St Barnabas Hospice is celebrating Chloe Pearson, Welfare and Benefits Manager, and Jo White, Counselling Service Manager, for successfully achieving distinctions in the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Level 5 Certificate in Management and Leadership.
The programme is designed to enable managers to lead individuals and teams in delivering aims and objectives in line with organisational strategy. Over 15 months, Chloe and Jo completed modules covering topics such as planning and managing projects, managing change, managing finance, and identifying new approaches to business activities.
At the beginning of the course, Chloe and Jo completed a 360-feedback exercise, gathering feedback from various peers, such as line reports and line managers.
Jo says: “I was out when the email popped up, and I drove home feeling sick before I would open it! It was a turning point for me. It made me realise that how my team saw me was very different to how I saw myself and that I needed to build my own confidence.”
Recognising the skills they’ve developed, Jo says: “Learning to lead as well as manage was really important – they are two very different things. I had to learn to have the confidence in myself and my own skillset, in order to lead my team effectively.”
Chloe adds: “You can manage people and a team, but you need to lead so they follow your leadership and trust in you. I feel like this course has completely changed me as a leader. Thinking back on everything we’ve learnt, it’s made me approach situations very differently.
“A real learning curve for me was catching myself from suppressing my team. I want them to grow and learn their own skills. I’ve learnt to not take everything on myself, and I’m delegating so much more than I ever have and it’s helping my team feel more empowered.”
Jo comments: “One of the biggest things for me was understanding different learning styles – starting with my own and then applying that to how I support others, making sure I am inclusive in the way I share information and communicate.”
Chloe agrees: “Every single one of my direct reports learns differently, so you need to communicate with them differently.
“We also had to learn how to say no and make sure our diaries were up to date – we had to plan really well to do the course alongside our jobs, and that’s another skill we can take away.”
Mandy Irons, Head of Wellbeing Services, says: “A huge well done and congratulations to Chloe and Jo. It was a pleasure to present them with flowers alongside Rebecca Franks to mark the occasion. They’ve both worked so hard over the last 15 months to get this achievement, and it’s so well deserved.”
Reflecting on their experience, Chloe says: “It was well worth it. We’ve learnt so much and I would advise people to go on the course. It’s not just benefited us, but also our teams and it’s made us better leaders, which helps St Barnabas.
It’s not just about getting extra qualifications – it’s about becoming better leaders. We now feel more confident, we can delegate, bring fresh ideas and new ways of working.”
Jo adds: “Don’t overthink it, just go for it! If you get the opportunity, do it, because it’s well worth the journey.”
CMI is a professional body – and the only chartered body – for management and leadership. Completing a CMI qualification offers Chloe and Jo more than just academic standing, they now have access to CMI Membership.