11 Jan Employers’ Organisation for Local Government

Following up on the material that Ian Cunningham, Graham Dawes, Anne Gimson and Ben Bennett created for the Employers’ Organisation for Local Government, Ian Cunningham presented to two conferences on middle management development. The first was held in London on November 22 and the second in Manchester on November 29.

Ian introduced the material that had been produced and made the case for a more work based and more strategic approach to management development in local government. He showed how research has demonstrated that most learning occurs in the work place but that many local authorities were still of the view that management development equals courses. Ian argued that management development is a process within which events such as courses might offer something but that, in order to develop coherent strategies for development, organisations need to recognise the processes that can support good learning.