Middle Leaders' Gateway
Developing Leadership Capacity for Middle Managers in the North West Middle Managers in local authorities face many challenges on a day to day basis, balancing daily operational demands with strategic leadership and the ability to lead teams to deliver corporate objectives. Frequently, in the public sector, people progress into management roles based on their performance but they often need to develop the skills which are fundamental to being an effective manager and leader.
Our aim with the Middle Leaders’ Gateway is to provide you with a central and comprehensive resource specifically directed at developing leadership and management skills. Not only is it accessible to Human Resource and Organisational Development professionals, but it an excellent resource accessible to current and aspiring Middle Managers to support and enhance their skills.
The importance of developing leadership and management skills is being increasingly recognised and is especially significant to support workforce development activities. The North West Improvement Network (NWIN) and the Centre for Local Governance in conjunction with North West Employers have built on some excellent work already carried out in the AGMA sub-region. They have invested funding to ensure that the North West continues to support and improve the development of leadership and management skills across the region.
What the Middle Leaders' Gateway Offers
A Resource Library: This section contains a range of excellent, useful and relevant information gathered from a broad range of sources relating to the development of Leadership and Management capacity. This section includes: downloadable resources, tools and frameworks relating to change management and talent management for example, signposting and links to useful websites including Ashridge; Centre for Local Governance; Northern Leadership Academy; IDeA resources (including the excellent ‘Emerging Leadership’, a resource for middle managers); DCLG resources and has a recommended reading list. These are excellent resources….click on the left to see more….
Personal Development: A comprehensive selection of tools is available here to help support middle managers with their own development. Self awareness and self assessment tools (eg MBTI) feature here along with information on learning styles, leadership styles and Emotional Intelligence (EQ). Click on the heading on the left to see the full range of development tools we have available.
Providers: A comprehensive list of providers of Leadership and Management development are available in this section along with links to their information and programmes. Information on professional qualifications is also available along with links to your own sub-regional programmes.
Discussion Forum: A forum will be available for managers to network, discuss key issues and share the wealth of knowledge and experience already in the region.
Case Studies: How often do we find that we’ve invested significant time and expense on something which someone from another authority has already done or is already working on? With regard to leadership and management development, there is some excellent work already in place and being done in the shape of leadership and management development programmes, initiatives and approaches. This section provides a fantastic opportunity for authorities to showcase their work, have it recognised at a regional level and perhaps even be the beginnings for some shared working! Also in this section will be examples of policy development from within the region including policy streams such as the Children’s Services Learn Together Partnership, Common Purpose and the Social Care Leadership Programme.
All you need to do to access the Gateway is use the links on the left of this page. These will take you immediately to the section(s) you are interested in.
If you have any feedback, anything you’d like to share with us or if you find an excellent new resource that would be useful for your regional colleagues please contact Sue Baxendale, Learning and Development Projects, on 0161 214 7106 or click the link below to e-mail Sue.
Sue Baxendale