Insights

If you want to win the war for talent and continue to grow your business, it’s inevitable that you need to invest in your colleagues’ professional and personal development to maintain a high level of job satisfaction. Without this investment, many employers will continue to struggle with building highly skilled teams and retaining their existing workforce.

With skills in data and technology in such high demand, professionals are looking elsewhere for opportunities if they are not satisfied with their workplace. At Kaplan, we can help you conquer those fears of high turnover in your workplace. Let’s take a closer look.

Retainment

Employers across the UK are struggling to retain their workforce. Although there are plenty of reasons behind high turnover, a common concern is that there is a lack of career progression across many industries.

A common phrase comes to mind:

“Find a job you love, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”

On average, roughly one third of our lives will be spent at work. So, it’s easy to understand why job satisfaction is important. However, this just isn’t enough anymore, especially during a global economic crisis.

In addition to this, how many of us would be happy working at the same level in a workplace for the rest of our lives? Particularly in lower-paid or lower-skilled roles. But it is possible to have the best of both worlds: your colleagues can enjoy their careers while taking advantage of opportunities to progress financially and professionally, and it all comes down to the decision-makers.

Boost success: six ways that apprenticeships can help you achieve your business goals

Taking a closer look into the statistics, LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends 2020 report found that employees stick around 41% longer at companies that regularly hire from within. From an employer’s perspective, replacing existing employees can range from 16% to 213% of the employee’s salary due to costs involving recruitment, training and salary.

A lack of training opportunities leads to a lack of career progression. In today’s ever-evolving world of technology and data skills, work experience can’t always do the job. Therefore, employers start to seek external candidates to fill in any skills gaps. But, as the statistics show, this can lead to lower job satisfaction from existing employees and increased hiring costs.

We’re not saying that hiring new personalities is all negative. In fact, younger generations like Gen Z offer plenty to the workplace which may have been rarely seen in the past. However, it is not economically or logistically viable to only hire new people. When you have hardworking people in your team, why wouldn’t you want to encourage them to grow and prosper? It’s all about finding the right balance.

War for talent

Data and technology skills are needed in almost every industry, and yet there is a clear lack of skilled professionals. For example, the UK Government estimated that the potential supply of data scientists from universities is unlikely to exceed 10,000 a year. However, there are around 215,000 roles looking for hard data skills that need to be filled.

With this in mind, the demand is so high that it is very difficult to find the people with the correct skills that your organisation needs. Even if you wanted to hire new staff, it’s likely that they are going to require training to boost their skills. If you choose to compete with other businesses to get those in-demand skilled professionals, you’ll need to focus on ensuring that your organisation stands out from the crowd. However, upskilling the workforce will put you on a whole new playing field. This eliminates the competition and helps you to reach the goal of boosting your workplace while making your business the place where skilled professionals want to work.

Tackling the stereotypes

A simple yet effective solution to win the war for talent, and make your business a desirable place to work, is our data and technology apprenticeship programmes. The word ‘apprenticeship’ holds many stereotypes. Many people still believe that they are limited and are not suitable for people who are academically gifted. But these stereotypes couldn’t be further from the truth.

Encouraging your workplace to partake in a data and technology apprenticeship can give you the opportunity to both upskill existing staff, and hire new staff who are excited to work for an employer that cares about their personal and professional growth.

To help you understand a little bit more about why apprenticeships may just be the perfect business decision for you, here are some facts about our data and technology apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships are not limited. It is often overlooked how many transferable, soft and hard skills an apprentice gains from their training. For example, apprentices can gain knowledge in highly desired software and programming languages such as Python, SQL, or Excel, which can ultimately translate into any job across the industry.

Apprenticeships encourage diversity. Options such as university can be very expensive with exceptionally high admission rates. This can reduce opportunities for those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds or have experienced a lack in quality of education. Apprenticeships come with varied entry levels, so your business can take advantage of talent who may have previously gotten lost in the system.

Apprenticeships are not practical only. Not only will an apprenticeship provide the opportunities to apply their skills directly to the workplace, the knowledge is also taught by experts in the field to ensure that your workforce can thrive in their positions and you can reach your business goals.

Apprenticeships boost retention rates, employee satisfaction and loyalty. If you are investing in your workforce, they will acknowledge that and appreciate the growth that your business can provide them. Therefore, an apprenticeship can significantly boost overall job satisfaction and loyalty to the workplace, making your business a strong leader in the war for talent.

There is plenty of support available. From coaches to tutors, both the apprentice and employer will receive regular support throughout the whole apprenticeship process and journey. As an employer, you won’t be left alone to support your workplace as the training provider can take a lot of that pressure away from you.

Boost your business

We are passionate about the benefits of an apprenticeship for both the apprentice and the employer. There are many opportunities for your business to grow, you just need to know where to look.

For more information, take a look at our Data and Technology apprenticeship programmes, or contact the team who will be happy to help with any concerns you may have.

As part of Enrichment Week 2023, we recently held a webinar with guest speaker, Pete Cave, who discusses his career journey from an apprentice to group financial controller at Luton Airport.

Event panellists

Pete Cave, Group Financial Controller, London Luton Airport Association

Group Financial Controller for London Luton Airport Association, Pete Cave, led the webinar to highlight his career journey so far. Pete previously qualified with AAT and the ICAEW, and has recently become a fellow (FCA).

He has over fifteen years of experience working in the accountancy sector in various roles. Pete worked at Baker Tilly for a number of years, gaining experience in their audit department and working on business improvement in the UK while travelling internationally with Baker Tilly International. He also led a team as part of an acquisition when working in industry prior to moving to the airport.

Jenny Pelling, Apprenticeship Partnerships Director, Kaplan UK

Joining Pete was Jenny Pelling, Apprenticeship Partnerships Director at Kaplan UK. Jenny’s career in education and apprenticeships has seen her involvement in designing programmes and enhancing provision for learners and employers’ benefit.

She has strategic responsibility for apprentices’ career progression and their personal development. Jenny also leads “Brighter Futures,” at Kaplan which focuses on social mobility and providing opportunities for all.

Key topics discussed

Pete’s career and background

Pete kicks off the conversation by introducing himself, his job role, and how he started his accountancy career with his AAT qualification. He develops on this by talking through his career journey so far and how his apprenticeship helped him to get to where he is today.

Pete continues to explain how the skills he developed helped him to get his role at Luton Airport, which was supported by his interest in the aviation industry as well as finance.

Day-to-day jobs

Jenny asks Pete to give an example of what the ‘average day’ in his job role is like at Luton Airport. However, Pete’s explanation showcases the variety of jobs and tasks that he may do each day.

He explains further that each day he ensures that his team is aligned and heading towards achieving their team and business objectives. He talks in more detail about the individual tasks that he and his team will do regularly, as well as the importance of understanding the business goals to ensure that his team is providing quality service.

“I’m a firm believer of getting out from behind a desk and getting involved in the wider business.”

Curiosity and the transition from practice to industry roles

Pete discusses his experience, including pros and cons that come with leaving audit practice and going into an industry role. He shares how it is important to work for a company that you’re interested in and excited to work for.

“It’s important to find an area that you’re interested in so that you have a passion for what you’re doing.”

A dose of realism

Jenny questions Pete on the ‘down days,’ and challenges involved in his job role that many professionals may usually avoid talking about. Pete highlights the internal and external factors that can make his job quite intense.

He expands on this by providing examples of how he overcomes any challenges in the workplace.

