This unit builds on the fundamentals of learning and development. It focuses on developing leaders and managers to ensure they have the necessary knowledge, skills and experience to drive a cohesive, diverse, innovative and high-performing working environment.
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Your 5OS06 assignment questions will closely follow these assessment criteria. Here's what the marker is looking for in each one.
Cover the impact of external pressures: frequency of change, increased competition and customer choice, political interventions, changes to working methods, and EDI requirements. Also consider the stages and maturity of organisational development. The marker wants you to explain why leadership and management development is not optional — it is driven by real external pressures that organisations must respond to.
Distinguish between leadership and management — their differing and contrasting roles and functions in relation to power, authority, control, and relationships with others. The marker wants clear, accurate definitions that show understanding of how leadership and management are different but interdependent — you cannot have effective management without leadership, and vice versa.
Cover the main leadership and management approaches: autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire. Include mainstream behavioural theories: traits, situational, contingent, path-goal, transformational, transactional, participative, and charismatic leadership. The marker wants you to show understanding of how different styles suit different contexts — not just describe each theory in isolation.
Cover soft and hard approaches, emotional intelligence and resilience, sensitivity to events, professional knowledge, analytical and problem-solving skills, attribution theory and cognitive biases, and the ability to lead and manage people. Include driving positive EDI agendas, ethical governance, and wellbeing awareness. The word 'compare' means the marker wants you to identify both similarities and differences in what leaders and managers need to be effective.
Cover the practical role of L&D and people professionals: establishing learning needs, training needs analysis, gap analysis, designing and delivering L&D interventions, identifying and supporting potential leaders and managers, and providing advice on individual and group development. The marker wants you to show clear understanding of the specific contribution people professionals make to leadership development.
Cover formal and informal approaches: educational programmes, secondments, work-based projects, on- and off-the-job learning, job rotation, shadow boards, coaching, mentoring, peer learning, action learning sets, 360-degree feedback, critical incident techniques, e-learning, skills rehearsal, simulation, and social media. Include competency frameworks, assessment and development centres, self-development, and the importance of reflection. The word 'evaluate' means the marker wants critical assessment of effectiveness, not just a list.
Cover the development of leaders' and managers' awareness of community and cultural change, workforce representation, and approaches to recognise bias and equity. Address barriers to EDI initiatives and practical areas for attention: language, unconscious bias, cultural norms, non-verbal signals, accessibility considerations (fonts, text sizes, colour, volume, brightness), and corporate social responsibilities. The marker wants a genuine discussion of why EDI integration matters, not just a tick-box exercise.
Cover key partnership stakeholders: sponsors, participants, senior leaders, managers, and non-L&D professionals. Explain how to involve stakeholders, ensure their contributions, and communicate aims, objectives, and success indicators. The marker wants you to show understanding of the stakeholder landscape around leadership development — who needs to be involved and why.
Cover evaluation processes and methods: individual and organisational performance evidence, effective succession, retention rates, value-added KPIs, employee satisfaction indicators, and achievement of KPIs. Include evaluation theories (e.g. Kirkpatrick) and the extent to which established purposes and identified learning needs have been met. The marker wants you to evaluate — critically assess which indicators are most meaningful and reliable.
Cover perception vs reality, nature and types of change, measuring the effect of change, positive and negative impacts, who is affected (individuals, groups, departments, whole organisation, customers), and whether impacts are transitional, temporary, or sustained. Include increased motivation, reduced turnover, improved outputs, positive external reporting, and increased internal harmony. The marker wants a thorough assessment of real-world impact — not just aspirational claims.
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