Stephen went on to receive a Highly Commended Award from the CMI due to his ability to increase his operational impact as a direct result of his exceptional contribution as a reflective manager.  This ceremony was due to have been hosted in Birmingham but the enforced restrictions did not prevent the winners receiving their awards.  West College Scotland would like to recognise Stephen's success.

intu Braehead encouraged managers and supervisors with different levels of experience to take advantage of this Chartered Management development opportunity to upskill and support staff.  This was the first cohort of CMI students presented for management training with West College Scotland.

16 delegates undertook two different levels of management qualifications.  The Introduction to First Line Management Award which is designed to provide awareness and a forum to share expertise and gain wisdom was very well received by all delegates.  In fact, one delegate was promoted to the higher level award very early in the programme to the Management and Leadership Award which focused on empowerment and developing autonomous responsibility within teams through the professional development of management and leaders.

Every delegate had different motivation for completing the course. For some it was to upskill, for some it was to get a formal qualification.

Susan Carton, West College Scotland Business Lecturer and CMI tutor worked closely with individual delegates to enable them to recognise that they all have the potential to increase their impact within their roles.

Stephen voiced his apprehension about undertaking a management course with no background at all in formal education or management learning.

He quickly realised he was able to address this issue and he developed his management confidence through his ability to practically apply what he had been discussing in the workshops directly to his management role.

The CMI workshops became valuable sources of wisdom for all delegates.  In addition to the learning was the sharing of different concepts.  The content included a conversational learning and debate - which encourages delegates to consider different approaches after listening to each other. This social aspect of learning was something that everyone on the course benefited from and it is an aspect of the course that Susan is keen to support on a virtual platform.

Comment from the class tutor, Susan Carton:

‘Having a lack of confidence in your ability can make it difficult to motivate yourself. This is particularly important when you are taking on a qualification that requires a bit of personal input. Stephen’s character and ability to push through the initial perceptions of ‘this maybe isn’t for me’ led him to a place where he noticed he was in the ideal position to make a difference – for himself and for the team.    We’re delighted to share that the cohort reported that they would recommend the course to anyone who was moving into a supervisory level or management level role. This was mirrored by others delegates on the first line management course. It is lovely when there is evidence that everyone benefited - the teams, senior management and of course, the delegates! Well done to Stephen and the rest of his cohort.'

For information on the full range of CMI programmes that West College Scotland offers, or if you are looking to develop your management and leadership skills to increase your operational impact or to learn how to manage change or challenging situations please contact susan.carton@wcs.ac.uk