East Midlands survey points to need to boost management skills

Councils in the East Midlands have made training middle managers
a top priority in 2005, writes David Craik.

A survey by the East Midlands Regional Local Government
Association and the Employers’ Organisation for local government
found that only 9 per cent have plans in place to improve middle
management skills, but that 84 per cent of responding councils had
assessed their development needs.

The report found that 90 per cent had carried out an appraisal
or developmental review for middle managers, with 75 per cent
having developed competencies frameworks.

Jonathan Trubshaw, skills and development manager at the
Employers’ Organisation, said he hoped that those councils that
didn’t have such plans for middle management would soon follow
suit: “Promoting the development of middle managers in local
government is one of our priorities and the lessons learned from
the East Midlands will inform our policy for the country as a
whole.

He added: “The study has revealed significant evidence of good
practice and I hope that this will encourage other authorities in
the region to learn from the successes of their colleagues and
implement the training and development initiatives that this study
has shown to be so effective.”