Columnist

Building leadership competencies in SMEs

According to research conducted by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), businesses, particularly smaller organisations, can be at risk because of what they call the ’accidental manager’. Accidental managers are often highly skilled and excel in technical roles but are thrown in at the deep end in a senior managerial or leadership position, which they might not be ready for.

SMEs and regional recovery

It is often said SMEs are the backbone of our economy and for SMEs to successfully navigate through the challenging times ahead, lifelong learning is going to be essential in this evolving landscape.

Leaders play an especially important role today as we turn our attention to the recovery of the North East region and how best to tackle longstanding inequalities.

Build leadership competencies

Newcastle University Business School’s two Level 7 Senior Leader Apprenticeships are designed to build leadership competencies, supporting individuals and organisations to develop the next generation of responsible leaders who can navigate challenging work contexts and ask searching questions about what kind of society and economy we want to create.

The Senior Leader Apprenticeships lead to a Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies and a Postgraduate Diploma in Strategic Leadership and have been designed in collaboration with the Chartered Management Institute, leading to a dual qualification with a professional pathway to Chartered Manager status.

These work-based, vocational programmes allow organisations to upskill their senior managers and leaders and bring their learning immediately back to their workplace.

“It’s helped me to reflect on my ongoing practice in managing digital programmes. I’m considering how my actions as a leader can support others in and beyond my organisation. I’ve already worked with a number of the other learners outside of the programme and as a result, I ended up chairing a panel at the Dynamo North East Conference 2021 and set up a new collaboration between Open Lab and the North of Tyne Combined Authority on digital inclusion.”

Rachel Pattinson, CDT Manager at Newcastle University, current learner

Learn more

SMEs can access government funding to support with apprenticeship training. Find out more about our two Senior Leader Apprenticeships and the funding available.

Find out more: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/work-with-us/degree-apprenticeships/executive-education/#executivemba

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Newcastle University Business School .