Two and half years in the making, Lander Associates have now completed designing this brand new recruitment specific Leadership Training Programme for our next generation of recuitment leaders, to help them meet many of the challenges they face. Now that growth is back on the agenda, many of those recruiters who survived the recession have become ‘accidental managers’. These team leaders/managers didn’t really choose the management route but are given the responsibility as the most experienced members of the team. In one of our recent trials refining these new leadership courses, 85% of delegates said they had not actively chosen management as a career path. Others though, are proactively looking for a career path in leadership as part of their future aspirations. Either way, they all deserve recognition for undertaking, what is arguably, one of the hardest roles in recruitment.

These courses have been formally accredited by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). After much trialling in 2010, Fiona Lander is proud to officially launch this internationally recognised certificated programme under the Lander Leadership banner at an event in London on 5 May. The first course, Dynamic Team Leadership, (see below) will be held during the day, followed by a launch party in the evening with short presentations from the CMI, participating clients, course delegates, APSCo and OrangeGenie, the party sponsor.

Navigating Change as a First Line Manager

As the fragile economy begins to mend, recruitment companies need to adapt to new business realities. This means embracing constant change in order to build new capabilities that are more effective and innovative - and deliver higher performance. Our world is highly competitive – never more so – it's technology is constantly evolving, customers, internal and external, are constantly changing their expectations and attracting and retaining the best talent is ever more competitive.

This puts an enormous pressure on front line managers and leaders – in other words billing managers. Not only do they have to translate the organisation's vision of growth into reality, develop and engage their people, contribute to their peer group as a member of the management team but also interact with clients and candidates exceeding, not just meeting, their dynamic expectations.

One of the risks is, there's so much change taking place within our businesses that we don’t have a chance to properly imbed it, in other words it doesn’t have time to 'freeze'. Layers upon layers of 'unfrozen' change create slush. The responsibility to make sense of this chaos falls into the hands of front line managers. This can be like trying to successfully navigate through high volume sets of white water rapids, while keeping up team spirit and camaraderie, in the face of unfamiliar and unpredictable challenges. Definitely enough to keep your heart pumping!

Are they equipped for the job?

"Change management is a structured approach to shifting/transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. It is an organizational process aimed at empowering employees to accept and embrace changes in their current business environment." Wikipedia free encyclopaedia

Many team leaders and managers are not 'change ready' – in fact neither are their organisations! - which means they are unable to lead their teams successfully through required, rapid growth. Dynamic leaders must prepare individuals and teams to respond positively to change and manage the change cycle. Frequent resistance needs to be anticipated and planned for, to help others adapt to new ways.

To achieve all this, managers and team leaders must acquire the critical skills for leading and managing change, so they can avoid the common pitfalls and take the key steps that will not only keep people engaged but invite ideas and innovation. This means they will drive change through the business rather than constantly react to change imposed on them.

And as we know, change is not a one off but rather a constant in our busy recruitment environment. Therefore, they must develop an ongoing strategy for creating and maintaining a 'change ready' culture within their teams.

You can't expect first line managers to cope with the change in their roles and the demands and expectations put upon them, without giving them the right tools in their leadership toolkit to become the dynamic team leaders and managers they need to be.

Last update : 10-05-2011 08:29

Keywords : Lander Associates Launches CMI Accredited Leadership Programme

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