By James McIntosh – Managing Director of Cogent Skills Apprenticeships
Succession planning and leadership development are becoming pressing concerns across the UK’s process industries, as experienced operational leaders approach retirement and organisations expect the next generation to step up.
The scale of the challenge is stark in some sub-sectors. In chemicals manufacturing alone, government statistics show more than one in four (25.6%) employees are aged 55 or over, underlining the urgency of succession planning.
This raises important questions around knowledge transfer and the development of future leaders across process manufacturing more broadly.
Simultaneously manufacturing operations are becoming increasingly automated and data driven. As technologies evolve and experienced employees approach retirement, employers face the dual challenge of retaining critical operational knowledge while developing leaders who can manage modern manufacturing environments.
So, what is the growing importance of developing leadership capability within manufacturing workforces?
Lack of leadership training
Often, people promoted to leadership and management roles achieve this based on their knowledge, experience and technical ability; they may have led a project but haven’t had the benefit of dedicated and structured leadership training. Equally, new leaders might have come from other companies, but without formal qualifications.
This presents an even greater challenge with the advent of automation, digital technologies and data-driven decision-making. This is less about having technical skills but more about how leaders and managers articulate this knowledge to others.
For example, a company may have access to a wealth of data, but it needs skill and competence to communicate its relevance to project managers and senior leaders – and how they communicate it onwardly. And introducing a concept like lean manufacturing needs team buy-in to succeed, therefore leadership is vital to bring people on that journey.
Succession planning
Having an ageing workforce nearing retirement risks the loss of decades of operational knowledge workforce – something now focusing minds in many manufacturing businesses.
This means creating an ongoing learning commitment to cultivate the continuous development of their people.
But succession planning is now as much about younger staff moving “up the chain” as retirees moving on. By getting this right, and cascading knowledge across the workforce, there is a virtuous effect of all employers advancing their skills.
Not doing this, ultimately, risks failing to prepare people with the right skills to achieve the company’s goals or having competent professionals running a site.
Leadership apprenticeships – building resilient talent pipelines
Employers need a solution for how to upskill team leaders. And that tends to involve a hybrid technical and leadership qualification that aligns with people and manufacturing requirements.
And while companies, traditionally, have treated apprenticeships as a junior employee entry point – specifically level 2 and 3 – they don’t always recognise the value of higher-level apprenticeships.
However, it’s possible to elevate a process operator who completes a level 3 apprenticeship and, today, handles the daily production of chemicals to a level 4, developing skills, aptitude and talent to manage both the process and team.
This is how the Process Leader Apprenticeship (Level 4) was designed together with industry organisations to fill existing skills gaps and meet their requirements. Equivalent to a Higher National Certificate (HNC), this serves people both new to team leadership roles and those without formal education or training.
Originating in the automotive industry, it has now been adapted and adopted by different sectors and is delivered across up to 10 process manufacturing industries. Essentially, it’s an apprenticeship package that can be funded by the levy as an upskilling pathway for process leaders; equipping experienced operators and technicians to progress into leadership roles by combining their operational expertise with modern leadership, continuous improvement and people management skills.
The leadership skills imperative for manufacturing
At a time when some leadership and management apprenticeship schemes have been defunded, we have seen about 100 Process Leader apprenticeship starts each year.
However, at this quantity, the sector is not yet scaling leadership development quickly enough to meet future workforce demands. Realistically, the numbers of leadership apprentices should be reaching 1,000 annually across manufacturing sectors.
And with the demands of manufacturing moving so quickly, neglecting to upskill people means running the risk of getting left behind.
Higher level apprenticeships with a more industry-specific focus allows trainees to apply relevant knowledge in the workplace immediately and to constantly reaffirm what they’ve learned; developing much-needed people with the right skills to lead today’s manufacturing teams and completing work properly.
For further information about Cogent Skills Apprenticeships Process Leader (Level 4), please visit the website.
