities.
There’s a real opportunity here to drive change locally – and this idea is central to the UK Futures Programme’s latest Productivity Challenge ‘Leadership and Entrepreneurship in Small Firms’. The importance of testing local partnership approaches to demonstrate impact on engaging and upskilling small businesses was picked up on in UKCES and Centre for Cities’ City Deals and Growth report last year. We’ve asked anchor institutions - organisations at the centre of local networks (such as universities, Chambers of Commerce and enterprise networks) – to use their influence to access, engage and upskill small businesses in their areas.
These anchor institutions, and the partnerships they have established, have also been showing striking confirmation of the importance of place in encouraging small firms to make a change. The established reputation and reach of these anchors, as well as their existing work in unifying and setting common goals for their localities, have brought together businesses and encouraged them to engage in their leadership and entrepreneurship programmes. While for the businesses, having the opportunity to meet other managers like them in their area and learn from trusted organisations, without having to travel far, is encouraging them to think about managing their business in a whole different light.
Tracy Mawson, from St Helens Chamber, speaks very positively about their involvement in the UK Futures Programme. She said: “We have always been an anchor institution, playing an important role in our local community when it comes to engaging and upskilling small businesses. Our strong local presence gives us the networks, trusted reputation and influence which are vital to this engagement. It also gives us the understanding to support businesses to develop the skills that reflect local demand, helping to build a more productive and prosperous community for us all.”
The St Helens Chamber and 7 other projects are still on-going, but a key message is already appearing: trusted, local organisations can play a crucial role in supporting small firms through using their local networks. We’ve seen promising signs of not just an increase in skills but a shift in perceptions towards training and greater communications among the small businesses engaged.
So, what are the skills challenges for small businesses in your area? What kind of partners could you bring together to help tackle them? And does devolution offer greater opportunity for developing these partnerships? Whether it’s Universities, Chambers of Commerce, Colleges or Councils for example, they all potentially have something to offer – they have the trust of small businesses or expertise in supporting and developing business. Acting locally can make it easier for busy managers to take up a learning opportunity with like-minded people - opening up a host of other possibilities for them and for your local economy. Keep an eye on our website this summer when UKCES will showcase the projects and highlight what’s worked for others to consider in their own locality. A little collective responsibility can drive lasting change for yourself, the businesses you work with, and - if we all pull together - the UK economy as a whole.
]]>There was lively debate in the earlier sessions in the day on the issues facing employers and how difficult it is to create or improve better jobs for low paid workers. Our panel session was timely as we were able to showcase practical examples of what employers are doing in these areas. I was struck by how valuable other employers and stakeholders in the audience found hearing about the reality of what our projects are doing and how enthusiastic they are in wanting to learn from and possibly replicate these models in their businesses.
These issues are very relevant to the recent introduction of the National Living Wage (NLW), with many businesses in low-paid sectors in particular commenting that the NLW will raise their labour costs considerably. For most of these employers, cuts to employment levels are not an option and will have adverse effects on their business. The UKCES co-funded projects are models of how businesses have started to improve low paid jobs in retail and hospitality through a range of different approaches. This has not been easy and the projects have worked through a number of issues to achieve early success.
Our work in this area is part of the UK Futures Programme, which tests new ways of addressing specific skills and business practice problems, and I am leading on this particular challenge. There have been some really encouraging early indicators with businesses already reporting increased productivity and bottom-line profits, greater staff retention, improved staff satisfaction/motivation and reductions in their recruitment costs as a result of trialling new ways to increase the value of low paid jobs.
We have a range of examples of how the large businesses involved are approaching this, including:
EE, who are working with The Living Wage Foundation (LWF) to make changes to operational business practices and improve employee engagement and business performance. They were experiencing a high staff turnover due to the fact that staff wanted to work more hours. They offered the opportunity to all staff to increase hours and are trialling an average increase of 9.5 hours (£4.5k increased pay), for 650 of their employees across 150 stores. They will be evaluating the results of this over the next few months. From this, and working with two other retailers, LWF are developing a 'Good Jobs' toolkit to offer practical support and advice to a wider range of retailers.
Accor have re-designed 4 job roles across the key areas of business in their hotels – catering, cleaning, front of house and back of house – and merged these into one role to enable staff to multi skill across these roles and increase their hours and pay. They are piloting this across 5 hotels and early indications are that the individuals and the hotels are finding this rewarding. Accor will be evaluating the impact of this across the participating staff and hotels and comparing this against hotels and staff not taking part.
