(ILM) Institute of Leadership and Management

The Background

The Institute of Leadership and Management lays a credible claim to be the UK's largest management awarding body with over 90,000 student registrations in 2007. ILM was formed in November 2001 through the merger of the Institute of Supervisory Management (ISM) and NEBS Management. Like CMI it is committed to raising the performance of business by championing management and to help individuals identify and progress through their management careers.

This is the ILM mission statement

ILM aspires to be a global authority on leadership and management, becoming the largest professional management organisation in the world.

ILM has over 30,000 individual members.

Like CMI, ILM is both a membership body and an awarding body. Managers studying for qualifications automatically become studying members of ILM and get a user name and password to access the ILM's comprehensive on line learning resources which include book summaries, articles and fact sheets, electronic management journals, e-learning modules and physical book loans.

Student members also receive the ILM magazine called "Edge" and get invited to local ILM networking events.

At the end of the programme, delegates can choose to upgrade to full ILM membership and go on to become Associates and eventually Fellows of the organisation.

If you would like to know more about the ILM have a look at www.i-l-m.com or phone them on 01543 266867

ILM Qualifications - Approach to Assessment

Similar to CMI, ILM is also quite rigorous in its approach to assessment but make a specific effort to vary the nature of the assessed work between elements such as reflective diary, management report and so on. Again, clear evidence of learning outcomes is required, but ILM is happy to consider various different assessment alternatives as long as this can be proved and recorded.

ILM Qualifications - Our personal view

What makes ILM different is the "size" of its units. ILM units are generally 2, 3 or 4 credits in size, whereas CMI and Edexcel are generally 6/7 units or more. This gives you a much greater flexibility when it comes to tailoring your programme to match your organisational needs. However there is a downside in that it can be hard to then assemble your chosen units into a viable programme of taught days - sometimes you end up with strange pairings of units to be covered in the same taught day. Also you end up having to have more units in your programme and this can sometimes increase the amount of teaching and assessment needed, and hence have an impact on the cost.

ILM is also a highly professional organisation. The reason why they have so many learner registrations is that ILM is particularly strong at Management Levels 2 and 3 with a strong emphasis on NVQ (assessed "on the job" portfolios" which Croft Centre does not do). At these lower management levels, government funding support is often available towards the costs of providing the training and the qualifications are often delivered through large local colleges. ILM therefore makes a particularly good awarding body partner for organisations with large numbers of lower level managers to train and develop.

However ILM also offers a flexible choice of qualification at senior management level between a "leadership" route or an "executive management" route - which is something that neither of the other two awarding bodies expressly do - although you can achieve a similar thing in terms of subject coverage through the units you choose.

Like CMI we find the responsiveness of ILM customer services to be very good - although possibly as an organisation they are not quite as proactive.

ILM - Units offered

Below is a table showing the ILM units offered at each of First Line, Middle and Senior Management levels.

Alongside each one is a Credit value (Cr). The second row shows how many credits are required to make up each of A - Award, C - Certificate, D-Diploma

At each level for each qualification, some units are compulsory - = required at that level

A special note about ILM Level 7

At Level 7 ILM offers the following programmes and qualifications:

Award, Certificate and Diploma in Executive Management
Award, Certificate and Diploma in Strategic Leadership
Combined Diploma in Executive Management and Strategic Leadership

Therefore the key for the Level 7 columns below is as follows:

(Red dot) = Compulsory for the three Executive Management qualifications

(Blue dot) = Compulsory for the Leadership qualifications

(Purple dot) = Compulsory for the Diploma in Executive Management and Strategic Leadership

¢ Light blue shading = Not offered by ILM as a choice for leadership qualifications but OK for Exec Man

¢ Light red shading = Not offered as a choice for Executive Management qualifications but OK for Leadership

¢ Solid black shading = Not offered by ILM as a choice for either Exec Man or Leadership as part of an "Award"

