TRAINING AND SKILLS
Turning rail engineers into great managers
Ann Francke, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) told NSARE’s ‘Training Matters’ conference that too many engineers are made managers because of their technical profi ciency, without being given proper management training.
“It
is vital for the future of your young people that they acquire management
skills.”
That was the key message from CMI chief executive Ann Francke to delegates at the NSARE Training Matters conference.
She rolled out statistic after statistic showing how much better companies perform if they have invested in training up their managers and leaders, adding: “Well-managed organisations have healthier and happier employees. If you are looking for a productive workforce and are facing skills gaps, you’ve got to have healthy, happy, engaged employees who are turning up for work. You’re much more likely to have that with a well-managed company. We also know that a small improvement in management performance can make a big difference to an organisation’s performance.”
She said: “Despite the stunning statistics about how important management and leadership is, far too few companies do it. Only 1 in 5 managers is qualifi ed. People think that 4 out
She praised NSARE’s work as “very inspiring” and a great blueprint for many other sectors, and said that developing people should be about leadership and management and not just technical skills.
of 5 managers should be qualifi ed – that’s the opportunity gap.”
novice experts. They have great technical skills, in recognition of which, someone has said ‘congratulations, you’re going to be a manager’, and just thrown them into it without any training.
“When you do that, you’re setting those people up to fail. You’d never [send] a young apprentice onto a railway line without technical training. Management is the same thing: they have to be trained in management skills. That’s not done anywhere near the level it should be in this sector.”
For every £100 invested in training managers and leadership in the engineering sector, companies get a £124 return, she said. “There are other benefi ts, some simply intangible: more engaged, happier, employees, taking pride in themselves and their companies and workplaces.”
“Good managers are made, not born,” she said.
“The reality is that a lot of engineers are ‘accidental managers’ – they’re what we call
An
‘outstanding’ training provider
Craig King of TQ Catalis discusses the company’s performance in the NSARE inspection.
TQ
Catalis has been graded as an ‘outstanding’ training
provider by the National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering (NSARE) following our inspection in July 2012. It’s therefore offi cial that TQ Catalis delivers high quality training and assessment solutions, focussing particularly on industries where safety is paramount.
Our range of products for the rail industry is ever-evolving and we offer high quality, dynamic training in all areas of railway engineering and safety, health and environmental subjects.
30 | rail technology magazine Oct/Nov 12
We have also opened our Rail and Utilities Vocational Academy in Corby, Northamptonshire, delivering our specialist range of rail training.
In addition, we now have a full- scale National Grid style electrical power transmission & distribution system, complete with OLE and substations, allowing us to deliver highly specialist training solutions for the high voltage areas including rail electrifi cation.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
T: 0845 880 8108 W:
www.catalis.com
FOR MORE INFORMATION
www.managers.org.uk
© Ian Vernon
www.ianvernonphotography.co.uk
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