View publication - Chartered Institute of Housing

Foreword
By Grainia Long
Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH)
When I consider the scale and level of transformation taking
place across the housing industry, Learning today, leading
tomorrow could not be more timely. I am delighted that CIH
and East Midlands Housing Group have worked in partnership
on this important resource for housing professionals.
Change brings new challenges as well as new opportunities for organisations, their
leaders, their staff and their customers. Increasing commercialisation, more complex
partnerships, multidisciplinary relationships and a rapidly changing political environment
can leave organisations and individuals concerned with their ability to keep up with
developments.
Within organisations, I have witnessed an increased emphasis on developing
entrepreneurial and leadership skills to empower employees to identify solutions to
emerging issues rather than rely on past experiences. Building employees’ technical
knowledge now sits beside the development of research skills to ensure the organisation
has access to meaningful insights from the ever increasing information and data
available to it.
One of the fundamental roles of a professional body is to set professional standards and
to support its members to respond to the demands of their employment. CIH does this
by identifying the knowledge, skills and behaviours professionals need for the future.
We help provide a clear pathway to professional excellence and a culture of life-long
learning amongst members to ensure that the profession will be able to meet the
demands of a changing environment. A reflective professional has the ability to analyse
and critique their performance, identify gaps in their skills and knowledge and take
responsibility for their individual development needs.
CIH is responding to the challenges facing the housing industry by providing flexible, upto-date
training and education that can be adapted to the needs of individual
organisations. Through our investment in research and development and close
engagement with stakeholders across the industry, we will ensure that standards are
driven higher and the profession is equipped for the future.
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