High Capability, Low Investment: Why the Creative Industries Must Close the Management Training Gap

By Jed Nykolle Harme

April 28, 2026

Photo Credits: Unsplash

Management training is the quiet productivity problem in the creative industries. A new Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre report finds that creative firms with ten or more employees score higher on overall management capability than the wider economy, yet their training rate stands at just 33%, against a cross-economy average of 44%. In Ireland, the Cultural and Creative Industries Skillnet in May 2025 identified management development and leadership capacity among the key skills gaps cited across the creative workforce.

The Creative PEC report reads as an operational excellence diagnosis as much as a management survey. Creative firms have high capability but low investment in developing it, a combination that caps performance over time. Better management training correlates directly with improved turnover, employment growth, and innovation: the metrics that define operational success for growth-focused organisations.

The scale of underinvestment is striking. Creative PEC director of policy Bernard Hay noted that management training investment has declined further since 2017, representing close to a decade of sustained underinvestment. Creative employers are less likely than peers in other sectors to anticipate a need to upgrade management and leadership skills. More than nine in ten creative businesses are taking some action, but most approaches are internally focused, with few seeking external expertise to accelerate improvement.

The operational gaps identified are specific and actionable. Creative firms lag on enterprise resource planning, HR management, and customer relationship software: the systems that translate operational intent into measurable performance. Report co-author Heather Carey confirmed that creative firms lead on innovation and technology adoption, but identified strengthening formal management approaches and accelerating best practice diffusion from leading firms as clear areas requiring action across the sector.

The Irish creative sector is well-positioned to act. The Cultural and Creative Industries Skillnet, working with Animation Ireland, Screen Ireland, and Coimisiun na Mean, has developed structured leadership programmes to build management capability in creative organisations. Ireland's Creative Industries Sector Plan identifies the sector as a high growth priority, and closing the management capability gap is a prerequisite for realising the commercial ambitions within that plan.

Three operational priorities stand out. First, creative organisations should establish formal management development programmes rather than relying on ad hoc, internally focused approaches. Second, investment in operational systems including enterprise resource planning and HR software should be treated as a performance enabler, not an overhead. Third, Irish creative firms should engage with Skillnet Ireland programmes and external mentoring to adopt best practice from high-performing peers.

The Creative PEC report confirms that management capability is the multiplier on every other investment a creative organisation makes. Firms that close the training gap now will be better positioned to grow turnover, retain talent, and build operational foundations for sustainable scale.

(The views expressed by the writer are his/her own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of BusinessRiver.)