Spreading your wings

First moves

the good news for new recruits to social housing is that the sector is growing and it's hungry for more people. That means entrants can pick from an array of employers eager to train them up and help them realise their potential. But when you're starting out, the bewildering choice can make it difficult to find the right path.

Begin by asking yourself some basic questions – what area of housing do you want to concentrate on? How far up the career ladder do you want to progress? And what kinds of courses are you interested in?

Once you've decided where you think you want to go, get some work experience. Dawn O'Sullivan, human resources and organisation development manager at South Staffordshire Housing Association, echoes the views of recruitment consultants and employers across the sector when she says this is an invaluable step.

"A lot of people have an idea what a job will be like but their notions are based on their perceptions rather than first-hand knowledge," she says. "Work experience helps to settle the crucial question – will you actually like working in this type of environment?"

Next, you need to think about training – either through an employer or off your own back. The Chartered Institute of Housing alone offers over 200 courses, many of which lead to a nationally recognised qualification. The National Housing Federation also runs courses and a growing number of employers are developing in-house training and education programmes.

O'Sullivan says her association supports staff who want to do practical skills-based programmes such as national vocational qualifications, which the landlord invigilates itself. An NVQ can be studied up to Level 3, which is equivalent to an A level.

O'Sullivan says: "Not everyone can learn in an academic way. You gain an NVQ by learning about customer services, management or admin – but it's assessed by looking at the work people do rather than by sitting a test. Such qualifications may not be essential but they can still boost people's confidence." An NVQ Level 3 also paves the way for taking the CIH's professional diploma (CIH courses, below).

For graduates coming into the sector who do not have a BA in housing or another relevant degree, some employers are happy to fill the gap by sponsoring a postgraduate course. London & Quadrant Housing Trust runs a two-year programme for six graduates that aims to provide a thorough grounding in housing. Each student spends about six months learning about the four core areas of the business – development, finance, housing management and regeneration. Graduates are not obliged to stay with London & Quadrant after the course.

The idea is that the graduates work alongside colleagues and take responsibility for their assignments rather than simply shadowing a senior person. They can also study a postgraduate course. "It is up to the student to decide what course they will study and which college they will study at. As long as it relates to the work we are doing, we will support them," says Barry Smith, training manager at the trust.

As well as training aimed at new entrants, most employers provide courses to hone skills that will help meet corporate objectives. For example, Home Group runs a personal development review programme for each member of staff. This involves regular meetings between the staff member and their line manager to assess whether they have the skills required to meet Home Group's aims. Training will then be geared towards meeting these objectives.

Margaret Mossum, director of corporate affairs at the group, explains. "We might, for instance, decide to boost equality and diversity as part of our business plan. We will then ensure that all staff are up to date with the issues in that area. On a personal level, we want staff to feel that they are continuously improving and will offer courses in things like report writing and IT, if staff feel they need them to progress.

Or we will second them to a different part of the organisation."

She adds: "It's also important to get perspectives from outside the sector so we don't just stick to CIH courses."

Mid-life metamorphosis

once you get several years of experience under your belt – whether as a housing officer, customer services adviser or development assistant – you may start to feel that, somewhere inside you, there's a manager struggling to get out.

You could concentrate on gaining technical more expertise but, to rise through the ranks, you'll usually need to take on some supervisory responsibilities. Often, making it to the first tier of management depends not so much on your qualifications as on your experience and skills. For example, at South Staffordshire HA, you progress by showing you can deal with certain kinds of incident. Each position has specified skill requirements – as you demonstrate them, you rise through salary bands, usually accruing more responsibility as you go.

But human resource consultants and most employers agree that specific management training is required to do a managerial job. The Chartered Institute of Housing, the National Housing Federation, universities and management institutions all offer such training. The ODPM agrees: it launched a development programme for middle managers in local government last week.

According to Sandy Staff, human resources consultant at Conway Staff Partnership, as long as the course covers the basics of management skills, it does not have to be specific to housing. She says a good course would cover how to discipline staff and conduct appraisals of them, how to set your team objectives, manage sickness leave and absence and how to recruit new employees.

"In too many cases, people are put into a management position who are experienced from a technical point of view but don't have a grounding in these areas – so it's important to ask for training if it hasn't already been offered," says Staff.

Debbie Viner, human resources manager at Gallions Housing Association, agrees that careful consideration needs to be given to developing generic managerial skills. The association has introduced a management programme that is coordinated by the Chartered Management Institute. It leads to either a certificate or a diploma in management, both are nationally recognised qualifications. But, says Viner, even these qualifications aren't enough to produce a top-class manager. "You've still got to apply these skills and for that you need effective support from other colleagues in the form of coaching or mentoring."

