Management Development Programme - Details

Managers in any organisation need to:

Show real leadership
Manage day-to-day operational issues
Work effectively with colleagues and their team

Our two - five day programme will help managers develop a range of skills to meet these challenges. This training programme will give your managers the knowledge and skills to effectively:

Manage, lead and motivate a team
Achieve business aims through working with others
Communicate assertively
Coach and delegate
Prepare for and take part in appraisals
Interview potential new staff for a role in your organisation
Manage costs and budgets

Adapting the Programme for your Business

Before the training

We will meet with your organisation to assess:

Your organisation’s objectives for the training
How we can adapt the course to use examples from your business throughout the training programme

We also ask all delegates to compete a detailed questionnaire so we can understand their individual needs.

During the training

We run this training in a very interactive way, with plenty of opportunity to discuss, learn and practice. We also make sure that delegates enjoy their training experience. Without any enjoyment it is very difficult for people to learn.

Throughout the training delegates will identify ways to put their newly developed skills into practice immediately on their return to the workplace.

After the training

We encourage delegates to contact us after the training so we can help them to embed their new skills into their day to day work.

Course Schedule

There are 11 modules grouped into three main areas.

The full programme extends over approx 5 days. Customers will usually choose most, but not all modules. The length of the training is therefore typically three or four days. We will discuss your requirements so we can provide a tailored training plan that meets your particular business needs.

Management

Leadership and Management

We help delegates compare the role of ‘leader’ with the role of ‘manager’. We then help them plan a way to develop their leadership and management skills.

Delegates will gain skills in:

Working with others to create vision and plan for their part of the business, with clear objectives
- Where appropriate this plan may include:
The use and importance of specific, measurable and achievable aims for their team
Communicating their plan
Choosing which circumstances are best suited to a ‘facilitative’ management style and which are best suited to a more directive style
Motivation and support of their team
Showing commitment through personal performance

Effective Communications

The management role includes many responsibilities and tasks that require good communication skills.

This session will help delegates to identify what processes and procedures they need to adopt to ensure successful communication.

This session will help delegates understand:

The communication processes needed for different responsibilities and tasks
Choosing the best communication processes for specific tasks :
- What should be communicated
- Who it should be communicated to
- How it should be communicated

We will also help delegates understand more about their organisation. Organisations differ dramatically in the way they get things done. Many employees are unaware of this – particularly if they have worked for an organisation for some time.

We help delegates understand their organisation’s main culture – ‘Club’, ‘Role’ or ‘Task’.

Through this understanding we help them see ways they can use communication skills to:

Get things done / get new ideas accepted in their part of the business
Lead their team in a way that is in tune with the organisation

Innovation

Innovation and creativity can be crucial to growth or survival of many businesses. The evidence shows that businesses which have an innovative approach throughout the business are more likely to prosper.

This module helps managers and other staff:

Assess the need for innovation in their organisation
Understand their own organisations’ approach to innovation, from ‘Innovator’ through “Early migrator’ and ‘Late migrator’ through to ‘Laggards’ - Everett Rogers widely used this classification of attitudes to innovation.
Use Altshuller’s Levels of innovation to identify the scope for innovation in their part of the business
Discover and rank new ideas through creative discussion

Budgets and cost control

For businesses to prosper, meaningful budgets need to be in place. Managers then need the skills to understand them and the ability to control costs. In this module, we explain some of the jargon and take away the “fear factor” surrounding finance.

Delegates will learn:

Where budgeting fits in to a company’s financial planning and control
What to include in a budget
Where Microsoft Excel can help
Tips and shortcuts in using Excel
How to use a budget to compare actual expenditure/income with planned expenditure/income
The difference between cash flow and income

The module includes

Introduction

Financial jargon
Practical accounting principles

Profit & Loss

What constitutes turnover
Cost of sales
Fixed and variable costs

Budgeting

Aim of budgeting
What is usually in a budget report
The budget cycle (Plan, implement, monitor re-plan etc.)
Budget Planning
The human side to budgets - what can make the process work or fail.
Typical reasons for overspend/underspend
Tackling budget overspend
Incremental & Zero Based Budgeting
Budget monitoring

Using computers for budgeting

Top 10 Microsoft Excel features for budgeting

Teamwork

Agreeing individual roles within the team

Staff Management – A Fresh Approach

We will help new managers take a fresh view of exactly what they expect from those who work for them.

We use the Belbin Work Roles approach in analysing their roles. This will help them put job tasks into one of the following groups:

Tasks where a staff member has full authority to decide how it will be carried out
Tasks needing agreement from the manager on the best way to carry out the task
Tasks which individuals perform but are not fully acknowledged by colleagues or you
Team tasks
Tasks which should be scrapped

This approach should give delegates new insights into the best way to carry out their work and work they pass on to others. It can also help identify skills development needs.

Competencies

Many organisations also develop a competency based approach to job roles.

We review how other organisations across the world have adopted competencies.

In particular we help delegates:

Understand what a competency is
How competencies might help (or hinder) management of their team
How to go about choosing and developing competencies for their team.

We also provide tips on ways to get the best from a competency based approach to management of individuals.

Communicating with the Team

In this module we help delegates:

Recognise the difference between aggressive, assertive and passive behaviour
Use assertive language in appropriate circumstances
Identify strategies for dealing with ‘difficult behaviour’

Working Together Successfully

We use Belbin Team Roles to help delegates assess their own strengths when working within a team. We also help them plan an approach to assessment of team strengths possessed by individuals in their own team.

With this knowledge we help delegates:

Diagnose the development stage of their team
Recognise the need for a range of team-based roles
Take appropriate leadership action to promote team development
Maintain and improve communication within the team and with others

Working With Individuals

Coaching

We help delegates understand what coaching is – and what it is not.

We use Egan’s three stage approach to coaching to help delegates to understand this approach, and then give opportunities for practice.

This module helps delegates:

Develop listening skills
Develop questioning skills
Show understanding
Understand to help a person analyse their problems in a systematic way

Delegation

Delegation is a key management skill. Managers need to feel comfortable in delegating to their team, their colleagues and people who are higher in the organisation’s hierarchy.

In this module delegates will learn:

When to delegate
What to delegate
The importance of planning for delegation
How to demonstrate personal commitment when delegating a task
Why people might not accept delegated tasks
The seven levels of delegation
The best approach to take when people are resistant to delegation
How to ensure people who accept delegated tasks feel they also gain
How to monitor a delegated job so they can spot and handle typical problems

Appraisals and Feedback

Often managers and their team are reluctant to “conduct” appraisals. Appraisals are frequently seen as irrelevant, burdensome or threatening.

In this module we highlight some of the positive gains from the appraisal process both for the manager and the appraisee.

Topics include:

Planning for an appraisal
The need for evidence
Getting the employee view
The need for continuous feedback to staff
- Appraisals are not just an annual event!

Recruitment

In many countries it can be expensive and complex for an organisation to go through a dismissal process. It can also be traumatic for individual involved.

This is one of several reasons that an effective recruitment process can be crucial in ensuring the development of an organisation.