11 minute read
Skills
BOOSTING SKILLS is the route to economic recovery
Last month Amazon took the unusual step of announcing a multi-million-pound training programme to upskill staff who are looking to leave the company to explore a new career.
Up to 5,000 new staff will be offered training as part of Amazon’s Career Choice programme, where the company pays course fees for its employees who’ve expressed an interest in pursuing a career outside of the company - something that’s designed to boost the skills and employability of British workers.
The move comes after a major new report called for a root and branch reform of the UK’s training system to help businesses access the skills they need to boost industry productivity – and help get the UK economy back on track after the COVID pandemic.
The report from the Workplace Training and Development Commission (WTDC), which was established by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and indeed, identifies solutions to a series of obstacles for employers in using the current skills system, including issues of complexity, cost and inflexibility. It provides a series of recommendations including: • help for smaller firms to identify and invest in the skills needs of their workforce • more bite-sized, flexible learning which supports people in work to gain new skills faster • a greater say for businesses on what type of skills training is needed at the local level • better support for people to retrain and move into higher earning roles • a renewed focus on digital skills and innovation
All of this is important in the context of the COVID pandemic, which has seen businesses lay off or furlough staff in their thousands. Those who’ve been affected have had plenty of time to mull over their options. Some have launched a new business venture; others have decided to embark on a new career.
The problem for many of those in the latter camp is that they don’t have the skills to break into their chosen line of work – a point hinted at by Jane Boardman, chair of the WTDC.
She said: “The problem of skills shortages has long hampered the UK economy, leaving employers struggling to fill job vacancies and raise productivity. The workplace is rapidly becoming more digital and automated, so businesses need more people with the technical skills for these changing jobs. But too often employers cannot access the training they need and, as a result, are spending less and less on training each year.
“The impact of the pandemic has made investing in adult skills more important than ever. Employers need a more joinedup and flexible system that can respond quickly to skills needs and opportunities.
The UK government is trying to build a more agile training system through its Lifetime Skills Guarantee, which will give every adult access to a flexible loan for higher-level education and training at university or college, useable at any point in their lives. This will build on the extensive action already underway to revolutionise the skills and training offer across the country, including the introduction of new T-level courses and access to free, job-relevant “bootcamp” courses.
“Coming out of one of the worst economic crises this country has ever faced, with the dual impact of Brexit and COVID, it is crucial to get people into work. Here in London the mayor has stepped up, committing £318 million extra to the adult education budget to help, including £38 million towards a Good Work Fund to equip Londoners with the skills they need to secure jobs in health and social care, creative work and digital employment.”
Neil Coyle, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark
SUPPORTING our local business community
As a civic university, London South Bank University (LSBU) is keen to support the education of professionals – and also to provide support to our local business community. LSBU Business School runs a series of events open to the public, and also offers tailored options through our Business Solutions Centre and Consultancy programmes.
Business Solutions Centre
Run by students of LSBU Business School and overseen by our university professional and academic staff, our Business Solutions Centre offers a free drop-in service to local businesses. A trained team of Student Advisers can help your business with advice on areas including small business accounting, marketing, social media and IT solutions.
How does it work?
A consultation from the Centre is free and easy to arrange. After completing a registration and initial questions, our advisers will discuss your case and present you with solutions. These may be in a written report, a workshop, or a hands-on, practical Clinic group session where you’ll have a chance to gain practical insights and one-to-one support. These are a great way for businesses to benefit from the skill of our students, whilst giving our students the practical experience they are looking for.
Find out more To register or find out more, please visit lsbu.ac.uk/bsc
CONSULTANCY
We’re excited to be launching a range of consultancy options for businesses. Our highly skilled academic team have a huge knowledge base, which they’re keen to share with individuals or companies of any size to solve business challenges. Rea Prouska, Academic Lead for LSBU Business School Consultancy says “there are a myriad of challenges modern businesses are facing – both as a result of COVID, and also outside of this. Through the skills of our academics, we aim to work in partnership with businesses and individuals to overcome these obstacles”.
How do I get consultancy?
If you would like support for your business, organisation or yourself, please contact the named expert directly to discuss options: further details on staff and their contact details are available by clicking their name. The length and cost of consultancy varies depending on your needs.
What areas of consultancy are covered?
At LSBU, our London Centre for Business and Entrepreneurship Research (LCBER) members have experience in working with practitioners across a wide range of sectors. We focus on three main aspects of business life: Leading people, teams and organisations; Digital transformation and Marketing.