We also have a range of examples of how the small to medium businesses involved are approaching this including:
Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Cornwall who are working with Watergate Bay Hotel, St Austell Brewery, Cornwall College and Visit Cornwall to help small employers in the region improve business productivity by investing in training and supporting career progression. Building on high quality working practices that encourage staff to work and develop across different roles and skillsets to improve business performance, the collaboration has developed a toolkit that will enable other small businesses to take similar approaches.
Retailers at the London Designer Outlet are working with Realm (who manage the outlet) to design training (currently focussed on customer service and sales). An onsite skills academy has been set up for the retailers to access the training. Individual staff and staff acting as their mentors within the individual businesses are taking part in the training and implementing their learning directly in the workplace. Realm is working with the retailers to support them in putting the training into practice and improve business practices. This model has the potential to be replicated in other outlets and shopping centres.
Small hotels across Bournemouth are testing the 'service-profit' chain principle that says that high quality customer service arising from better workplace practices leads to improved business performance and higher pay. They are working with the National Coastal Tourism Academy to improve the way in which new staff are inducted, trained and managed, and producing guidance to support other small businesses to do the same. Staff from the small hotels are also taking part masterclasses on key topics. Early indications are that individuals taking part have made changes to their individual performance and business practices. This model has the potential to be rolled out nationally.
We want to share these models and the practical guidance and toolkits so that other businesses can learn from this experience and join in or replicate these. You can find out more about this work from our website and the full evaluation report will be available in summer 2016.
In the meantime, UKCES and the individual projects are happy to speak to employers and partners who are interested in finding out more.
]]>Despite telling plenty of people about the date and time, sending out invitations and patiently waiting for guests to arrive, nobody showed up.
The world-renowned physicist sent the invites only after the party ended, proving he said, “that time travel is not possible” as no one retrospectively attended.
As much as we may want to gaze into the future; according to Professor Hawking, we simply cannot.
What we can do however, is analyse what happened in the past, what is happening in the present and make projections about what the future may look like. It’s no crystal ball, but it can help us plan and prepare for what’s in store over the horizon. Projections give us a benchmark against which we can test our own opinions and expectations, serving to provoke reflection and debate.
That’s what Working Futures gives us.
It’s a comprehensive, detailed model, projecting the future size and shape of the UK labour market. It considers employment prospects by industry, occupation, qualification level, gender and employment status.
Professor Hawking once said “intelligence is the ability to adapt to change”. Adapting to change means being aware of what is changing – having the data to make informed decisions about our futures. If we don’t look to the future, we resign to reacting to developments, rather than proactively preparing for them.
Working Futures’ main purpose is to inform choices by labour market players around skills, careers and employment. It is used by policy-makers, local decision-makers and employers to create strategy, identify risks and opportunities, and plan for future events.
Working Futures also feeds into the LMI for All data portal, which fuels innovative applications such as icould.com. The service uses Working Futures alongside other robust, national data sources to make careers information accessible to everyone, allowing you to compare occupations and sectors, qualifications and skills required by job, and even access over 1,000 personal videos, providing inspirational careers insights.
Just like ‘icould.com’, Working Futures is best used alongside other sources of information and insight, to build an unrivalled understanding of past and current trends whilst taking a peek into what the future might hold.
As with all projections, Working Futures does not provide precise forecasts; rather, it gives us an indication of a likely future, given the continuation of past patterns and trends.
Until we solve the time-travel paradox, we can never be certain about what will happen in the future. What we can do though, is prepare ourselves for the likely situations we may face over the horizon. That’s why Working Futures is so important – it gives us a glimpse into the future, allowing us to be more informed about the labour market and make more effective decisions.
From school-leavers to CEOs, and policy-makers to college principals, labour market projections should be at the heart of your skills and employment decisions.
We are delighted to have launched, the Working Futures 2014-2024:
Why not take a glimpse into your future?
]]>You might think music service ‘Spotify’ was the first to stream music to your phone, but the Victorian Telharmonium pipped them to the post.
Making use of telephone networks, the midtown Manhattan machine transmitted music to restaurants, hotels and homes around the city. Subscribers were connected to a 24-hour service where two musicians played keyboard-like devices to supply music “on tap at the telephone”.
Great ideas have to start somewhere, and often not where you thought.
Take apprenticeships for example.
