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Chapter 5: Recommendations
Sector Skills Councils, and Acas together with representatives of those using these
services, including the FSB and EEF.
15 Higher education institutions also have an important role in extending engagement.
Business Schools in general and some specific schools in particular have made
significant progress in developing people management and leadership approaches
and we look forward to engaging with them on what more could be done.
16 We were impressed with the LEAD programme at Lancaster University, a ten-month
leadership and management development programme which has been specifically
designed for owner-managers of small to medium-sized businesses. The programme
concentrates on two areas: the business itself and the personal development of the
owner-manager.
Recommendation three: Increasing support
17 During the course of the review we heard many requests for improving the quality
and quantity of support available for those who want to develop engagement.
Practical proposals included:
●● Ability to visit workplaces that are achieving high levels of employee
engagement;
●● Ability to access evidence and emerging evidence of the drivers of employee
engagement;
●● Coaching from those who have done it;
●● Ability to listen, possibly on-line, to line managers and leaders who have been
through the journey of enhancing employee engagement;
●● Hearing about specific and easily actionable ideas for interventions and events
that engage employees;
●● Knowledge of first class events at which those who have achieved it will be
speaking;
●● Networks to pool experiences and to develop new ideas to enhance levels of
engagement.
18 We recognise that the final list of ideas will need to be tailored to suit the specific
needs of different sectors of the economy. Most importantly it needs to be
developed and designed in collaboration with those who will be using it. The key to
the success of such a programme will be that those who want the support and
those who can provide it, collaborate to design and own the process and the
outputs. We believe this will be a much more effective way of ensuring that the help
meets the need.
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