Ministry of Defence highlights impact of management programme
Source: gov.uk (2025-04-07)

More than eight out of ten of Ministry of Defence line managers say they apply learning from the cross-Civil Service programme to their work

More than eight of ten civil servants from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) who completed Government Skills’ Management: Foundation Programme say they apply their new learning in their current jobs.

The same proportion of participants also said the cross-Civil Service programme was ‘perfectly pitched’ to meet their needs as line managers.

Best practice

The department was an early adopter of the programme and it has helped it deliver on its strategic goal of creating a great culture for staff.

Head of capability, apprenticeships and learning Dan Okin said: “The programme is about teaching the fundamentals of line management capability.

“We want to introduce (our line managers) to management tools and best practice techniques and, most importantly, to make sure they’re confident in using them at the appropriate time.”

Creating an ideal culture

He added: “All this is going to help us create the ideal employee culture within the department.”

Prior to adopting the Management: Foundation programme, the MoD ran its own 12-week blended Line Managers in Defence programme.

But Dan added: “Line management is line management, whether you’re at the MoD, the Home Office, Tesco or Google. Therefore, establishing how much organisational specificity you want or need can be a tricky balancing act.”

The newly refreshed Management: Foundation programme has now been adopted by some 13 government departments as well as devolved governments and multiple agencies.

High performance

MOD’s assistant head of learning and development Danielle Skeete said switching to the Management: Foundation programme was a straightforward process, with the programme’s themes and content representing a good match for the department’s ambitions.

“It resonated with how we believe line management capability to be the basis of any high performing employee environment,” she said.

In Danielle’s view, the peer learning group discussions that follow each of Foundation’s four modules provide the more specific MoD context that some learners want.

Supportive line managers

So her goal is to encourage more learners to attend those discussion groups and to stay in touch after formal learning ends.

“Overall, all our other metrics are really pleasing though.” she said.

“For example, 84% of participants said how supportive their own line managers had been while they were on the programme, protecting their study time and having one-to-one discussions about how they were getting on.

Confident in their skills

“But it’s the fact that 81% have been able to apply what they’ve learned that I find most encouraging. That means that participants feel sufficiently confident in the skills they’ve developed to have a difficult conversation around performance or attendance, for example.

“The Foundation programme represents a significant commitment but knowing that people are bringing what they’ve learned back to the department makes it all worthwhile.”

Explore all available Management programmes. (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/training-for-leaders-in-the-civil-service-and-public-sector)

Find out more about the Management: Foundation programme. (https://learn.civilservice.gov.uk/courses/skWYld2QRHWolvLFsNGXfQ?mc_cid=c4225c3780&mc_eid=f5fba679b1)