Professions need learning in management and leadership

Soon all new Chartered Surveyors will hold a qualification in management and leadership within their first five years in business.

The proposal from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reflects the emerging recommendations of the council for Excellence in Management and Leadership (CEML), whose Professions Working Group includes RICS immediate past President, Jonathan Harris.

Professional associations represent 5 million people in the UK – one-fifth of the workforce. The Council’s Professions Working is exploring the role that the leading 386 professional organisations play and how management and leadership development can be incorporated into both entry qualifications and continuous professional development programmes. The CEML final recommendations for the professions will be incorporated in a report to be presented to the government at the end of March, 2002.

Mr Harris said: “Management and leadership skills are something that we as professionals have always had to develop and apply, but until now the RICS did not require Chartered Surveyors to undertake a formal qualification in this area.”

Formalised management training early in a career provides a sound base for life-long learning. The whole purpose is for the public to be serviced better – the end consumer of RICS services must be protected.”

Now the RICS, which is currently consulting employers on its proposals, wants all new chartered surveyors from next year to undertake the Postgraduate Certificate of Mnagement Studies either while qualifying of within their first five years of Joining the profession. The CMS can be counted as a credit towards further management studies leading ultimately to an MBA, including those recognised by the prestigious AMBA.

Caroline Slater, director of Education and Standards at the RICS, said: “We already expect all new chartered surveyors to develop business skills during their graduate training. In future we expect that the combined qualification with a strong management element will be attractive to students, welcomed by employers and essential for clients.” (GB)