Advice for growing your career in the aviation and finance industry

Pete provides advice, tips and personal knowledge on how finance professionals can grow their career, particularly in reference to the aviation industry. He also gives examples of what is important to research before an interview, and some of the answers that employers aren’t looking for in an interview.

Continuing the conversation, Pete talks through a few of the skills and qualities that he has gained which helped him progress in his career, such as the passion and determination to achieve his goals.

Taking that leap: industry and practice differences

The differences between practice and industry are discussed, with Pete highlighting that the pros and cons will depend on the specific industry and the individual.

He dives into the topic in more detail by using his experience to showcase the main differences between industry and practice while providing tips and resources on how to get into industry if you’ve previously worked in practice.

“Push yourself, try and get yourself out of your comfort zone and you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve.”

Major challenges

Jenny provides examples of major challenges in the UK and abroad while asking Pete whether they have any involvement in supporting the business in those cases. Pete explains how they always aim to put the customer first, and gives examples of how the finance teams will support the airport and its visitors in more serious incidents.

Watch the full recording online

If you’re interested in an apprenticeship, browse our current vacancies now or find out more information.

When we’re not feeling great, either physically or mentally, studying can fall by the way-side - but how much does our health actually impact our ability to learn?

We looked into it and it’s really interesting to see just how much it can affect us. Read on for more insight.

The science - exercise can help learning

An eminent Havard professor researched the connection between exercise and the brain, and discovered strong evidence that aerobic exercise physically remodels the brain for peak performance on all fronts. Dr John J Ratey found that exercise improves learning on three levels:

"First, it optimises your mind-set to improve alertness, attention, and motivation; second, it prepares and encourages nerve cells to bind to one another, which is the cellular basis for logging in new information; and third, it spurs the development of new nerve cells from stem cells in the hippocampus."

In short, not only does exercise help the brain get ready to learn but it actually makes retaining information easier. So that’s the science - but what can it mean for you? And what can you do to boost your learning through health and well-being?

Eat well to boost your brain

Many of us skip breakfast, or eat a super heavy lunch - both of which can cause a slump in concentration. It’s important to be properly nourished throughout the day, especially when trying to study. We’re more alert, can concentrate better, remember more, and have increased cognitive processing ability when we’re properly fed.

Snack and junk food aren’t the best - they’re high in calories and high in sugar and fat - we all know this, that’s why they’re so yummy. But they’re not good for you if you’re trying to study and take in new information.

Top brain food

Berries - rich in lots of compounds that may improve learning and academic performance*. Grab a handful or add to a smoothie to get a boost.

Citrus fruits - great for brain health, similar to berries. Again they have a range of compounds that may have the ability to promote learning and memory, as well as protect nerve cells from injury, therefore warding off mental decline*.

Dark chocolate - yes, believe it or not, chocolate can reduce mental fatigue, boost memory, and improve reaction time - in moderation of course!

Nuts - packed full of essential nutrients and vitamins to boost brain health. They’re a great study snack as they can keep you fuelled through marathon study sessions. They may also have an impact on reaction time and improve brain function. Remember though that nuts can be high in calories so consume in moderation.

Eggs - often referred to as nature’s multivitamin as they contain so many nutrients that can help our brain function. For example, selenium - this is involved in coordination, memory, cognition, and motor performance. Eggs also contain choline that’s needed for brain development, and acetylcholine, which is necessary for memory storage. Clever eggs.

Fish - full of omega-3s, essential fats that are important for brain health. Many studies have shown the link between fish and improved mental performance.

There are loads of other foods that can help, including avocados, beetroot, as well as red, green, and orange vegetables. Try them out and see what works for you.

Exercise = brain power

Physical exercise releases proteins in the brain that can help improve your memory and increase your cognitive performance. This is because the hippocampus, the area of our brain that is involved with retaining information, is incredibly responsive to these proteins. So whether you’re revising for an exam or listening to a tutor during a lesson, you’ll be able to take in and retain what you learn much more easily if you have been doing some regular exercise.

It can also improve your mood as exercise raises your endorphin levels - it might be uncomfortable whilst you’re doing it, but afterwards you’ll feel amazing. Ever climbed to the top of a hill, vowing you’ll never do this again, but at the top feel elated? That’s a great mood boost, and can really help your mental health, as well as your physical health.

A career in finance, a life in sport

Not only that, exercising can boost your energy levels. It might sound crazy if you're exhausted after a workout, but it’s true. Experts have found that there is a connection between being physically healthy and delivering a strong academic performance. This is because low-intensity exercise can give our energy levels a much-needed boost, which is perfect for when you’re studying long hours. Studies also prove that exercise boosts creativity and mental energy. So if you’re in need of a boost, it could be just a walk or jog away.

Exercises for studying

You don’t have to run a marathon, just 20 minutes can really boost your concentration. So how about one of these?

• Gentle jog around a local park - get your nature fix at the same time
• Walk around the block - get the heart rate up a little
• Yoga - stretch your body and your mind
• Short weight training session - get the muscles working as well as your mind
• Tai Chi - meditation in motion
• Cycling - nip out and back in 20 mins to get the heart going

And there are so many others you can do - if you have any exercise machines at home such as a rowing machine or stationary bike, jump on them for 20 minutes before studying, or during a study break, and you’ll immediately feel the benefits.

Get walking with our apprentice step challenge

To help keep you all active, keep your body and brain motivated, and help your overall well-being, we have organised a charity step challenge for our apprentices.

From 20 September to 4 October, we are challenging all apprentices and their employers to reach 105,000 steps within the two week period (around 7,500 steps a day).

All money raised will go towards Mind, the mental health charity, and there will also be a prize awarded to the winner of the challenge.

If you're a Kaplan apprentice or employer, register your interest via our online form before 15 September and we’ll be in touch with the next steps.

Want more information about learner well-being?

Have a look at our well-being page and our blogs - and if you need help or support, get in touch with the team who’ll be able to help you further.

*https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6893475/ - Flavonoid-Rich Mixed Berries Maintain and Improve Cognitive Function Over a 6 h Period in Young Healthy Adults

**https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6274333/ - Neurodegenerative Diseases: Might Citrus Flavonoids Play a Protective Role?

Whether you’re a professional wanting to progress your career or looking to change careers altogether, or an employer looking to upskill the workplace, exploring an apprenticeship is a great option. The training will ensure that all apprentices have the knowledge and skills required to succeed and excel in their chosen industry while benefiting everyone involved.

But if you’re still unsure whether this is the best route for you, we’ve brought together some useful statistics to show exactly how an apprenticeship makes a difference.

Employment status

Recently, 892 former Kaplan apprentices answered telephone questions about what they have been up to since completing their apprenticeship.

• 99% of former Kaplan apprentices were in paid employment, self-employed or in higher education
• 0.8% of former Kaplan apprentices were unemployed or looking for work
• Just over 0.1% had taken time out to go travelling.

Apprenticeship application to the workplace

At Kaplan, we work hard to ensure that all apprentices and employers are supported throughout and provided with all of the necessary knowledge that they need for their career goals and aspirations. It’s not just about what you know, but how you apply it.

We were pleased, but not surprised, to see former apprentices talking about the direct employment impact that their apprenticeship had.

• 95% of respondents said that their time spent learning helps them to perform their current job better
• 85% of respondents said that their apprenticeship helped them to get a pay rise or promotion
• 78% of former apprentices said that their training helped to improve job satisfaction
• 85% said that they have a clearer idea for their future employment.

Benefits to the employer

However, it’s not just the apprentices that felt the benefits. Through the survey, the former apprentices also noticed how it benefited their employers.

