Cultivating your competitive edge

The Law Society of Scotland and the Institute of Management have announced the launch of the Scottish Solicitors’ Management CPD Programme, enabling members to enhance their management knowledge and skills and, of course, fulfil the Society’s CPD requirements.

The Institute of Management’s approach to CPD is to measure outcomes rather than inputs. In this programme, outcomes will be measured or assessed by means of work-based assignments which demonstrate both:

• the participant’s knowledge, understanding and practical application of the subject matter; and
• the immediate and longer-term benefits to the firm.

This is so much more meaningful than recording the number of hours spent attending lectures or the number of pages in text books.

Successful completion of each unit of the Scottish Solicitors’ Management CPD Programme will be marked by the award of a certificate and ultimately by a group Certificate in Management.

Key partner in this scheme is Perth College, part of the formative UHI Millennium Institute. Perth College has over 25 years’ experience of conducting distance and open learning programmes for professionals throughout Scotland. It can call on a wealth of state-of-the-art communications media, including tele- and video-conferencing. The team at Perth are also expert in the art of producing user-friendly distance learning materials specific to their students’ circumstances and environment.

However, Perth College also places considerable value on face-to-face tutorial support and on the strength of group interaction. The Scottish Solicitors’ Management CPD Programme will combine quality distance learning with local tutorial groups, led by experienced tutors from Perth and other approved centres.

A special feature of the Scottish Solicitors’ CPD Programme is that participants, on registering, become “student members” of the Institute of Management (IM) at no extra cost.  This in turn provides them free of charge with online, telephone and postal access to the Management Information Centre of the IM. Even though it is the largest and most comprehensive resource of its type in Europe, the Management Information Centre is extremely easy to access. Information – text books, journal articles and other source materials – is classified into around 200 logical categories, and lists can be downloaded to guide the user to the specific information s/he is seeking.  Over 2.5 million articles can be downloaded to the user’s personal computer.

Your key questions answered

What is a “manager”?

A manager is a person who identifies and achieves organisational objectives through the deployment of appropriate resources.

Working within the organisational, political, and economic business environments, the manager  has responsibilities in one or more of five key areas:

• activities ~ ensuring that the organisation functions efficiently, effectively and competitively
• resources ~ getting the best value from the organisation’s assets today while also maintaining and upgrading them for future benefit
• information ~ communicating effectively with clients and potential customers, colleagues and other stake holders, including regulatory authorities
• people ~ recruiting the right people; providing a supportive teaching and learning environment to enable and encourage them to develop themselves and the organisation; providing stimulation and motivation; creating an ethos of self-discipline
• managing him/herself.

There are managers in all disciplines, and activities, although many do not bear the title of manager. Very few jobs are entirely managerial, and very few exist without any management responsibilities.

From the Institute of Management’s definition of a Manager

What is the Institute of Management (“the IM”)?

Europe’s largest professional body for managers with 89,000 individual members and around 500 Corporate Partners

MISSION ~ To Promote the Art & Science of Management

• 250 accredited centres running IM management qualifications (including Perth College)
• 95 local branches provide information, social and networking events (11 in Scotland)
• 300 short courses plus over 200 tailored in-company programmes per year
• Boardroom briefings for senior managers
• Europe’s largest Management Information Centre
• Management Publications
• Management Research
• …and much more

Website on www.inst-mgt.org.uk

Why CPD?

i) Benefits for the individual: The threat of obsolescence affects us all today as a result of ever-restless technological advances in every avenue of life.  The threat is that our knowledge, skills or experience fail to keep pace with the changes occurring in our profession, and we become outmoded and irrelevant to our job.

A well-planned programme of CPD enables the individual to meet the challenges of change, to become a fellow-traveller with the new environment rather than a relic of the past. A worthwhile  CPD programme enables the individual to maintain self-esteem in today’s rapidly changing work environment rather than living under the shadow of obsolescence.

ii) Benefits for the organisation/firm: “Customer care”; “emotional intelligence”; “marketing”; “business planning”; “strategic management”; these are just a few of the management-oriented subjects that are unlikely to have featured in most solicitors’ law degrees. Yet in today’s competitive environment, they are just as vital as a thorough knowledge of the law if the firm is to survive and prosper.

The Scottish Solicitors’ Management CPD scheme is designed to ensure that participants have all these essential management subjects in their “kit bag”.

What will it cost me to participate in the Scottish Solicitors Management CPD Programme?

Cost in £s: Maximum £250 per unit/subject inclusive of all course materials

Cost in time:  Each of the eight units/subjects is spread over a 12-16 week period. During that time participants will be expected to:

• Attend face-to-face tutorial workshops; and
• Follow a self-study programme which may require anything from five to 35 hours, depending on previous knowledge and experience

Benefits:

• Tutorial support from Perth College
• Back-up through student membership of the Institute of Management
• Award of an accredited certificate on successful completion

And most of all …measurable enhancement in the management of your firm

For more information please contact:vivienhenderson@lawscot.org.uk