Does the Apprentice provide any useful learning for managers?

I recently came across a poll on the CMI website that asked participants “Does the Apprentice provide any useful learning for managers?” interestingly currently 62% agree that it does.

Our coverage over series touched upon various do’s and don’t we can learn from the contestants, from sales techniques, to presentation skills and general business acumen. What we also saw across the series was the impact that the project manager could have on their team and subsequently impact on their success in the task. It was evident which of the candidates had management experience and those who had the technical expertise for that task but don’t necessarily have the leadership experience to manage their team effectively.

We like to call these people the ‘accidental manager’ – These are team members who have been promoted or have defaulted into the management role because they are the most experienced or most successful in the team. Yet they haven’t been given the tools to lead effectively and what results is disengaged and less effective teams. Research shows that line managers have a 60% impact on their team’s performance and we saw this first hand throughout the Apprentice series.

We asked the CMI what they thought…

Lee McQueens Apprentice Byline – The Final

The Apprentice – The Finale

An Irish charmer, a mad inventor, an overgrown toddler and a sociophobic robot walk into a boardroom. The smell of desperation wafts through the tension-heavy air… no, this isn’t the beginning of an awful joke. It’s the grand finale of the Apprentice.

*Cue dramatic Apprentice music

This is the part where the four finalists are called into separate interviews with business type folk and ripped to shreds for our entertainment. Margaret Mountford is among them.  First to fall at her hands is Helen. When her success in the tasks so far is mentioned, she stupidly, and modestly answers “I’ve been very lucky.” Now really is the time to blow your own horn, Helen.

Meanwhile, Jim’s business plan / novel of buzzwords and clichés is under the microscope. He’s asked if he has a problem expressing himself succinctly. Hoho Jim does not like to be challenged. I can see the murderous revenge plot forming in his steely blue eyes.

Lee McQueen’s byline – Mexican v British Pies

Week eleven – a fantastic week on the apprentice.

It’s a different format with the £250,000 investment as week 11 is usually the interview but this week was the final task before the interviews. With the final 5 it was 2 versus 3.  The task this week was to set up and run a fast food outlet….no mean feat to get something like this up and running in 2 days.

This week saw the formidable Helen was project manager. She had Tom with her and what a fantastic team. As PM, Helen was organised with great attention to detail, particularly on choosing the right product which was high end and 100% British.  Tom was let loose on the creative and came up with ‘My Py’ which were smaller pies so everyone could get a variety of tastes of totally British ingredients.  I was a bit disappointed that neither team came up with a health food concept which I think would have been a great idea in reality.

On the other team, Jim was PM and was back to the fore with his charm.  However, last time he project managed he wasn’t very good and lost.  This time it was the same story and he lost.  He did however have Natasha and Susie with him who, not because individually they are bad but when they are together they just want to cat fight.  Jim had his hands full trying to manage them and didn’t really get much out of them at all.  They went for a Mexican theme with sombreros and cacti.  It was OK but the food was slow and looked a bit of a mess.  To quote Lord Sugar in the board room, he said the nachos looked like his sons dog puke!!!  Which made me laugh!

The Apprentice Episode 11: Who ate all the pies?

In a twist to the regular format, Lord Sugar decided to postpone the dreaded interview round in the penultimate show of the series, in favour of a fast food challenge. The candidates were set the task of creating, branding, and producing a fast food chain to determine who would reach the final boardroom.

This week really separated the men from the boys. Helen and Tom on team Logic dominated this episode with their business skills and talent. Helen was team leader and showcased her amazing organisational abilities. She also proved to be a good leader – she recognised Tom’s creative flair and allowed him to be in charge of branding when in fact that was the gig she was really after.

Tom’s dyslexia in this episode proved to be the winning element when deciding on a new brand name “MyPy”. The duo decided to theme the fast food around the ‘best of British’ and focused on pie and mash – good choice. Tom demonstrated his creative abilities and his eye for detail in the branding aspect of the task as the shop had a quintessential English theme while still remaining modern.