• 76% said that they have made recommendations post apprenticeship which helped the business
• 85% believe that they’ve helped to create a positive team spirit
• 93% think that they are reaching goals and targets
• 89% have taken on extra responsibilities
• 94% have become more confident and competent employees.

And if you’re still uncertain whether an apprenticeship is right for you or your business, browse through our Insight blog articles which feature testimonials from Kaplan apprentices, clients, tutors, Talent Coaches and more.

Recently, we held a webinar in line with Mental Health Awareness Week 2023 to provide advice, tips and strategies on how to stop negative mental chatter. The theme for MHAW this year was anxiety. Our panellists came together to discuss this topic in more detail and help you overcome anxiety.

Event panellists

We were joined by mental health expert speaker and coach, Ross McWilliam, from Mindset Pro. Ross draws on his personal experiences and career in coaching to support others. He has 30 years of expertise coaching young people and business leaders on mental health and resilience.

Alongside Ross was Kaplan’s very own Jenny Pelling. Jenny is the Director of Apprenticeship Development and Diversity, a Wellbeing Lead at Kaplan and a qualified Mental Health First Aider. She is also the lead at Kaplan for “Brighter Futures,” which focuses on the social mobility of apprenticeships.

Key topics discussed

Using stress and anxiety to your advantage

Ross discussed the difference between stress and anxiety, and how anxiety can be a supportive friend if you use it to your advantage rather than view it as a threat.

Discussing the topic of stress, Ross continued by briefly highlighting research and history, explaining how it can be good in small doses, but the frequency and intensity of stress are what can become a problem.

“Don’t be scared of stress and anxiety, embrace it. This is an opportunity rather than a full frontal threat.”

How the brain works

Using a diagram of the brain, Ross demonstrated the theories of anxiety further, particularly highlighting the amygdala and hippocampus.

Strategies to help recognise and manage mental chatter

During the webinar, Ross talked through many tips and techniques to help you approach and control mental chatter.

Strategies and techniques mentioned include:

• Acceptance commitment therapy (ACT)
• Breathing and visualisation techniques
• Don’t ignore your mental chatter
• How to stay focused on your own journey
• Recording your thoughts in a mood diary
• Post-event questions to ask yourself.

Support available

Jenny highlighted some of the resources at Kaplan that are available to support you with your mental health, anxiety and overall well-being. Further information about where you can find support can be found through the Mental Health Awareness Week 2023 blog article.

Q&A session

Jenny and Ross answered questions asked by the webinar attendees that provide further advice and support.

Watch the full webinar online

You can catch up on the discussion online now and find out how you can stop negative mental chatter.

At Kaplan, your mental health and well-being are important to us - not just for Mental Health Awareness Week but all year round. We encourage you to get in touch with our relevant teams if you need any support and we will be happy to help.

We are excited to announce that from April, we are becoming advisory panel members for the Association of Apprentices. This will provide a community for our apprentices to join, and events to attend, as well as having a corporate voice in the Association of Apprentices.

Find out more about the Association of Apprentices and how this may benefit you.

The skills crisis

Taking a look at the issues that employers are facing today, we find that there are currently over 35,000 data scientist jobs being advertised on LinkedIn. And yet, the government estimates that only 10,000 new data scientists will graduate from university each year. In short - there are not enough skilled professionals to fill this increasing demand. At Kaplan, we are looking to fill these skills gap by providing tailored in-house training programmes, alongside the apprenticeship offering.

Jenny Pelling, Director of Apprenticeship Development and Diversity, adds:

“Being part of a wider community can bring myriad benefits to our learners. We know our apprentices are keen to have opportunities to connect with others socially and learn from those at different stages and in different areas of work. The Association of Apprentice’s online and in-person events will enhance the personal and professional development of many of our apprentices. We’re especially pleased to involve those who are working for smaller organisations, where there may be less infrastructure to assist in the creation of networks."

I strongly believe that apprenticeships develop the whole person: the possibilities for connecting with others through the Association of Apprentices will have much to offer in this regard. I’m delighted that Kaplan is partnering with the Association of Apprentices and to be joining their advisory panel.”

Emily Austin, CEO Association of Apprenticeships, commented:

“I’ve worked with Kaplan previously and always admired their commitment to both their apprentices’ and their employers’ experience. I’m so pleased that we are able to support their apprentices with professional networking and development, and I’m thrilled that we get to work with Kaplan as they join our Advisory Board to help shape the Association’s offer as we grow and reach more apprentices in the UK.”

We are very excited to work closely with the Association of Apprentices.

Get in touch with us if you are an employer who is interested in our apprenticeship programmes

Enter your team between 27th February - 24th March.

WorldSkills UK is a charity that partners with employers, education providers, and the government to help bring apprentices together in a competitive setting. And now, the WorldSkills UK Accounting Technician competition is looking for talented students of accountancy to enter again in 2023.

The competition will allow apprentices to test their abilities and knowledge against other peers and world-class standards.

What is the competition?

The Accounting Technician competition has been designed to reflect the role of an accountant, while teams of 2-3 competitors will come together and complete a series of tasks. Competitors can use this opportunity to showcase their knowledge but also fill in any skills gaps that they find missing.

Just taking part is greatly beneficial: entrants will be sure to feel rewarded as 97% of previous WorldSkills UK competitors say that they improved their technical skills, with 93% improving their employability and personal skills. The average earnings of those who participated in these competitions are 60% higher than others in a comparable group.

Who is eligible to participate?

• You will need to work in a team of 2-3 for this competition
• There is no limit on the number of competitors permitted to enter per organisation
• There is no age limit
• It is intended for those studying, training and/or working in the accounting and finance sector

All competitors much meet at least one of the following criteria:

• undertaking Level 3 or 4 apprenticeships, or the first year of the Level 7 apprenticeship
• undertaking an equivalent qualification (for example, HND in accounting)
• have completed a Level 3 or 4 apprenticeship within the past 12 months.

Why should you enter?

• Prove your talent in a globally recognised space
• Be inspired by peers, and colleagues, and represent the future of the industry
• Be in with the chance of receiving a Gold Medal and national recognition
• Boost your CV and skills
• Access to additional equipment and resources
• Enhance your team working and communication skills
• The winning team could also get the chance to represent the UK at a global level

Key dates and entry requirements:

• 27th February - 24th March 2023. Registrations
• April - May 2023. The first stage of the competition is an online test
• 15th June 2023. The second stage of the competition for the highest scoring teams in the first stage. Competitors take part in an online competition
• July 2023. Finalists are announced
• End October 2023. Development session via Zoom to prepare for the National Finals
• November 2023 (dates tbc). The finalists come together to compete in the National Finals in person

For further details about the Accounting Technician competition, or to enter your team before the 24th of March, go to the competition webpage and read the handbook with all of the rules and guidelines or contact worldskillsuk@kaplan.co.uk.

With the evolution of new technologies, cyber crime is an ever growing concern for businesses.

So what’s the current challenge and how can we limit the threat?

Cybercrime, today

As you probably know, Cybercrime is an umbrella term for illegal activity that takes place online, or where technology is the means or target of the attack.

Today it’s one of the fastest growing crimes across the world, and affects most businesses. According to Risk IQ, cybercrime costs the global economy £2.3m a minute*.

Let that sink in for a moment. £2.3million a minute.

More specifically, the financial services sector is consistently one of the most attacked industries**. Here in the UK almost half of businesses (46%) and a quarter of charities (26%) reported having cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months***.

So the continuous threat of cyber crime is very modern, and very real.

