The proposal that management training should be integral to the training of all doctors, including psychiatrists, is not new (Gadd, 1990). The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Specialist Advisory Sub-Committee (CAPSAC) training guidelines (1999) recognise that future consultants will need sufficient management skills to be leaders in service development as well as effective clinicians, and outline the knowledge and experience to be gained during higher professional training (Box 1). This paper describes the Yorkshire scheme's approach to supporting trainees to achieve these objectives and highlights the need to engage trainees, trainers and managers in taking forward this important agenda.