Apprenticeships may feel like the latest political buzzword, but these earn-and-learn programmes have been solving skills problems for centuries. Combining earning and learning was developed in the middle-ages, where young people would be employed as an apprentice for between 5 and 9 years, to develop skills in traditional crafts and guilds. It’s an excellent idea when you think about it: equipping young people with the skills employers need; building confidence, experience, and providing fresh insights and talent to business to manage tomorrow’s challenges.
The current government has certainly recognised their value, and has pledged to create 3 million apprenticeship starts by 2020, equating to a 36% increase over the life of the Parliament.
Here’s the point. Just as Spotify did with its music streaming service, you too can exploit current-day innovations to make apprenticeships really amazing. Why now? For one, the level of data you have access to has changed the game. We now have data on what vacancies employers are struggling to fill, what skills they need to fill them and what impact skills-shortages have to productivity and performance – all broken down to relevant local geographic and sectoral levels.
Apprenticeships are about planning for the future – they’re all about training up the next generation. But future planning is impossible without the right data. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) recently launched local resources from the Employer Skills Survey 2015 (ESS15). With over 75,000 interviews in England, the survey allows you to explore issues at the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and even at Local Authority Level. With this level of intelligence, you can gather a detailed picture about your local area’s challenges, and meet the demands through tailored apprenticeship provision.
Employers in your area have told us about the skills challenges they face, it only makes sense to use that data to ensure young people have the skills needed to get on in work and life.
So, similar to Spotify, you can build on long-term wisdom and revitalise it – in the case of apprenticeships, exploiting the vast array of labour market information (LMI) to build programmes of excellence that benefit employers and apprentices, boost business performance and fuel productivity growth.
Get intelligence on your area here.
]]>To state the obvious, the challenges faced by a drilling firm in Aberdeen are vastly different to those faced by a banker in the City. Yet for years, businesses have been viewed either from a sectoral perspective, or a geographical one. The awkward truth is that both sector and geography matter. All challenges have an impact on the UK’s productivity levels, which are already lagging far behind our international competitors. If policy makers, employers and training providers are to make the right decisions, they need robust, comprehensive information, based on both location and sector.
Earlier this year, UKCES launched the findings from the 2015 UK Employer Skills Survey (ESS15). We highlighted a number of skills challenges at a UK level, including more than 200,000 vacancies being hard to fill due to a lack of skills in the labour market. And we discovered there is also huge untapped potential among the existing workforce – two million workers have skills and qualifications above the level needed for their current role.
This is a good start. Understanding how well the skills of the workforce are aligned with employers’ needs is a first step to addressing some of these challenges. But we realise a local view is also required. The UK isn’t a single homogenous market; it’s hundreds, if not thousands, of local markets up and down the country. Take a region like Yorkshire and Humberside: the proportion of employers that are recruiting varies by local authority from as low as 14% to as high as 27%; skills shortages in the region are up to three times as intense in some areas when compared with neighbouring authorities.
Offering a local perspective has always driven the design of the Employer Skills Survey. ESS15 provides robust national, regional and sub-regional findings right down to LEP and local authority level. Local stakeholders are among the most intensive users of our data - around three-quarters of LEPs use UKCES data in their analyses of their local labour market.
So I’m delighted that today, we are launching the local resources from ESS15. These include detailed data tables for each English LEP and local authority and a slide pack highlighting some interesting local findings. Come and have a look at these and our other resources of local users.
Explore our Employer Skills Survey 2015 England and local toolkit.
]]>Skill under-utilisation occurs when employees have skills above and beyond those their job requires.
The opposite of skills gaps, which occur when employees lack the skills required for their current jobs, skill under-utilisation still represents both challenge and opportunity for the economy. Why? Because if this potential of current workers remains untapped, then we lose the chance to increase UK productivity.
The worst affected sector for skills under-utilisation is the Hotel and Restaurant sector, according to our Employer Skills Survey.
This is an issue affecting a significant number of employers - 40% say they have at least one employee who is not able to fully utilise their skills. It is an issue for the workers too. The figures show that 1 in 8 workers (13%) in this industry possess skills and qualifications above the requirements of their job.
Interestingly Education is the field reporting the next highest incidence of under-utilisation, making it a problem that over a third (37%) of educational establishments are dealing with. However, the good news is that the density of skills under-utilisation is much lower, affecting just only 1 in 16 people (6%) employed in this sector .
Find out more about skills under-utilisation or learn about other labour market trends we discovered in our Employer Skills Survey 2015.
What skills do you think are commonly under-used in your workplace? How do you think jobs should be designed to make best use of employees’ potential? Tweet us @ukces or comment below.
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