What’s the best way to improve your performance as a manager? Patrick Woodman shares his thoughts

More than four million people in the UK are managers; if you’re not one already, there’s a good chance you will be one day. Sadly, it appears we’re not making a very good fist of it: 43 per cent of line managers in the UK rate their own manager as “ineffective”.

So what’s the best way to improve your performance as a manager? Should you be considering a formal management accreditation? And, crucially, will you get paid more if you do?

The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) recently asked 535 managers about whether getting a management accreditation made a difference to their effectiveness at work. Here are some of the main findings:

1. For 90 per cent of managers who’ve got the ‘Chartered Manager’ accreditation, the process improved their self-confidence. “Once you’ve done it, you get a little bit more respect from your peers,” says Michael Brearey, who started life at RDF Building Services as a labourer and is now taking over as managing director. That can make all the difference when you’re faced with a challenging situation.
2. 83 per cent said they’d become better managers, and 78 per cent say that getting the accreditation increased their performance at work. For Stuart Webster, an engineering manager for Emirates Steel in Abu Dhabi – which employs 2,000 people, of whom 70 per cent are from overseas – it’s helped him to adopt a management style that caters for cultural and religious diversity. “The higher up the ladder you get, technical knowledge becomes less important as the need for managerial knowledge increases”, he concludes.
3. Seven in ten people go through the process to increase their visibility in the organisation. “Chartered Manager shows others that you’re up there,” says Rakesh Shrivastav, operations manager at BG Group.
4. And 96 per cent use their new professional credentials to show that, in a competitive job market, they’re committed to continual learning and growth. It’s a great card to play in annual appraisals, too.
5. Finally, if you want to show your integrity and commitment to ethical behaviour, Chartered status will help: 95 per cent of the survey respondents said they use it for this purpose.

And that might not be all. One in five Chartered Managers also link their professional management accreditation to increased pay and bonuses. On average, it’s translated into salary increases of as much as £8,845 – and £7,496 in bonuses. On this evidence, those gains look like well-earned rewards for professional performers. 

Read the full Chartered Manager 2015 report: Mapping Management Excellence.