A growing dependance

Especially in the current climate, where the world has had to become more digital, there continues to be a growing need to adopt new technologies to change the way organisations operate.

Exams and Learning in a Virtual World

The organisations that embrace it are looking to drive their growth, efficiency and financial return. But with it, comes risk.

New technologies and digital evolution also present new opportunities for crime. It presents new ways for criminals to access valuable company and customer information.

The move to ‘digital business’ increases the number of entry points into a company’s IT systems and data. Criminals will find the point of least security: mobile applications and more portal entry points all offer more access.

- Guy Warren, CEO of ITRS Group

What can be done to combat it?

The skills and knowledge required today is evolving rapidly. So it’s vital that organisations provide staff with practical training to help them stay relevant and informed in their job roles.

A good understanding of emerging technologies and cybersecurity is not just for the IT department. It needs others to understand the implications and opportunities of operating in a digital world, and to also reduce the overall risk. It should be a shared responsibility, if it’s to be effective.

Prepare and protect your business

Businesses of all sizes need to be vigilant in protecting themselves from the growing threat of cybercrime. This involves taking steps to ensure that systems, networks and data are secure, as well as monitoring user behaviour for any suspicious activity.

For example, you should aim to have informed conversations with staff or vendors tasked with protecting the business from ever-changing cyber threats and be armed with a good understanding of emerging business technologies.

Many organisations are also turning to cyber security solutions such as firewalls, antivirus software and intrusion detection systems to help protect their digital assets. It’s also important to regularly back up data in multiple secure locations as this will help minimise the damage if a system or network is compromised.

*Source: RiskIQ “The Evil Internet Minute 2019”

**Global threat intelligence report

***Cyber security breaches survey 2020

We recently attended the Future of Accountancy conference at London’s Southbank University, joining key figures from the world of accounting education to discuss what the future may have in store for our industry. Against a backdrop of fast paced change, not only is it important that these conversations are taking place but that we, as a tuition provider, are present to consider how we will need to react in the years to come.

Although all sort of topics were covered across the day - from Brexit to blockchain - key themes that came up consistently were the needs of employers, the shifting ambitions and aspirations of the next generation, and the dynamic nature of the environment in which all stakeholders currently find themselves in. Of course, these will also impact the professional bodies and tuition providers such as Kaplan.

Challenging questions were asked as to what the future might bring, such as:

• Will we still need financial statements in their current form, or could shareholders and governments not simply access accounting records directly?
• Do we need changes in corporate reporting to help shareholders better understand how value is generated and sustained?
• What is the value of trust in a business relationship? Is it not trust that wins contracts, generating cashflows leading to a more sustainable business?

Of course, professional bodies are not immune to change, as we’ve seen recently with the merger between CIMA and AICPA to create the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) or the way in which all of the bodies have had to respond quickly to the developments of the Level 7 Professional Accountant Apprenticeships.

Against a backdrop of increasing change and new challenges, professional bodies have to create an exam framework that will test the finance professionals of the future in subjects that will still be relevant 10 years from now, ensuring those who pass will be able to thrive in an uncertain world.

We weren’t able to touch upon how training providers such as Kaplan will be able to better teach these new subjects on the day, but we are seeing changes here as well.

It’s very encouraging to see a greater recognition of the importance of collaboration between the professional body, employer and tuition providers. Our expertise in the area of knowledge transfer and behavioural changes will be an essential component in creating better accountants of the future.

We can’t predict exactly what the future will have in store, but as a tuition provider we can join the conversations as we look to the future with imagination and scepticism, asking what changes might happen and how will we respond to them to ensure that we continue to train accountants for the challenges they will meet in the years ahead.

Emerging leaders are often talented individuals who are easily identified as having what it takes to rise in organisations, but they often fall short of being the 'full package' right away.

About a year ago, one emerging leader we worked with was promoted to a major new role in her company. From looking after a small business unit, she was now in charge of a global function, with a team that would spread across 7 francophone countries. It would also involve relocating her family to Paris.

The business put in place a great deal of support – finding accommodation, schools for the children and arranging language classes. But there was one area they neglected to prepare for her.

For a leader transitioning to a senior position it's important to be well equipped for top level decision making. While the new post built on her technical expertise, the kinds of decisions she would have to make were measurably different to those she was used to.

Three key differences stood out: the level of the stakeholder management involved, the impact a single decision could make, and the time taken to deal with the decision's consequences.

Dealing with stakeholder perception

The stakeholder management presented her with a whole new challenge. She was faced with a group who lacked her technical understanding and who saw the issues from a completely different perspective.

Despite being a subject matter expert, with fantastic technical and strategic skills, a well thought through plan simply wasn't enough. She had to spend a great deal of time listening, and trying to understand other perspectives.

When it came to using this accommodation even further up the hierarchy, she encountered another set of interests and agenda. She told me:

'Negotiation was key: understanding the differences between interests and positions, and learning how to frame the issue for different parties. To learn how to plan, phrase and package an agreement.

'These were skills I had never been taught. I understood enough French to know what the facts were, but I didn't understand our organisational culture.'

What's the 'half-life' of a decision?

Some decisions last longer than others. We often borrow the term 'half-life' to describe this aspect of decision making. Put simply, choosing what to have for lunch is a decision that really only lasts until supper time. But choosing a career can be a decision that shapes the rest of your working life.

This is reflected in many of the decisions in the workplace – some have long lasting consequences, others not. For the emerging leader taking up a more senior role, the "half-life" of the decisions they make increases dramatically. Choosing a course of action can shape how the business operates over months, or even years.

'I found that I had to spend far longer working out the implications of decisions – and especially trying to uncover the unintended consequences.

'Learning tools and techniques such as "scenario planning" and "red teaming" helped me enormously.

'I soon learnt that I had to play through my decisions far more rigorously than I had done before'.

Learn more about how we prepare emerging leaders for greater responsibility, subscribe to our newsletter.

Dr Ian Stewart, Head of Leadership and Organisational Performance, has over 25 years' experience of leadership development in the public and private sector. Prior to joining Kaplan, Ian ran the Behavioural Science department at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

Risk is always a factor when making important business decisions. A series of questions run through your mind:

• Have you weighed up the evidence correctly?
• Have you generated the best options available?
• Do you have the right resources?
• Have you made the right choice?
• Will there be unintended consequences?

In an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world, the need to assess and take intelligent risks could not be more pressing.

To explore this issue and provide a useful guide, Kaplan’s Head of Leadership & Organisational Performance, Dr Ian Stewart, has produced a new substantive whitepaper on Risk Taking and Problem Solving.

The intelligent risk taker knows how to conduct a technical assessment of a risk. But they also know themselves and their environment. Ultimately, a professional’s ability is judged by the decisions we make when confronted by a complex problem.

The purpose of this Kaplan whitepaper is to offer some new perspectives and encourage further personal study and professional development. This is by no means an exhaustive or complete study of what is an enormous and complex area; however, it explores problem solving at the levels of the individual, the team and the organisation.

At Kaplan we believe that the central skill that underpins and informs professional effectiveness is decision making and to develop this should be the ultimate aim of any Professional Development Programme.

Take our quiz

How risk averse are you? Download the full whitepaper by taking our quick risk taking quiz.

Having been in L&D for the last 20 years, I recently came up against possibly my biggest challenge to date.

I have a teenage son who will shortly be sitting his GCSE in maths and given my slightly dubious affinity with numbers as a result of my finance background, it was suggested that I could coach him.

So began one of the most stressful periods of parenting I have experienced to date!

