Professional development support
Spending other people's money raises unique challenges for leaders in the voluntary sector. We review the more popular tools and support currently available.
The voluntary sector is no different to the public and private sector when it comes to the ongoing training and professional development of its people; whether they are volunteers, finance directors or fundraisers (to name a few). People bring their experience and existing qualifications to their job and, ideally, seek to build these into a personal development plan or, sometimes, continue some form of relevant professional training leading to a qualification.
Continuing professional development (CPD) where an individual is either required to do a certain amount of updating to retain their practising certificate (lawyers, accountants etc) is also important to approach in a structured way. For more on this see Fiona Duncan’s article ‘CPD on a budget’ in Caritas Guide to HR, January 2009.1 This article takes a closer look at some recent trends in learning and talent development in the sector and summarises the more common relevant professional qualifications and sources of senior management development information.
Findings from the annual CIPD skills survey
The CIPD Annual survey report 2010 – learning and development2 is the main barometer of organisational attitudes to learning and development each year in the UK. Published in April 2010, the latest version is based on just over 600 UK responses from a sample of 9486, with around 50 responses coming from the voluntary sector. The survey is downloadable from the CIPD website. Key points arising from the survey were:
- Learning and talent development specialists had more responsibility than any other source (including HR, line management and senior management) for determining learning and talent needs. This trend was more pronounced in the voluntary sector than the private and public ones.
- All sectors rated leadership skills as most in need of development to meet objectives in two years’ time.
- The voluntary sector identified ‘performance management’ and ‘leading people and people management’ as the leadership skills it ‘identified gaps in.’
- Coaching and in-house development programmes were regarded as the most effective talent management activities by all respondents.
- The voluntary sector highlighted ‘high potential employees’, ‘managers’ and ‘middle managers’ as receiving the most attention from a talent management strategy. The insights arising from the survey findings generally commented on:
- The danger of hibernation. Although the fall in external activity (eg external conferences) was seen a temporary issue, a trend towards ‘hibernation’, where professionals are locked long-term inside their own organisations, was a concern because ‘much good learning and talent development practice can be obtained at such events.’
- Skills preferences. Respondents saw technical skills as a lower priority with both advanced technical and clinical skills and financial and economic skills less sought after than the key management and leadership skills. ‘Softer’ skills, such as creativity, customer service and teamworking, were rated as more important than marketing and IT skills.
- Value for money. The recession has not led people to downplay the importance of learning and talent development but rather to challenge it to deliver value to organisations in different ways. Doing more with less with a greater focus on value and impact was a distinct trend.
‘Executive’ professional development
Specialists in areas such as medicine, nursing, veterinary science, social work and law will each have their own professional body to oversee their specific form of professional development (for example, doctors will train in palliative care to work in a hospice), but the development of the actual management team and board is calls upon a mix of general management and voluntary sector-specific bodies.
By the time an individual reaches senior management team level – in particular a CEO role, they will have usually established themselves in a particular relevant field. We have encountered CEOs with backgrounds which include; housing management, social work, teaching, and the armed forces, all of which have a strong ethos in service provision. However, many follow this up with some form of management qualification. Finance directors, because of the professional qualification routes required by the various accounting bodies, usually enter the sector through the private firm route or a public sector accountancy department. The following are popular options:
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Many of the CEOs interviewed by Caritas had done an MBA, with Henley, Cass, London Business School, Cranfield and the Open University all cited. The individuals had obtained their qualifications a few years ago, before there were more options tailored to the voluntary sector. However most of the leaders we have spoken to maintained that the core modules such as finance, investment, management and marketing are applicable to the voluntary sector and there was no real call for anything over-tailored. The Association of MBAs (www.mbaworld.com) is a useful start to researching suitable programmes, along with the Indpendent’s Official Guide to Choosing and MBA (£6.99) available from the site.
However, in various ways the following organisations have recognised that a career in voluntary sector management is rather different from a career in consultancy or senior management teams in the private and public sectors. In other words, spending other people's money raises its own unique challenges for leaders who have to respond to the requirements of customers, beneficiaries, trustees, the general public and the Charity Commission. The ones most frequently encountered in the course of our research are set out in figure 1.
