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OU Leadership for professionals course for ACCA members
The second of The Open University’s continuing professional development (CPD) modules, produced in collaboration with ACCA, is now available
10 Oct 2007
Leadership for professionals follows on from the successful first course - Influencing Strategic Thinking, for finance professionals – which was available to ACCA members from June 2007.
Leadership for professionals covers many aspects related to leadership issues , from understanding different approaches to leadership to appreciating the factors that affect personal, operational and strategic networking.
The course also details the impact leadership may have at whatever level someone is in the organisation, the effect it can have on others and on the business itself. It includes activities that will provide ACCA members with an opportunity to reflect on their current leadership styles, identify what is particularly successful about what they do now and identify what they might want to develop further.
Clare Minchington, managing director – learning and technical policy at ACCA, said: ‘A particularly modern aspect of the module is the need for the 21st century manager to understand the importance of emotional intelligence as part of professional leadership. The thinking is that it’s not enough to have a strong intelligence quotient (IQ) these days, but also to have a strong emotional quotient (EQ).’
She added: ‘The course is designed to enable finance professionals to contribute more effectively to strategic decisions in their working lives. We have had excellent feedback to the first module offered in June 2007, particularly because of the flexible on-line element of the course which enables participants to work at their own pace.’
Other areas covered in Leadership for professionals include:
- Understanding what an effective leader can do to empower others
- Enabling the creation of an innovative and creative climate within an organisation
- Appreciating the influences on decision making and use that insight to identify ways in which to make more effective decisions
- Being able to create and communicate a vision
- Identifying ways in which goal setting can be effectively linked to your organisational objectives
- Appreciating the factors that affect personal, operational and strategic networking
‘Finance professionals have skills, attributes and knowledge to contribute’, says Charles Edwards, the Open University’s director of continuing professional development. ‘A grounding in leadership, so they can understand and demystify the language, models, developments and latest trends, will increase their influence in their organisations. If you’re a busy, practising professional, this course is ideal. You can study your 30 hours when and where suits you and choose activities that help you address immediately the leadership issues that you face in the workplace.’
The course also includes expert on-line support and feedback from the course learning advisors, whose role is to give the individual development feedback, not a numerical pass mark. Additionally, if following the unit route, successful completion of this course will count towards members’ full CPD requirement for the year, if relevant to their role.
For media enquires please contact:
Helen Thompson, ACCA press office
+ 44 (0) 20 7059 5759 / 07725 498 654