Every time we talked about the merits of re-arranging equations, or the diameter of a circle, it felt like I was arguing that black was white. But on the flip side, there were probably times when I was trying to remember something I’d not used for over 30 years, and maybe my son was wise to question me.

This got me thinking of the real world of management and the challenge of getting managers to be true to themselves about their technical strengths and limitations.

Every organisation is different, and this is by no means an issue that applies just to first time managers. I have run programmes for many organisations where technical competence and technical confidence are misaligned. This creates some very real issues; at one end of the spectrum you have a manager very confidently offering incorrect advice and making ill-informed decisions. At the other end of the spectrum, you have the missed opportunity of a manager who is technically strong, but lacks the confidence to ensure their view is heard.

Going beyond the ‘blind spot’

Based on diagnostic tools we have employed recently, we have seen how the split between the two camps can vary for a number of reasons - whether cultural, by gender or by professional specialism.

For some of the organisations with whom we work, this variety of technical competence is probably more of an issue than it has been in the past. Profiles of employees moving into first time management roles have, in my experience, become far more diverse.

This presents some interesting challenges when it comes to designing development pathways that can target what needs to be addressed. We’re not all self-aware, and from a technical perspective whether we are talking finance, law or technology, we often don’t know what we don’t know!

In my experience, being able to give an individual that insight and analysis of blind-spots; as well as being able to provide an organisational heat-map of technical strength and weakness offers real value. It can inform a more strategic view of the learning and development priorities of your organisation, whether this is used to identify participants who will benefit most from development, in designing the content of a training programme, or just stopping your organisation from potentially being sued as a result of the actions of a rogue manager!

Food for thought, but then so are quadratic equations, and another maths tutorial beckons…

Dave Kingston is Head of Commercial Awareness within Kaplan Leadership and Professional Development. He has 20 years experience of delivering finance and commercial awareness programmes across all levels, and has led the development of a suite of commercial and financial diagnostic tools that assess technical competence and confidence.

I remember when I stepped up to managing a team in my late 20s.

I imagined that it must have been similar to being asked to captain the school netball team, and that I would have the same sense of excitement and determination. Afterall, I possessed the same level of determination. I had learned from my manager, who like my coach was a great role model, and the team liked me. So it couldn't be easier. How wrong was I.

In reality the journey to establishing myself as an effective, successful manager, took many years. I had to build my credibility with my former peers; new peers and senior leaders. I had to change my mind-set; I had to start thinking commercially; realise that collaboration was essential; step away from the 'banter' and learn how to manage performance. Most of this happened by osmosis rather than through any guided development path.

Thankfully, many of the organisations I work with do offer managers some form of development. You get the opportunity to attend manager inductions, and you might also be enrolled on a management programme to develop your 'people management' skills. And when things go awry, you might get a coach to support your personal development, resilience and confidence.

This personal development does something to support managers, however where is the technical expertise? And where are the deeper behavioural insights? For example, where is the understanding of a P&L in manager development (I didn't understand one for about four years after I became a manager!)? Where is the teaching on how to make the best decisions and how to communicate in a clear and confident manner? Elements which are essential for any First Time Manager.

When I think back to being a First Time Manager, my team had a blast, were supportive of me - each other, and were 'in it together'; however, as a manager I think I was doing half a job. My personal development needed a more rounded approach. I needed competence in the technical aspects of management and confidence when challenging and driving through decisions. Half the development; half the job.

Organisations have a clear expectation of their managers and that is to deliver the organisation's goals and objectives. Where clarity lacks is in their actual development. "Suck it and see" is often the way, we might even cite the 70:20:10 framework. Of course there is merit in such an approach – however, we develop through experience, and through trying something and stretching ourselves.

Our recent taster session offered a sample of our double helix approach to management development. It featured interactive simulations and talks aimed at demonstrating the importance of improving technical competence and behavioural confidence.

We also asked a number of First Time Managers what advice they would give to others who were stepping up in their role. Here's the top 10 insights from their first-hand experience.

1. Understand your role and expectations (step in but be clear on what is required of you).
2. Understand who your stakeholders are and who you need to build relationships with.
3. Who can give you advice? Who is your go to person? They have had the experience, allow them to share. Find some support!
4. Look after the people working for you, you need your team just as much as they need you.
5. Take your time to learn your strengths and weaknesses and where you need to develop.
6. Take some time to understand what it is you want to do and how you want to operate as a manager.
7. Think about how you want to structure your leadership. If you don't take the time, you'll forever be trying to catch up with yourself.
8. Listen and communicate - especially to those you are managing and communicate directly and clearly.
9. Always anticipate. When you've made a decision, ask yourself – So what?
10. Most importantly look after yourself.

Just imagine how successful our managers, and therefore our teams and our organisations could be if we focused on the development of both sides of management – technical and behavioural.

Watch some of the highlights from this session.

Jo Lee is a Senior Consultant at Kaplan Leadership and Professional Development, which supports organisations in developing the technical competence and behavioural confidence of their employees, from those starting their careers to established leaders.

If you would like to find out more about our First Time Managers and Professional Development courses, use the form to request a callback.

Newly formed Kaplan Genesis to offer CFA® and Leadership and Professional Development programmes in Middle East.

The deal was signed at the Genesis headquarters in Dubai by Kaplan UK Chief Executive Officer Peter Houillon and Binod Shankar, Managing Director of Genesis Institute. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Genesis and its team will trade under the name Kaplan Genesis and will continue to be based in Dubai and operate across the GCC. It will now be able to integrate the world-class Kaplan Schweser CFA® materials into its already exceptional CFA programmes. The organisation will also offer preparation for other financial and business qualifications, as well as leadership and professional development programmes for corporates.

Peter Houillon, Chief Executive Officer of Kaplan UK, said: “The combination of Kaplan’s distinguished learning heritage and global reach with the Genesis brand and local expertise provides exciting opportunities to build a highly competitive offering. Many of Kaplan’s UK and US clients, already with a significant presence in the region, will benefit from our combined expertise and global network.”

Andrew Perkins, Global Director of Kaplan Leadership and Professional Development, said: “At Kaplan, we approach learning and development differently: we combine the development of technical competence and behavioural confidence that enables better decision making by individuals, teams and organisations. We will now tailor these programmes to support the development of regionally based talent for our GCC, UK and US clients.”

Binod Shankar, Managing Director of Genesis, said: “Being part of Kaplan gives us the resources and infrastructure to enhance the fantastic student experience we have worked hard to create at Genesis. This is great news for our current and future students.”

About Genesis Institute

Genesis Institute, founded ten years ago, leads the CFA examination market in the UAE and is a leading provider of financial training solutions. It was set up by highly qualified and experienced professionals who are passionate about the delivery of relevant, high quality and effective financial education.

Genesis Institute’s innovative programs are structured to combine the right balance of practical case studies and insights from business reality to hone both the skills and knowledge of participants. Genesis offers a wide range of courses for Finance and Non-Finance Professionals working at entry, mid-career, or senior level positions.

For more information about Kaplan Genesis, please contact:

UK - Andrew Perkins, Director, Leadership and Professional Development, Kaplan, +44 (0) 7768 876 255, andrew.perkins@kaplan.co.uk

GCC - Binod Shankar, Managing Director, Kaplan Genesis, +971-527775611, binod.shankar@kaplangenesis.com

How 'business ready' are your new hires? If the personal finances of my sons are anything to go by, I'd certainly worry about letting them loose with a corporate credit card, and I suspect they may not be an exception to the norm. Despite our best efforts, instilling a mind-set of "turning the lights off - to save money" (let alone the Xbox) seems, this far, to have been impossible. Will they behave differently when they have to pay an electricity bill? It remains to be seen.