Leadership development for the voluntary sector
Although leadership is usually one of the compulsory elements on an MBA course, there are other sources of leadership development, ranging from executive coaching to more structured leadership programmes. Figure 2 sets out some of the providers with a track record in developing voluntary sector leaders.
Finance and operations
With the accounting regime for charities being regulated by the Charity SORP, this introduces a different set of ongoing development needs from those in public and private sector finance roles.
- The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) offers a Diploma in Charity Accounting and its own charity and voluntary sector special interest group within its membership. The diploma can be assessed either through an examination for those who have already achieved the required level of sector experience, or through classroom-based study delivered by Cass Business School. www.icaew.com
- The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) has more than 3,000 and members in the NHS, although as yet does not list any figures for the voluntary sector. The various management accounting qualifications are specifically tailored to working in business, rather than the audit and tax departments of private practice. www.cimaglobal.com
- Charity Finance Directors’ Group (CFDG) The annual conference covers a wide range of management disciplines, such as stakeholder management and dealing with the recession, and for this reason enjoys support from CEOs and other senior management team members. Specialist events on risk management and IT are also available. www.cfdg.org.uk.
Marketing, fundraising and policy
Many charities have senior roles for marketing, fundraising and heads of policy, and the routes to professional qualification in these areas are somewhat diverse.
- The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s chartered postgraduate diploma in marketing is available full-time or part-time from accredited centres, all of which are listed on the CIM site. It builds on earlier marketing qualifications and experience and the strategic content of the course enables graduates to work more cross-functionally at senior management level. The CIM’s Marketing Excellence Awards includes a non-profit category, reflecting increasing take-up of its training and qualifications from this sector. www.cim.co.uk
- The Institute of Fundraising’s certificate in Fundraising management is the recognised fundraising qualification for all professional fundraisers. The course is run by licensed trainers (including Sheffield Hallam and the Directory of Social Change) and covers fundraising practice and fundraising management. www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk
Sources of training and development information
There are a number of sources of free or ‘available to members’ management and development information relevant to the voluntary sector. These organisations are listed in Fiona Duncan’s ‘CPD on a budget’ article (see note 1 for online access to this). It is also worth consulting www.volResource.org.uk. The ‘People Matters’ section in the left-hand navigation clicks through to a useful updated list of ‘Training and events’ detailing suppliers of professional development, professional qualifications, training courses, online courses and training resources.
However, the main sources of free and subscription information can be summarised as follows:
- www.knowhownonprofit.org. Run by Cass CCE (see figure 1), this free service provides online strategic and practical management information and tools covering all aspects of charity management, ranging from funding to leadership. Funded by Big Lottery, research-based (the team research users all the time on how to improve it), it offers an online e-learning course on personal development as a strategic manager. Other e-learning courses are planned.
- Directory of Social Change. This national information and training charity runs courses and publishes books on fundraising, marketing/media, management, organisational and personal development, communication, finance and law. It also offers a specialist charity bookshop. www.dsc.org.uk
- National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). The largest of the sector umbrella bodies, with over 7,000 members, it provides a range of training courses and information services to members, with much useful information free with open access the website. There is a dedicated information service for trustees in the form of the Governance and Leadership programme. www.ncvo-vol.org.uk
- Volunteering England. This is a very useful resource for anyone involved in managing volunteers (see also page 21 of this issue). The ‘Good Practice Bank’ provides a one-stop shop to find and share information about volunteer management. This takes the form of information sheets, articles, sample documents and case studies that reflect good practice in managing volunteers.
1. www.charitiesdirect.com/caritas-magazine/ cpd-on-a-budget-342.html
2. www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/lrnanddev/general/ _Learning_and_development_summary.htm
3. www.charitiesdirect.com/caritas-magazine/ reciprocal-benefits-445.html
Author: Clarissa Dann
Clarissa Dann was the editor of Caritas as well as an HR and management online service,he People Bulletin until July 2011.
She is now the editor of the specialist trade finance magazine, Trade and Forfaiting Review which can be viewed at www.tfreview.com but does write on charity finance and investment from time to time.
Clarissa has a background in legal and professional publishing, as well as business journalism and holds an MBA from
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