Operations or Departmental Manager
An Operations or departmental manager is someone who manages teams and/or projects, and achieving operational or departmental goals and objectives, as part of the delivery of the organisations strategy. They are accountable to a more senior manager or business owner. Working in the private, public or third sector and in all sizes of organisation, specific responsibilities and job titles will vary, but the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed will be the same. Key responsibilities may include creating and delivering operational plans, managing projects, leading and managing teams, managing change, financial and resource management, talent management, coaching and mentoring. Roles may include: Operations manager, Regional manager, Divisional manager, Department manager and Specialist managers.
The Operational/Departmental Manager apprenticeship programme is the perfect pathway for those interested in managing people, teams and projects. The programme has business efficiency, effectiveness and productivity at its core. To achieve this the programme provides the knowledge, skills and behaviours that are desirable within any business sector and paves the way for progression into more senior management roles.
Existing employees who are progressing to a management role which encompasses project management, leading people and strategic implementation.
5
30 Months
Entry Requirements

- Be aged 16 or over
- Not currently in education or completing any Government funded training or qualifications
- Have been a UK resident for the last 3 years
- Employed for a minimum of 16 hours per week
- Spend at least 50% of your employed hours in England
- Must be in or progressing to a management role which includes project management, leading people and strategic implementation.
- Candidates will need to score at least Entry Level 3 in English and maths initial assessments completed during the Skills Edge enrolment process.
Features and Benefits
As a Skills Edge student you will benefit from:
Regular one to one support sessions
Access to a range of visual resources
Structured learning plan supported by your employer
All workshops recorded and available on-demand
Monthly workshops to develop the relevant knowledge and skillset of a Operations/Departmental Manager
Interactive chat, forums and class notebooks for real time support and assistance from experienced and qualified Business professionals
Course Structure Overview

Key Learning Outcomes
Operational management
Able to input into strategic planning and create plans in line with organisational objectives.
Support, manage and communicate change by identifying barriers and overcoming them. Demonstrate commercial awareness, and able to identify and shape new opportunities. Creation and delivery of operational plans, including setting KPIs, monitoring performance against plans. Producing reports, providing management information based on the collation, analysis and interpretation of data.
Project management
Know how to set up and manage a project using relevant tools and techniques, and understand process management. Understand approaches to risk management.
Plan, organise and manage resources to deliver required outcomes. Monitor progress, and identify risk and their mitigation. Able to use relevant project management tools
Finance
Understand business finance: how to manage budgets, and financial forecasting.
Understand business finance: how to manage budgets, and financial forecasting.
Managing people
Know how to manage multiple teams, and develop high performing teams. Understand performance management techniques, talent management models and how to recruit and develop people.
Able to manage talent and performance. Develop, build and motivate teams by identifying their strengths and enabling development within the workplace. Able to delegate and enable delivery though others.
Leading people
Understand different leadership styles, how to lead multiple and remote teams and manage team leaders. Know how to motivate and improve performance, supporting people using coaching and mentoring approaches. Understand organisational cultures and diversity and their impact on leading and managing change. Know how to delegate
effectively.
Able to communicate organisational vision and goals and how these to apply to teams.
Support development through coaching and mentoring, and enable and support high performance working. Able to support the management of change within the organisation.
Building relationships
Understand approaches to partner, stakeholder and supplier relationship management including negotiation, influencing, and effective networking. Knowledge of collaborative working techniques to enable delivery through others and how to share best practice. Know how to manage conflict at all levels.
Able to build trust, and use effective negotiation and influencing skills and manage conflict.
Able to identify and share good practice, and work collaboratively with others both inside and outside of the organisation. Use of specialist advice and support to deliver against plans.

Full information on all outcomes for this course can be found on the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education website.
End Point Assessment:
The End-Point-Assessment (EPA) is conducted by an independent organisation, who will assess the Apprentice’s knowledge, skills and behaviours through the following methods:
Professional Discussion
This assessment will take the form of a professional discussion which must be appropriately structured to draw out the best of the apprentice’s competence and excellence and cover the KSBs assigned to this assessment method.
Project Proposal, Presentation and Questioning
The assessment method is the production of a project proposal, presentation and questioning. A project proposal involves the apprentice completing a relevant and defined piece of work that has a real business benefit. Apprentices will prepare and deliver a presentation that, along with the proposal, appropriately covers the KSBs assigned to this method of assessment. It will be followed by questioning from the independent assessor.
Level 5 Operations or Departmental Manager Journey
