Management Development
Leadership and management is critical to the success of any business.
We often use a yacht racing metaphor to illustrate the importance of their role: the skippers or leaders will decide on the destination and set out the course, they will monitor the competitors, the conditions and external factors affecting their performance and if necessary adjust the course in order to be successful. The managers are responsible for ensuring the right resources are in place, they communicate the course and how they are going to work as a team, be aligned to stay on course and motivate them to be the winning team.
It is common for organisations to lose sight of the fact that if they don’t support and develop their managers, then not only will they have people in management positions who feel out of their depth and dissatisfied but they’ll have their staff feeling disengaged and unmotivated. The potential impact is massive, as short-term, it will be affecting productivity and performance and longer-term, it may result in higher levels of staff turnover and the loss of the company’s talent.
The key to our approach is to design a bespoke programme which will fit the unique needs of the business.
Management skills workshops
Workshops can be designed for operational managers, who are maybe new to management or who are technically strong but have not had any support in developing their management skills. The overall purpose of this type of workshop is to provide both an insight into the role of a manager and a toolbox of practical tools essential to being an effective manager, delivering the required results.
Development objectives
A key element of our approach to any workshop is to ensure that every participant sets some development objectives, to make a commitment to doing something differently as a result of what they have learnt. We also suggest that each person shares their objectives either with another participant or with their line manager, to ensure they are accountable to achieving their objectives, particularly beyond the bounds of the programme.
Typical content:
- The role of a manager – the Cogs of Management (model)
- Management vs Leadership
- The skills of an effective manager
- Awareness of others and how to adjust to their needs
- The Manager’s Essential Toolbox
- Styles of Communication
- When and how to Coach
- Giving positive and constructive feedback
- Handling difficult conversations
Management Assessment
A personalised and high impact approach which many clients are now using as part of their Management Development programme, is the use of the Everything DiSC® Management assessment tool. It not only provides a structure for understanding the role and the skills of a manager, but it also helps each person to discover their own personal style of management, the impact this style has on others and their effectiveness as a manager.
How does it work?
The assessment is carried out online and takes a maximum of 20 minutes to complete. As part of their Management Development programme, they will receive a 26 page personalised report which:
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We also offer a free service of providing comparison reports to help two managers assess how each person’s management style impacts on the other. This detailed 10 page document outlines potential road blocks, benefits and tips for working most effectively together. Discussion points are then encouraged to improve communication and management effectiveness.
Follow up coaching
Research by the International Coaching Federation has evidenced that when management training is followed by a programme of 1:1 coaching, the impact can be four times as much as stand alone training.
Typically we would recommend a series of coaching sessions over a period of time to support the achievement of their development objectives. This provides regular focus and discipline, to embed the critical changes required for translating into tangible performance improvement and results.