The CITB has picked 38 winning bidders for its Leadership and Management Development Fund.

The £2.8m fund was set up to enable large levy registered firms to invest in developing the leadership, management or supervisory skills of their staff. It aims to support over 7,000 workers.

The competitive fund attracted numerous creative bids for in-house training programmes with requests to better understand the training needs of the organisation, or develop new approaches, as well as delivery. A number of successful bids will also develop programmes that work with supply chains.

The ‘areas for action’ vary amongst projects, ranging from recruitment and retention, to productivity improvement, and diversity. Those with a strong focus on the pandemic aim to ensure managers have good interpersonal skills to operate teams successfully in a remote environment, as well as the ability to adapt to short and long term changes in the future.

Others have turned their attention to talent retention and ways of addressing skills gaps to prepare for a post-Covid environment. This includes plans to equip managers with the skills and experience to effectively engage with new recruits and young people. Training will be delivered through a combination of coaching, workshops and e-learning.

Steve Radley, CITB Strategy and Policy Director, said: “This substantial investment will be hugely beneficial for companies as they start to get back on track and into recovery.

“It’s fantastic to see such a variety of innovative initiatives coming through, and I’m really pleased we’ve been able to support so many of them. I look forward to seeing them come to life in the coming months and delivering real impact across construction. We will review the impact of these programmes closely to identify key areas of leadership and management training that the Grants Scheme can support in the future.”

The full list of successful bids can be found here.