Even if your new hires are graduates with a business or finance background, our experience at Kaplan suggests that very few will really understand the financial "facts of life" for their new employer. Few new hires will understand the commercial realities of how a business makes money, how it measures success, how the different "bits" fit together, or the controls that are there to protect them and the organisation, and ultimately the financial implication of their decisions.

In our experience, building financial awareness and capability from the outset can serve a number of purposes for both the individual and the organisation. New hires may not be making the big strategic decisions yet, but many of the finance skills that should apply when the new hire manages their personal finances are equally applicable in a business context - whether this is identifying waste, financial planning or just doing a bit of research before signing on the dotted line. Indeed I've lost count of the number of times, during budgeting programmes we run for both public and private sector organisations, that we've applied the test "but if this was your money what would you really do?"

The ability to make informed financial decisions will stand you in good stead whatever your level or formal budget responsibility. Creating value is not just about the big strategic decisions; it is about the cumulative effect of thousands of smaller everyday decisions over time. For some of our new hire programmes we get the groups to do a simple budgeting exercise, working out where their money goes in a typical month. Tallying up the real cost of the Espresso on the way to work every day for a year, or the true cost of the balance on their store-card can often provoke some interesting responses. Certainly from my own perspective I'd like to be able to turn the clock back 30 years and have a conversation with my younger self about some of the spending habits during my early earning years.

More fundamentally for some organisations, the new hires represent the "fresh eyes" that can provide a catalyst to challenge the way things are done, and support the cultural changes that are needed. However, to challenge effectively this will need a level of commercial awareness (e.g. the ability to "speak finance") that will allow you to communicate effectively, and increase the likelihood of being heard. Anyway, must go, someone's left the downstairs light on again...

Are your people making the right call with company money and risk? Find out more about Kaplan’s Financial Literacy Diagnostic.

Dave Kingston is Head of Commercial Awareness within Kaplan Leadership & Professional Development. He has 20 years experience of delivering finance and commercial awareness programmes across all levels.

If you would like to find out more about our Leadership and Professional Development courses, use the form to request a callback.

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) has partnered with leading education and training provider Kaplan to offer ACCA client firms a comprehensive range of leadership and development programmes.

According to Mark Cornell, ACCA director of Europe and the Americas, this partnership was developed with an eye on the future: 

'Today, businesses are demanding more from their people than they ever have before.  The fact is, for those aiming for a long and successful career, just being technically proficient is no longer enough.  Employers need the next generation of business professionals to master communication, collaboration and creativity.

'ACCA takes its responsibility in ensuring the next generation possesses the skills they need to succeed very seriously.  Indeed, that is why the ACCA qualification is evolving to include a real-world focus in every element, so our ACCA accountants will be prepared to handle the challenges they’ll face in the workplace.'

Kaplan designs, develops and delivers tailored professional development programmes in close collaboration with clients to ensure they are relevant to the commercial needs of the organisation and ensure cultural fit.  The in-house programmes being offered to ACCA clients are: the Kaplan First Time Manager; Finance Business Partnering; and a business simulation, the Kaplan Business Challenge. The Financial Literacy Diagnostic is part of a range of assessment tools that support our programmes and turn L&D cost into business investment.

Andrew Perkins, global director of leadership and professional development at Kaplan said:

'We work closely with our clients to support them at key touch points in their people’s careers – from recruitment and on-boarding, to supporting first time managers, developing talent, promoting retention and developing senior teams. We strive to make a real difference to all our clients’ and their people and this partnership is an important step toward achieving this ambition.'

Well it’s over; the referendum is done and the UK has voted to leave the EU. The outcome in terms of the political vacuum created by Brexit could not reasonably have been predicted by anyone.

In the lead up to the vote, I anticipated that a decision to leave would trigger a short period of intense uncertainty and market volatility; this would be followed by a period of calm descending as the realisation dawned that the process of withdrawal and extraction would be more complex and drawn out than anticipated.

Well, we’ve certainly got some uncertainty. In this article, I will try to piece together the current situation and what we might expect over the rest of the summer.

Whither the decision makers?

At the time of writing we have a new Prime Minister in Theresa May, a tense leadership contest within the Opposition and the resignation of the person who for years has championed leaving the EU, Nigel Farage.

All this means that at a point of extreme uncertainty in the wake of what some are calling (and I agree) a seismic decision, we are bereft of political leadership.

Is there real uncertainty? Absolutely; so far there seems to be no concrete plan for implementing Brexit, with conflicting noises from both sides of the English Channel.

The economic data is conflicting too; for example we have this from The Telegraph:

"S&P said the Eurozone recovery is now in full swing as fiscal austerity eases and QE gains traction, all helped by cheap oil. The growth of consumer credit has jumped from zero to 5.4pc over the last year, and car sales are up 18.4pc¹."

Conversely, in The Guardian recently reported:

"Eurozone service sector growth hits 17-month low²."

And they report an economist from MARKIT:

"The eurozone economy failed to gain momentum in June, rounding off a disappointing second quarter. Faster manufacturing growth was countered by a slowdown in the service sector, leaving the overall pace of expansion of business activity unchanged since May³."

This is not to pass comment on either source, but simply to illustrate how quickly data change can cast a different light on the same issue. Although other data does shows that claims of recovery in the Eurozone are well founded, the point remains - growth in the EU is positive but erratic. The impact of the UK leaving could stall that recovery.

The UK needs some steering at the moment and yet there seems to be little in the form of strong, clear guidance from the political class. What is needed it seems is someone calm, cool and analytical: someone who possesses the ability to think clearly under pressure, strive for evidence and not seek headlines. Who might that be? Step forward Mark Carney, Governor of The Bank of England.

Uncertainty delivers

Mr Carney delivered a briefing in the wake of the vote, in which he spoke about three sources of uncertainty; geo-political uncertainty, economic uncertainty and economic policy uncertainty.⁴

At this point, it might be useful to distinguish between risk and uncertainty. Risk is the balancing of probabilities to determine the outcome of an event. Uncertainty is risk magnified: a complete lack of information pertaining to both probability and outcome, or in more recent parlance ‘unknown unknowns’. This distinction helps as it seems individuals are happier dealing with risk than uncertainty.

Are we in a period of economic uncertainty? Well it certainly feels like it (and as I write this a third UK fund manager has closed a UK property fund to redemptions). The data also seems to suggest so. The following chart is from the Bank of England and uses the VIX index among other indicators to measure uncertainty.

Uncertainty is a strange thing in economics; it is difficult to model and it tends not to be included in macroeconomic models. Does it matter? Almost certainly – the Bank of England states:

"All this uncertainty has contributed to a form of economic post-traumatic stress disorder amongst households and businesses, as well as in financial markets – that is, a heightened sensitivity to downside tail risks."

In other words, there may be an embedded effect following a prior shock such that investors remain sensitive to similar effects further down the line.

How might this manifest itself? One of the issues for uncertainty is quantifying the impact on behaviour. For the Bank of England the impact can be described as:

"Today, uncertainty has meant an inchoate sense of economic insecurity for many people despite generalised economic prosperity. Across the advanced economies, employment appears less secure, wages more subdued, and inequality more pronounced."

There now seems to be growing acceptance that these kinds of effects, at least in part, account for some of the decision to vote leave. At the micro level, uncertainty over one’s future employment, uncontrolled variation in the level of that employment, a low or minimum wage and little prospect for increasing one’s hourly rate must weigh heavily on decision making.

