The Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) has secured nearly £100,000 of further funding from the UK Commission for Employment & Skills (UKCES) for its’ programme of work aimed at improving management and leadership in the retail motor sector.
Working together with the HR Directors Forum, 28 vehicle manufacturers and several large vehicle retail groups over the past 12 months, the IMI has developed and begun to embed a common standard for management and leadership.
Now in its final year of funding, the programme aims to increase consistency and raise the game for new and existing managers in the motor industry.
Steve Nash, the IMI’s CEO, said: “It’s no secret that compared to other sectors our industry is under qualified, which means we do not always have people in influential positions with the level of qualifications needed to lift an entire business.
“It is vital for the future success of both individual businesses and the sector as a whole that we directly address the need to improve management and leadership standards by developing a comprehensive and coherent competency standard for the first time.
“I am pleased to say that we are close to achieving this goal and the additional UKCES funding will give us the opportunity to embed this framework across the sector.”
The IMI is offering free mapping of training programmes to the Automotive Management & Leadership Competency Framework until March 2014 through the funding from UKCES.
David Meager - 29/07/2013 21:10
I completely agree with Steve Nash I started in the motor industry in 1984 at grass roots level in the showroom and was fortunate enough to have career with a manufacturer with whom I was groomed and identified the transition to management was not easy but without the support of the IMI and the manufacturer would never have had the tools in my bag to successfully lead a department and ultimately the largest dealer operation in Europe for this manufacturer The Diploma in Smsll to Medium Entetprise Managrment enabled me to engage with some of the best leadership and sector experts in the country. I gained a recognised senior management qualification in the motor industry and this certainly enabled me to manage successfully primarily identified my own development needs and those my line managers A strategy of succession planning , empowerment, and a culture that embraced learning and celebrated success. Sadly the feed back I now receive now from staff seems refect the jurrasic era of 1970,s I applaud any initiative that takes the development of leadership and Managemrnt within dealership networks into the 21st Century I hope this is taken on board by all.