Circle 33 also believes in the importance of providing mentors to aspiring managers. The group uses external mentors – consultants – to guide middle managers through their career. But it is also looking at developing an internal system, following the success of an assessment scheme it recently started. The scheme involves staff judging each other's effectiveness – each employee gets feedback from at least 12 other colleagues.

People with energy, drive and a high degree of self-awareness will always be in demand 

Anne Elliott, HACAS

Circle 33 has gone through the process with its senior management team and is now focusing on middle management. Howard Cresswell, deputy group chief executive at Circle 33, says the exercise underscored the importance of tailored career development programmes. "There is no single training course that can give a person everything they need, but a mentor can match the teaching and guidance to an individual," he says.

For Steve Cooley, housing recruitment consultant at Veredus Consulting, the key to reaching the upper echelons of management is to grasp the changing nature of the social housing market. "Traditionally, CIH qualifications were essential if you were going to really succeed in the sector, but this is no longer the case," he says. "You now need an in-depth knowledge of the changing market and an understanding of where housing sits in the broader urban renaissance agenda. Partnership working skills – working with private developers, councils, contractors and so on – are now just as important as housing management skills."

Become a high-flyer

To successfully climb the executive career ladder, you'll need more than good management skills: you'll have to develop the qualities of leadership.

While management is about the supervision of staff and making sure the office or department is functioning smoothly, senior managers or executive directors are there to provide strategic direction to an organisation and shape its identity. Housing executives and executive recruitment consultants agree that to develop as a leader, you need to take a long, hard look at your own behaviour towards other people and consider whether it needs to be modified.

Anne Elliott, director of executive recruitment consultant Hacas Chapman Hendy, says no matter what kind of technical or educational background someone has, it will be their ability to motivate others and to think strategically that will single them out as a potential leader.

"Those people who are receptive to others, who have a high degree of self-awareness and a high degree of energy and drive will always be in demand," she says.

Arguably, leadership skills are something you either have or you don't but most people in the sector believe these qualities can also be developed through specialised programmes and mentoring schemes. Some housing associations, including Circle 33 and Harvest Housing Group, are devising lists of leadership aptitudes to help identify and develop the ingredients of effective leadership.

At Circle 33, group deputy chief executive Howard Cresswell and his team have identified five broad areas of ability that senior managers can measure themselves and others against (see Taking the lead, right). "There's a growing realisation in the sector that leadership qualities have to be nurtured," says Cresswell. "Recognising the characteristics that contribute to leadership is a starting point for identifying what we need to concentrate on."

To help raise leadership standards in the sector, the Chartered Institute of Housing has devised a leadership programme for housing in partnership with Warwick University's business school. Now in its second year, the programme looks at three modules – leadership capabilities; negotiating, influencing and partnering; and market awareness.

Martin Winn, director of professional practice at the CIH, says leadership skills are more important than ever for those in the higher echelons in housing. "Registered social landlords are acting more and more like businesses and their leaders have far more control over the direction an organisation takes," he says.

Circle 33's Cresswell, who attended the course last year, says it was "very useful, as it enabled you to stand back from your job and explore sophisticated management theory".

In preparing for an executive role, some people opt to take the master in business administration (MBA). Opinions about the value of a qualification like this in the social housing sector are mixed. Liz Cross, head of Harvest Housing Group's corporate services directorate, gained an MBA in 1992 and says the course is beneficial only up to a point.

"An MBA is great for teaching you to think critically and covers some important areas such as high-level finance and the mechanics of running a business," she says.

"It can boost your confidence and if you are a woman or a black or minority-ethnic individual it can give you the edge for competing in what is still not a level playing field. But an MBA is preoccupied with knowledge, not the aptitudes you need to make it as a leader or how to apply what you have learned."

Others agree. One recruitment consultant says he has met people with MBAs who "couldn't manage their way out of a paper bag". Liz Cross' message is clear: for an MBA to make a difference, you need to prove how you have applied the knowledge you have learned.

For Circle 33's Cresswell, this means people need to think hard about the merits of undertaking this kind of study. "We do support people who want to undertake an MBA, but we make sure they understand the commitment it needs. It takes up a lot of your free time for three years and it's not all relevant to housing.

"People also have to pay back part of the course fees – about £6000 – if they leave our organisation within three years of gaining the award. Often the best way to really stretch an individual's potential is to put them in charge of a major project."

Patrick Etefia is managing director of recruitment consultant HRM Consulting and holds an MBA that he gained during his former career in social housing. He agrees that candidates need to demonstrate the practical results of having studied an MBA. But he says it can and does make job candidates stand out. "It is definitely a benefit over a more specialised qualification," he adds.