Ministry of Defence
On a mission to retain talent.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is a British government department whose mission is to protect the UK. With 2,000 commercial staff, it is one of the biggest public procurement organisations in Europe, managing some of the most complex and technologically advanced requirements in the world.
Attracting, developing and retaining talent
Attracting, developing and retaining talent is fundamental to achieving its mission. For many years, CIPS has supported the MOD to do just that, with the relationship strengthening thanks to new educational initiatives developed to suit the organisation’s unique needs.
CIPS People Development Programmes
On appointment to the role of Chief Executive of the Civil Service, John Manzoni set the challenge to upskill the entire government’s commercial function, which is responsible for procurement.
That change of focus lead to CIPS training and accreditation becoming an integral part of the Ministry of Defence’s process of granting licenses to staff to procure goods and services.
Fast forward a few years and MCIPS accreditation has become the recognised standard for Government Commercial Function staff at managerial level, while CIPS Diploma or Practitioner level has become the standard for roles with less procurement responsibility
The vision
The vision was to establish a structured pathway to develop commercial staff from entry level all the way to senior leadership.
The goal
The MOD’s goal is for 100% of commercial staff to be trained to, or working towards, at least CIPS Diploma level and multiple learning programmes are now running to help reach the target.
The outcome
In just 4 years, over 900 Ministry staff have been supported and funded through a qualifications programme and over 400 have been supported through an applied learning programme.
Identifying the gaps
The early days of the partnership saw CIPS provide a training needs analysis of MOD staff, based on the Global Standard in Procurement and Supply, a competency framework that sets out what skills are needed at all levels within the profession.
This highlighted the core skills required by the workforce, and what gaps existed, so the Ministry was able to identify the best available courses and develop their own supplementary programmes, making the most of their training budget. New recruits continue to undergo a competence test that ensures a common standard is reached before they are permitted to commit to contractual spend.
The most popular learning programmes are the traditional qualifications, offered as either self-study or with face-to-face workshops according to location and circumstance, and Corporate Award applied learning programmes, which relate theoretical learning to real-life organisational challenges.
Applied learning approach
The applied learning approach has been tailored to add a defence industry context through case studies and assignments. It has also been mapped to MOD objectives and DSAT.
Programme variants
This appears to have gone down particularly well with learners, evidenced by an excellent first-time pass rate. Programme variants have also been developed to minimise time away from work and to provide fast-track options.
Senior leadership programme
The most recent innovation has been the introduction of a senior leadership programme that takes professionals beyond MCIPS to Executive Diploma – the same level of learning as a Master’s degree.
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