Further, the Bank of England adds:

"And its precautionary effects can mean spending is deferred because there is often a real option value to waiting. Firms delay investment decisions. Investors seek safe returns. Households put off buying durables. The common thread is that any economic decision that requires finance, has a sunk cost, or an uncertain payoff, is affected." (Carney op.cit.)

There is already evidence of uncertainty weighing on the economy before the referendum date: business investment decreased by 0.8% between Quarter 1 2015 and Quarter 1 2016, from £44.0 billion to £43.7 billion, revised down from the previously estimated 0.4% decrease.⁵

There is further evidence of this economic uncertainty today with car registrations having slowed in June in the lead up to the referendum.⁶

Markit reported that UK service sector growth in June was also low, matching the 38 month low set in April. This is reflected in business expectations too, as can be seen below.⁷

So, there is evidence that the economy may have been slowing down before the referendum.

Was the economy heading for a downturn anyway?

The key question though is to what extent this was happening due to the referendum taking place, or was it simply part of the normal business cycle? It is too soon to say for certain and we need a fair few quarters of data before we can model the effects. However, we can say that the normal path of the business cycle is such that peak to peak (or trough to trough) is on average anywhere between 7 to 10 years.

In macroeconomics we usually think of unemployment as a lagging indicator; that is, GDP can be recovering from a recession and increasing quarter-on-quarter while unemployment is still rising. With that in mind, look at the following diagram:

Source: Bank of England

It shows the level of unemployment over time in the UK and with the periods of recession in grey. The lagged effect is clear following the end of a recession. What is also clear but less often commented on is that recessions seem to begin when unemployment is at the lowest point.

UK unemployment is currently 5% - essentially the same level as 2006/8 (i.e. 8 to 10 years ago) and vacancies are running at 749,000. Maybe the economy is set to turn anyway? The Brexit vote won’t have helped in that it may be the event which triggers a downturn. We will know soon enough.

The markets are spooked.

The markets seem to be pricing in the economic uncertainty, with the market risk premium (basically the difference between returns to riskier equities and returns to safer government bonds) looking elevated.

The FTSE 250 (representing largely UK focused companies) has seen a 10% drop since 23rd June and following the fund redemption news of 4th July the exchange rate has fallen to £1/€1.17 - and Mark Carney has delivered a third press briefing on the publication for the latest Financial Stability Report.

We are now in a period of uncertainty devoid of political leadership – cue Carney:

"When uncertainty is high, policymakers should have three objectives. First, conduct a sober, objective assessment of the outlook and the risks to it. Second, develop and communicate a plan to reduce those risks and to seize new opportunities. And third, do no harm, by minimising any possible confusion about the commitment to core macroeconomic policy frameworks themselves."

The Bank of England is doing its best to manage policy uncertainty and hopefully through into shaping people’s expectations regarding economic uncertainty.

Roy Daintith, Senior Consultant of Macroeconomics, Leadership and Professional Development at Kaplan, believes that economics is fundamentally relevant to business performance and is passionate that decision makers should understand the bigger forces shaping and driving their industry.

1 The Telegraph ‘S&P scoffs at 'Armageddon' warnings for Britain, July 4th 2016
2 The Guardian ‘UK service sector hit by Brexit worries’, 5th July 2016
3 Markit Economics Press Releases, Markit Eurozone Composite PMI® – final data, 5th July
4 Bank of England; Uncertainty, the economy and policy, Mark Carney, 30 June 2016
5 ONS; Business Investment: Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2016 30 June 2016
6 UK car sales fell ahead of EU vote, SMMT , The Guardian, 5 July 2016
7 Markit economics; Markit/CIPS UK Services PMI® July 5th 2016

Even in 2015, women are still underrepresented at all levels within organisations and most significantly in senior leadership roles. Evidence from recent studies, most recently Lean In and McKinsey, points to two key reasons: organisation practices and culture, and women’s own beliefs, actions and behaviours around their career development.

If women are to achieve their full potential in contributing to the economy, changes are urgently needed at both the corporate and individual levels. There is little doubt that having more women at the top improves financial performance (Ernst & Young, 2010) and is therefore something of a no brainer. Indeed most research studies show that CEOs believe this – more than 75% of them support gender diversity but are struggling to make it a reality in their organisations.

Whilst organisations are well-intentioned in their desire to create a climate and environment in which their people thrive, evidence suggests that women are actively disadvantaged by many company policies, practices and culture. The hard question is what policies, practices and behaviours make the most difference to encouraging and enabling women to succeed at the most senior levels?

Linked to this, we must also ask what more can women do to help themselves? From our work at Kaplan, it seems to us that women become easily entrapped from an early career stage in self-limiting beliefs, albeit informed by their real world experience of work. Or, they seem quite simply overwhelmed by the struggle and stress of being accepted as authentic women leaders. Equally potent is the noticeable fall off in ambition as women become more senior – is this exacerbated by what they perceive as the unattractiveness of the C-Suite environment dominated by male attitudes and behaviours? We believe there are steps women can explicitly be encouraged to take that will build their confidence and open up more opportunities for them.

Helping women make better choices
Promotion to senior roles requires the vast majority of candidates to have experience of line management roles with profit and loss responsibility in core operational areas of the business. By VP level, research (Lean In and McKinsey, 2015) shows that more than half of women have switched to staff roles, eg in HR, legal and finance, unlike the majority of men. Do women need better advice and guidance about the implications of these choices and more encouragement about their potential as effective senior leaders in the core of the business?

Women have often been encouraged to seek support through women’s only networks. Research shows that these tend to offer mainly social support, however, and not the instrumental support that provides access to resources and decision makers and links to senior executives. It turns out, interestingly, that men are better at building instrumental networks. Would women benefit from more explicit help in building broader networks of people who are influential in their own right and who also provide access to senior sponsors?

Organisations could also be much clearer and open about the less easily defined criteria for promotion to the most senior roles. Executive presence, for example, is a subjective evaluation made of an individual and at risk of being interpreted as ‘people who behave like us’. Perhaps senior teams need to understand much more about their own biases and (un)willingness to embrace diversity in all its forms.

Helping women to develop themselves
It is often difficult for women to envisage themselves as part of a senior executive team – the ways of working and behaving seem so distant from their own. Caught in the trap of underplaying or not recognising their strengths, women need to be encouraged to develop a confident understanding of who they are as leaders, alongside their personal influence and engagement style, and to find their own ways of challenging, being tough and exercising their vision and leadership. It seems to us that women have particular needs in terms of developing their personal presence and impact and navigating the cultural expectations around gender and behaviour.

We have become more confident in our view that women only development programmes play a vital part in enabling and encouraging women to greater self-belief, greater confidence in their abilities and greater impact on their organisations. They are not the only solution but they offer the chance for women to explore openly and honestly the particular challenges they face in developing their professional lives, alongside their out of work responsibilities, and to find a way for their lives to be enjoyable and fulfilling.

If this challenge were easy to meet, it would have been done by now. The factors influencing women’s career progression are many and with complex interactions. Kaplan Leadership and Professional Development are currently developing a women leaders in business programme – for further details or to arrange a meeting please get in touch with us.

This article was written by Gill Reynolds and Jessica Raby who are both Senior Leadership Consultants of the Kaplan Licensed Faculty.

To learn more about Kaplan Leadership and Professional Development please contact us at businesstraining@kaplan.co.uk or 0203 468 0907.

