The Value of Management and Leadership Qualifications

Individual managers’perspectives onmanagementqualifications••Return on investment – 89 per cent of managers surveyed say the benefits theygained from their qualification outweigh the time, money and effort invested in it.••Professional recognition – over half of learners suggest that their MLQ has helpedthem achieve a promotion (53 per cent), but 80 per cent say that taking a managementqualification has resulted in increased professional recognition.••Professional managers – 84 per cent of respondents believe that becoming qualifiedis a critical part of being a professional manager. A similar number (78 per cent) say thatemployers prefer qualified managers when recruiting.••Spreading the word – 93 per cent of managers surveyed say they would be likely orhighly likely to recommend their most recent management qualification to others.••Further development – 49 per cent of respondents say they would take anothermanagement qualification and 10 per cent are already studying for their next qualification.••Growing importance of being qualified – 71 per cent of respondents say MLQshave become more important over the last five years. Key drivers are:– the need to show evidence of transferable skills– the need for broad-based business knowledge– because management is increasingly being regarded as a profession.Maximising the impactof qualifications••Line manager support – three quarters of respondents agree that their line managerwas supportive while they were studying. When it came to using the new skills orbehaviours developed through their qualification, 60 per cent agreed that they hadtheir line manager’s backing – although for 40 per cent this represents a clear area forimprovement.••Supporting junior managers – junior managers were substantially more likely thansenior managers to be frustrated about being unable to implement what they hadlearned (48 per cent compared to 19 per cent).••Terms and conditions – 34 per cent of managers have been required to remain withtheir employer for an established period of time as a condition of employer funding fortheir qualification. One in five were asked to show how they achieve certain objectivesas a result of their study, while 16 per cent are required to train other staff.••Improving the evaluation of qualifications – the most common way for employersto evaluate a MLQ programme was by reviewing the number of qualificationssuccessfully completed (a measure used by 71 per cent). Other forms of evaluationinclude informal feedback (34 per cent) and formal feedback forms (27 per cent). Only17 per cent of organisations evaluated against measurable success criteria identified atthe outset of the qualification programme.9