Please click here to download this table as a PDF

Level 3	Level 5	Level 7
No.	Name	Cr	A	C	D	No.	Name	Cr	A	C	D	No.	Name	Cr	A	C	D1	D2
*Credits required*		5	20	37				10	30	45				12	30	60	90
3.01	Solving problems and making decisions	2				4.01	Understanding the management role	4				6.01	Developing the executive manager	6
3.02	Understanding change in the workplace	2				4.02	Developing management skills	4				6.02	Critical thinking and research skills in management	6
3.03	Planning change in the workplace	2				5.01	Developing the reflective manager	4				6.03	Reviewing corporate policy and strategy	6
3.04	Achieving objectives through time management	1				5.02	Managing improvement	3				6.04	Optimising organisational capacity	6
3.05	Writing for business	1				5.03	Making a financial case	3				6.05	Developing excellence in operations	6
3.06	Managing creativity and innovation in the workplace	1				5.04	Developing the manager as a critical thinker	4				6.06	Leading project implementation	12
3.07	Obtaining information for effective management	2				5.05	Leading innovation and change	5				7.01	Making informed decisions	6
3.08	Managing customer service	1				5.06	Becoming an effective leader	5				7.02	Leadership in practice	6
3.09	Giving briefings and making presentations in the workplace	1				5.07	Managing individual development	4				7.03	Developing the reflective leader	6
3.10	Introduction to leadership	2				5.08	Managing stress and conflict in the organisation	3				7.04	The leadership journey	6
3.11	Building the tea	1				5.09	Communication in management	4				7.05	Leading change in organisations	6
3.12	Motivating to perform in the workplace	2				5.10	Understanding the organisational environment	5				7.06	Developing and implementing corporate policy and strategy	12
3.13	Developing yourself and others	2				5.11	Understanding organisational culture and ethics	3				7.07	Building commitment to corporate vision and values	6
3.14	Managing conflict in the workplace	1				5.12	Managing customer relations	3				7.08	Developing the chief executive officer	6
3.15	Managing stress in the workplace	1				5.13	Managing for efficiency and effectiveness	4				7.09	Financial appraisal of proposed capital projects	6
3.16	Managing the employment relationship	2				5.14	Understanding financial management	2				7.10	Managing corporate risk	6
3.17	Recruiting, selecting and inducting new staff in the workplace	3				5.15	Managing projects in the organisation	4				7.11	Promoting excellence	6
3.18	Coaching and training your work team	2				5.16	Managing a healthy and safe environment	2				7.12	Promoting organisational commitment to customer satisfaction	6
3.19	Providing quality to customers	2				5.17	Managing resources	4				7.13	Managing knowledge	6
3.20	Planning to work efficiently	2				5.18	Managing information	4				7.14	Strategic management of human resources	12
3.21	Organising and delegating	1				5.19	Managing meetings	3				7.15	Improving marketing strategy	6
3.22	Managing projects	2				5.20	Managing recruitment	5				7.16	Ensuring long term financial stability	6
3.23	Managing health and safety at work	3				5.21	Managing marketing	3				7.17	Team working in organisational partnerships	6
3.24	Understanding organisations in their context	2				5.22	Conducting work analysis	2				7.18	Leading programmes	12
3.25	Understanding culture and ethics in organisations	2				5.23	Analysing and interpreting statistics to inform management decisions	2
3.26	Managing performance	1				5.24	Conducting operations research	2
3.27	Working with costs and budgets	1				5.25	Analysing and presenting data to inform management decisions	2
3.28	Managing the efficient use of materials	1				5.26	Managing facilities	2
3.29	Managing the effective use of equipment	1
3.30	Understanding the communication process in the workplace	1
3.31	Influencing others at work	1
3.32	Communicating one-to-one at work	1
3.33	Effective meetings for managers	2
3.34	Understanding workplace information systems	1
3.35	Marketing for managers	1