When Gifford Pinchot III first coined the term ‘intrapreneur’ in a 1978 academic paper, it was the era of big business and big taxes. Economies were much slower moving than they are today, and while small businesses existed in large numbers, entrepreneurs were not the vital, energetic presence they are today. As such, businesses looking to creating ‘innovation’ in mature organizations had few role models to emulate.

Learning to take Risks Again

Today the risk taking, well-funded entrepreneurial ventures of Silicon Valley and its myriad satellites in cities around the world are testament to the vitality of the start-up environment. Entrepreneurs are no longer peered at with suspicion as eccentric, fringe players, but rather seen as the very essence of a vibrant economy. Nevertheless, economies are still predominantly driven by the large and very large enterprises. Excluding the high-profile outliers, the best paid employment is in large organizations; and large businesses, whilst representing only 1% of UK companies, deliver over 50% of the country’s GDP.

However large businesses tend to be mature businesses, and mature businesses are slow-growing and need to continuously search for new revenue opportunities to replace and reinvigorate the existing ones. The ‘ambidexterity’ of maintaining profitable current operations whilst exploring new ones is a well-observed challenge for business, and the need to be good at this is increasingly required as the pace of change quickens.

The challenge of starting a new business within an existing one is considerable. It requires a set of skills that is not always associated with large businesses, but is also distinct from that of the entrepreneur too. So what are the key characteristics of the ‘intrapreneur’?

Managing the Tension

Andy Perkins, Director of Kaplan Leadership and Development, is a keen observer of ‘intrapreneurs’, and not just because he is leading an innovative, new venture within the Kaplan corporation himself. He also sees that the competencies of successful intrapreneurs are highly valued in many client businesses.

At the root of all intrapreneurial ventures is a tension, framed around attitude to risk. New ventures are inherently risky. They require the management team to move quickly, expanding employee numbers and investing in plant and machinery at a pace mature businesses are not always comfortable with.

Critically they will be doing this in areas they are unfamiliar with, often in areas that are wholly unexplored or exploited by anyone before. This is the pioneering role of the intrapreneur.

Whilst the entrepreneur is given permission to take these risks by experienced venture capitalists or other investors that understand the ‘fail fast’ nature of new start-ups, the intrapreneur will have to do the same, but with funds allocated from a central budget and controlled by a Board that are not always comfortable or experienced with the higher stakes a start-up plays for.

This brings an inevitable tension, whereby the Board on the one hand gives its blessing for the intrapreneurial leader to play outside the normally accepted company culture and rules, but at the same time are measuring progress by the larger organization’s existing benchmarks: quarterly earnings, two and three year sales and revenue forecasts, performance reviews. These are metrics that new businesses can rarely provide: there are no earnings and forecasts are often guesses as there is no existing business to extrapolate numbers from.

Culture can eat Intrapreneurism

Ultimately, as Perkins notes, the defining competency to enable the intrapreneurial leader to perform is ‘trust’.

The intrapreneur needs to have the complete trust of the Board. There will inevitably be tensions and disagreements when things do not go as planned or expected in the new venture, and the intrapreneurial leader will need a store of trust with the company’s bosses to see them through these moments.

Integral to this is a profound understanding of the larger company’s culture; not so that this can be replicated in the new venture, but so that the intrapreneur will be acutely aware of times when the new venture is pushing against the culture, and they can explain and pre-empt any objections. By showing an understanding of where these tensions occur, trust can be maintained and fostered. Perkins believes that bringing in an outsider to build the new venture is not compatible with this approach, as the outsider will be less sensitive to the cultural norms that will be challenged as the new business develops.

With energetic innovation within mature organizations ever more necessary, Boards need to be able to identify ‘safe hands’ within their existing business that can also drive new ventures forward creatively. Perkins has a warning for those who seek to manage intrapreneurs:

They also need to understand how much space to give, in which these ventures can develop, make mistakes, and adapt without too much pressure from above, which can squash the energy and creativity that is required to navigate through the early stages of a business’s growth.

These abilities are born of experience, judgement and behaviour rather than technical or functional skills, but nonetheless they need to be learnt and practiced to allow true ‘ambidexterity’ to flourish.

Waiting for Godot

Almost since the issue of IAS 17 in 1982, we have been waiting for the next step in dealing with the reporting of leases. Indeed, I had begun to feel that Vladimir and Estragon in Samuel Beckett’s famous play had more chance of seeing Godot finally turn up than we had of seeing a revised leasing standard requiring lessees to recognise all significant lease assets and obligations on balance sheet.

It was almost a shock when, more than 33 years later, the IASB finally issued IFRS 16. Ultimately the standard was very much as expected, with lessees required to recognise all significant leases on balance sheet via a lease liability and a right-of-use asset.

I will not bore you with the mechanics here, as that has already been done many, many times. Rather, my aim is to question whether the exercise has any point to it.

Does anybody care?

I would be a very rich man if I had £100 for every time someone has said to me "there is no point in putting all leases on balance sheet - analysts make their own adjustments anyway. All it will do is create unnecessary effort and cost". Quite apart from the fact that such comments most regularly come from entities whose balance sheets will be most affected by the recognition of all lease assets and liabilities, this raises two key questions:

• Will recognition really affect the view given to readers of financial statements?
• Do we really want financial statements to show a fair presentation?

Impact on readers

It is certainly true that sophisticated readers currently seek out the disclosure of operating lease obligations and make their own adjustments. However, does this apply to everyone? There is an old adage - "If you want to hide a tree: put it in a forest", and often I can’t help thinking that this motto is applied with respect to lease obligations. For example, Vodafone’s 31st March 2015 Statement of Financial Position includes £25.9 bn of non-current liabilities - 61 pages later, note 29 discloses non-cancellable operating lease commitments of £6.58 bn.

There is also the point that a substantial number of entities are making efforts to restructure their financing arrangements for assets to avoid the impacts of IFRS 16. It is fair to question why this effort is being made.

Fair presentation - the IKEA problem

The real problem to me in respect of lease accounting comes when we consider fair presentation in financial statements. The assets and liabilities which arise for lessees under IFRS 16 plainly meet the definitions of assets and liabilities, and few can argue that a fair presentation is not substantially enhanced by their recognition.

"But you do not need to recognise them: disclosure is enough. Readers can make their own adjustments anyway" comes the cry. The problem here is that if you merely disclosure lease obligations you are effectively giving readers flat packed financial statements - they do not actually give a fair presentation until you have put them together.

This is just like a wardrobe purchased from IKEA - it is not actually a wardrobe until you have put it together! The problem is compounded as many disclosures will actually result in the equivalent of a wardrobe bought from other, less reliable suppliers - there is a crucial part missing, they do not fit, there are no assembly instructions or most alarmingly there are 6 screws to spare!

In summary

The merit of IFRS 16 depends on what we want from our financial statements.

If we really believe in fair presentation, then IFRS 16 represents a massive step forward in corporate financial reporting as long as it is applied properly. For this to be the case, it is not enough just to recognise the asset and liability on balance sheet. Proper disclosures and a clear statement of the relevant accounting policy is needed if the wardrobe is not to wobble alarmingly or to collapse when actually used.

If on the other hand, fair presentation is something to be tossed aside in the quest for simplification and cost-cutting, then IFRS 16 represents one of the biggest follies ever perpetrated by the IASB.

You decide! However, if you hold the latter point of view, then that brings into question the entire existence of IFRS and the IASB, not to mention the main plank of the audit opinion.

For more information regarding IFRS 16, please visit our Leadership and Professional Development page.

Bruce Cowie, Head of Financial Reporting, Kaplan Leadership and Professional Development