Leadership and Management in the UK - The key to sustainable growth

A summary of the evidence for the value of investing in leadership and management development

This paper was written by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills Leadership and Management Network Group (LMNG).

Key contributors include Petra Wilton and Patrick Woodman of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), Katerina Rudiger of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development CIPD), David Pardey of the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM), Penny Tamkin of the Institute for Employment Studies and Peter Rabbitts of Acas.

The paper was developed by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills LMNG and is aimed at business intermediaries and representative bodies that offer business support and advice.

It puts forward the arguments for business investment in leadership and management skills, based on evidence about current practice and the UK’s position relative to key competitor nations.

The paper first explains the business benefits of good leadership and management and presents an analysis of the UK’s current leadership and management performance.

It is clear that the UK is falling behind many of our key competitor nations in terms of leadership and management capability, which is undermining our productivity compared to those competitors. This is having a direct and detrimental impact on UK business profits, sales, growth and survival.