MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT IN NORTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL

Background
North Lanarkshire Council has a long standing commitment to management development, and
from its inception has offered a range of learning opportunities for staff. In 2001 the Council
launched a corporate management development programme in conjunction with the
University of Strathclyde. This programme ran for around six years, and during that time the
majority of managers, at fourth tier and above, participated. However, in 2007, with
organisational changes looming at both the University of Strathclyde and North Lanarkshire
Council, a decision was made to review its approach to management development.
With the advent of a new five year change programme, Service & People First, there came a
recognition that the role played by managers in the council would become even more
fundamental to the success of the change programme. As such, it was important to ensure
that arrangements for management development met the changing agenda in the
organisation and provided the Councils managers with the skills required to help them meet
future challenges head-on.
Development and collaboration
North Lanarkshire Council is heavily involved in the Clyde Valley Learning & Development
Consortium, led by South Lanarkshire Council. Through this close working relationship, it soon
established that South Lanarkshire was in a similar position, and was also looking to review its
arrangements for management development. Both councils had already gone through a
process of looking at a range of different providers, and different management development
programmes.
In coming together, North and South Lanarkshire Councils established that the options
currently available on the market did not really meet the needs of either council. The answer
appeared to be to start from scratch and develop a bespoke management development
programme for the benefit of managers in both councils. Once this approach was decided
upon, the obvious plan was to work together to develop a programme which would draw on
the strengths of both councils.
From consultation with staff conducted internally, we knew that it was important for many
managers that a corporate management development offered the option of academic
qualifications for those participating. This requirement, combined with an impressive
proposal, led to the decision to begin working with Glasgow Caledonian University in the
development of a bespoke management development programme, and a new postgraduate
qualification.

The new management development programme

The new programme is built around a core module of five days which focuses on managing in
the local government context. At this point, the programme splits and participants choose to
complete a range of follow up programmes on either a people or professional manager
route. The people manager route offers specific programmes for managers with staff such as
recruitment, managing attendance and discipline. The professional manager route focuses on
programmes such as financial management, project management and process mapping. The
programme benefits from course delivery from both the University and internal trainers.
For those managers who choose to take up the option of academic qualifications, North &
South Lanarkshire Councils, in conjunction with Glasgow Caledonian University, developed a
Masters level qualification in the Leadership & Management of Public Services. With the
opportunity to exit at certificate, diploma and masters points, this work-based programme
offers managers the opportunity to gain a management qualification, while using their
learning to make improvements in their workplace.
The joint approach and the opportunity to contextualise the programme to suit the
participants job role are what makes this programme particularly innovative. Staff from both
councils come together for joint programme inductions and have become study buddies
through shared use of the Universitys online learning platform. Once the current students
choose to move onto Diploma level, they will come together for the taught inputs of the
programme.
One year on, 52 managers from North Lanarkshire Council have undertaken the corporate
management development programme. Sixteen people are on target to achieve a
Postgraduate Certificate in Leadership & Management of Public Services by the end of the
summer, with another 10 due to start the programme in June 2009.
Success factors
North Lanarkshire Council is due to begin an extensive evaluation exercise to look at the
impact of the programme in its first year. However, feedback received to date has been very
positive, the best indicator of which is the word of mouth recommendations which
participants generate among their colleagues.
The success of this joint approach to management development has been a willingness to
work together to find a solution to meet a shared organisational learning need. The
programme has been built around the needs of the manager, and has an in built flexibility
which allows participants to choose the inputs that suit their job and their learning needs,
ensuring they are in a good position to meet future organisational challenges. Both the
individual and the organisation have been the golden threads that have run throughout all
development discussions and eventually led to the validation of a new University qualification
and a comprehensive management development programme in North and South Lanarkshire.

For more information, please contact Heather Liddle, Principal Training Officer on 01698
302097, liddleh@northlan.gov.uk