Leading People, Teams and Organisations • Equality, diversity and inclusion
(EDI): Supporting organisations to develop inclusive cultures, effective
EDI management practices and to build a strategic approach to EDI. [Dr Aidan McKearney]
• Employee participation in decision-
making: Supporting organisations to create, implement and improve participative management practices aimed at increasing employee participation in organisational decisionmaking. Experience with SMEs and start-ups. [Dr Rea Prouska] • Emotional intelligence: Supporting business owners, managers and employees to develop self and social awareness to improve their communication and relationships with colleagues. [Dr John Opute] • Multicultural teams: Supporting organisations with global teams working across cultures to increase their effectiveness. [Prof Karin Moser;
Dr May Tungtakanpoung] • Project management: Supporting organisations to set up a Project
Management Office (PMO) or a Project
Management Centre of Excellence, and to help such organisations detect early warning signs in projects to increase project success. Experience with project-based organisations (PBOs). [Dr Sara Hajikazemi] • Knowledge management: Supporting organisations, leaders and employees in effectively sharing knowledge and information, and strategically developing and retaining core expertise, both online and face to face. [Prof Karin Moser]
Digital Transformation • Remote working and leading:
Supporting organisations, leaders and employees in effectively managing virtual work while maintaining a healthy and productive work culture. [Prof Karin Moser] • Data management: Supporting organisations with digital transformation, value extraction from data, and with financial advice in planning debts/investment positions. [Dr Valerio Ficcadenti]
Marketing • Marketing communications:
Supporting organisations to effectively communicate with their consumers. [Dr Barbara Czarnecka]
• Digital marketing strategies:
Supporting organisations to develop lowcost, high-value tools which can be used strategically to promote their business.
Experience with SMEs and start-ups. [Dr Emily Ngan]
• Social media marketing strategies:
Supporting organisations to create and implement social media marketing strategies especially for Instagram/
Facebook. Experience with SMEs and start-ups. [Dr Rana Tajvidi]
Find out more
For further information and contact details for the academic leads above, please visit lsbu.ac.uk/consultancy
What motivates people to become a leader?
That was the view on leadership of famed US political activist Ralph Nader, who led several consumer and environmental campaigning groups to change the Federal law many times. But for many organisations finding these potential leaders among their ranks is a complex and problematic task.
Those who choose to become leaders are not always the ones who should become leaders, while there is large pool of people who want to lead but don’t see themselves able to lead, yet they might be excellent candidates. Then there are those who don’t want to lead and don’t see themselves as a leader but may be or become a very effective leader – women are stereotypically in this category. So finding potential leaders among this complex array of groups is a difficult task, especially as popular images of the charismatic, heroic and strong leader that perpetuate film, newspapers and magazines may not be the ideal type or might appear unreachable to potential leadership candidates. Meanwhile, leadership development training, books and blogs tend to tell people they need to be a certain way; that they may need certain characteristics to become a leader, often by portraying the ideal leader. So there is this assumption that it is only people with these characteristics, like being charismatic, intelligent or dynamic that should put themselves forward to lead. This may make it even more unlikely that some
suitable candidates put themselves forward. And yet research has found 40% of workers have experienced bad leaders. We examined what happens when people compare themselves to typical (as opposed to ideal) leaders and how that affects their sense of ability and motivation to lead. We found that if employees feel their characteristics are congruent with the typical leader in their organisation, they feel more able and motivated to become a leader. By comparing themselves to an organisation’s typical leader rather than an ideal leader also means they can perceive themselves to be “better” in certain attributes, such as intelligence, making it more likely they see themselves as leadership material. When somebody feels like they match or are better than the leadership images they see around them they are more motivated to keep persisting in their attempt to become a leader, showing the determination that can help them stand out in their organisation as a potential leader. For companies, this can be an important discovery, as by clearly communicating the characteristics they are looking for in leaders, people who identify with them will come forward as potential leaders, rather than those who associate with the popular stereotype of the ideal and sometimes perfect leader portrayed in the media. This theory was backed up by our research, which instead of focusing on people’s image of the ideal or an effective leader, we asked that they characterise the typical leader. Thus, being dynamic might be a trait of an ideal leader but if people do not see dynamism in the typical leader at their organisation and they don’t perceive themselves to be dynamic it is not going to put them off striving to become a leader. So, rather than the particular characteristics of a leader being important, it is employees’ congruence – whether the perception of their own characteristics overlap with that of an organisation’s typical leader – that is the deciding factor in motivating them to become a leader. We surveyed 497 employees twice, 56% male and 44% female, three weeks apart, and identified four common dimensions of leadership, which were: integrity, cleverness, dynamism and manipulation. The survey asked them to rate a typical leader on these dimensions, then rate themselves on the same dimensions. We further measured individual’s perceived ability and motivation to lead. The results showed that when people saw themselves as dynamic and having integrity, just like the typical leaders they have encountered, then they were more motivated to become leaders themselves. We also found that when employees saw themselves as having more integrity and being cleverer than a typical boss, then they were also more likely to want to become a leader. There were no circumstances where perceiving their leaders as manipulative or seeing themselves as being manipulative inspired people to become a leader. So for people to be motivated to lead we can’t just look at employees’ characteristics or how they rate themselves in terms of their leadership credentials. Organisations need to see the context of how employees perceive the leaders in the company. Thus, communicating what characteristics an organisation wants from their leaders is important in persuading the right type of people to come forward. By projecting these leadership values and embedding them into the company’s culture organisations will be able to attract the type of leaders it needs.
Executive Leadership Programmes
Warwick Business School’s Executive Diplomas are designed for a senior executive audience who are looking to address a specific challenge they are facing – such as digital disruption, managing change, leading strategically and driving innovation. Delivered at WBS’ London base at The Shard, over four four-day modules, the Diplomas provide a deep dive into a particular subject matter, with a typical day involving interactive classroom sessions, break-out work in groups and case study material.