The pair worked seamlessly together on this task. The concept was great, they knew their business plan and profit margins while at the same time creating quality food – all served to the customer in under 3 minutes! I fully expect one of these candidates to be ‘hired’ in the next episode. The only thing letting this team down were their history skills – naming the menu after famous British people and then calling the mash Christopher Columbus (who was Italian) was not the smartest of moves.

Team Venture on the other hand made a real meal of it!

Lee McQueen’s byline – Task 10

Afternoon everybody just to give you a quick overview on week 10 – we are fast approaching top 5 after this week.  I’ll give you my thoughts on the top 5 in a second but just now I want to give you my views on the week that has just passed and ‘The Reinvestment Task’.   I think this is something I would have relished – going out there selling, trying to get as much profit as you can and then actually reinvesting that when you can see what is actually happening.

Natasha put herself forward as PM and she was a brilliant manager and the other Project Manager was Melody.  Now some people have been a bit critical of Melody since weeks 7/ 8/ 9, but I’ve liked her all the way through.  It’s the first time she’s been the PM since week 1 but she put herself forward – here I’d like to dispel a myth really – everyone gets really het up on who puts themselves forward! I know Lord Sugar asks you about that every week but by week 10 that doesn’t really make any difference, so I personally believe that by week 10 everybody should be comfortable with and understand the process and know what to expect and now they know each other.  This is why anyone who’s PM should get the plot by now – if we work together as a team, then we win the task, therefore none of us will be fired! 

The Apprentice Episode 10: Duvetgate

Reinvestment was the name of the game in this week’s apprentice task which saw a week of first’s for the show; first coup, first fine and first punishment. Lord Alan Sugar gave each team £250 of wholesale goods with the goal of reinvesting. They needed to go and sell, then buy more of the best sellers and sell sell sell. It’s what every business, from sole trader to multinational, does every minute of the day – surely this would be a simple task for the business elite? Well you would be surprised!

Helen’s Hostile Takeover

The competitive edge in all of the candidates cranked up a notch this week. Usually well mannered and very polite Helen revealed her ruthless side and tried to stage a coup. Despairing of project manager Melody’s performance on the previous day, Helen decided to put herself forward and take on the PM role for the rest of the task in order to benefit the team! To give credit to Melody, she did handle this very well, “Well no to that” and pretended the situation hadn’t happened, while poor Tom looked incredibly uncomfortable throughout the meeting.

Task 9 – Lee McQueen’s byline

Episode 9 Really Takes the Biscuit

Our resident Apprentice blogger Angela Cripps is now taking the summer off (lucky thing!) so Bluesky PR will be continuing with the series for us and don’t forget to keep your eye out for Lee McQueens byline each week. Thanks to Angela for a fantastic take on the series which was enjoyed by many. Have a great Summer!

This week, the two teams were tasked with inventing, branding and selling their own biscuit. Sweet.

In case you’re finding it difficult to keep up with the ever-changing teams, Natasha, Jim and Helen are now Team Venture and Melody, Susan, Zoe and Tom are now Team Logic. If I were put on Team Logic, I’d keep a suitcase packed… the odds wouldn’t exactly be stacked in my favour…

Task 8 – Lee McQueen’s Apprentice Byline

Wow Helen. She is definitely the one to beat, after the pitch that she did. I think Suzy was good aswell. She single-handedly beat the others with her last pitch. These two really rose to the occasion.

I’m not saying I like Melody as much this week (certainly not as much as Lord Sugar did!), but saying that she was brilliant. I think this week it’s all about the woman, the fellas didn’t do anything.

I fear for Tom – he got out of jail this week. I think if Leon had done a little bit more in a couple of the tasks, he wouldn’t haven’t been fired. Tom just wasn’t forceful enough – he’s not assertive enough to get his ideas across. On the flip side, Melody was very assertive. They need to take a piece out of each others books.

It’s 5 women against 2 fellas. I was hoping a bloke would win this year, but I think that’s going to be a long shot now. Who knows… Jim may still pull it off!

Top 5: Definitely Helen, Melody, Suzy and then Zoe and probably Jim. It could be all women with Natasha in there, but I think it will be Jim.

Posted by Lee McQueen