Management Development Series

Providing the skills development building blocks for successful managers, supervisors and leaders

Course Description

A high impact program that delivers real results in terms of personal and professional development. This comprehensive 12-module program focuses on developing the critical skills for effective management in today's changing corporate climate. Each module focuses on equipping managers with the necessary tools to create a working environment which empowers employees to be high-performers in today's demanding marketplace.

The 12-module program will provide managers with the:

  • knowledge of the changed, yet vital role of the manager in today’s organizations
  • ability to communicate with more impact to persons with different communication styles
  • improved interviewing skills to ensure new hires are a fit for the position, the team, and the corporation
  • ability to set effective performance goals, and manage those goals by providing appropriate corrective and positive feedback
  • enhanced emotional intelligence skills to enhance employee performance, manage conflict and engage in difficult conversations
  • skills needed to build stronger and more collaborative teams
  • techniques to increase individual and team accountability
  • knowledge and resources to lead team meetings where participants are respected for their diversity, engaged and focused on results
  • improved skills in managing remotely and across cultures
  • improved coaching skills to empower and engage their employees, leading to a more efficient workforce


Course Details

This module defines key roles a manager must play. Participants will explore the following key areas:

  • Articulate the key factors that determine a person’s success in a management role
  • State the difference between the roles and responsibilities of a manager and a staff member in terms of organizational, team and individual dimensions
  • Set up appropriate boundaries between personal and organizational roles
  • State what their direct reports need from them as managers
  • Differentiate between strategic and tactical thinking and the role of each

This module introduces managers to the DiSC behavior and communication assessment. Participants will explore the following key areas:

  • Describe their own DISC communication style and its major strengths and weaknesses
  • Recognize the DISC communication style of others and how to bridge to another style
  • Effectively present an idea to a different DiSC group

This module equips managers with the ability to build the best team. Participants will explore the following key areas:

  • Describe the steps and roles in the hiring process
  • Identify the tangible and intangible requirements for the position
  • Use the six job tools to ensure a thoughtful and well-implemented hiring process
  • Distinguish between interview questions based on business need and those that could be interpreted as discriminatory
  • Ask open-ended, behavior-based questions
  • Practice interviewing and “listening”
  • Present the features and benefits of becoming an employer of the organization

This module takes managers through a step-by-step process for creating measurable goals for team members. Participants will explore the following key areas:

  • State the difference between managing their people to “do their job” and dynamically managing their people to achieve business objectives
  • Write clear and measurable objectives at the organizational, team and individual level
  • Experience the process of breaking down a team initiative into specific, measurable goals for individual team members
  • State the vital role performance objectives play for the employee in setting expectations
  • Identify steps to communicate performance objectives effectively to a new person on their team

This module equips managers with the knowledge and skills to conduct a conversation with an employee to affirm progress on goals and to diagnose and correct lack of progress towards goal achievement. Participants will explore the following key areas:

  • State ways to create a healthy workplace climate that includes feedback
  • State steps in learning to give feedback
  • State usual personal conflict style, using provided assessments
  • Role play a corrective feedback session

This module introduces managers to the key principles for engaging their teams and demonstrating heightened emotional intelligence. Participants will explore the following key areas:

  • State what research shows about the relationship between “soft” skills, the changing workplace and the bottom line
  • Describe the importance of two-way communication and keys to establishing it in the workplace
  • Be able to ask open-ended questions to obtain information
  • Be conscious of ineffective ways to respond to someone’s feelings
  • Commit to the task of managing people more effectively by utilizing emotional intelligence

This module provides managers with models for managing the dynamics of team behavior and how to support succession planning. Participants will explore the following key areas:

  • Describe the connection between team development and employee engagement
  • Distinguish between a true team and other workplace groups
  • Define the four stages of development for a team and how a leader leads in each of the four stages
  • Describe the experience of the “forming” stage of a team
  • Lead a group to establish group norms in response to group conflict
  • Understand the role of a meeting in team engagement and the importance of having a purpose for every team meeting

This module provides specialized training on conducting especially difficult conversations when emotions are running high. Participants will explore the following key areas:

  • Define a difficult conversation
  • State two facts about emotions that influence difficult conversations
  • Map the steps to take when having a difficult conversation
  • Role play several different types of difficult conversations

This module equips managers with the knowledge and skills to create an environment of mutual trust in which all parties take accountability for fulfilling their assigned roles. Participants will explore the following key areas:

  • Define accountability
  • Decide what data to use to hold themselves and their team accountable
  • Create an action plan to “install” accountability into their area of influence
  • List 3 trust-building behaviors to emphasize when building trust in their area of influence

This module builds managers’ skills in overcoming the challenges of managing team members in remote locations. Participants will explore the following key areas:

  • Identify 3 management activities that are essential to managing remotely
  • Identify barriers to effective remote management and strategies for overcoming them
  • Use worksheets to create a plan for managing teams in multiple locations
  • Implement at least one change to manage a remote team more effectively

This module improves managers’ awareness and ability to manage persons who come from a different cultural background. Participants will explore the following key areas:

  • Identify 3 ways the US business culture differs from other cultures
  • Effectively communicate a message to a person from a different culture
  • Change at least one thing he/she is currently doing in order to manage someone from a different culture more effectively

This module equips managers with the skills and knowledge to become better delegators and coaches of their team members. Participants will explore the following key areas:

  • Appreciate the difference between directive, coaching (developmental) and delegating approaches to management
  • Understand the best use of directive and coaching approaches when managing
  • Hold a coaching session with an employee
  • Change at least one thing he/she is currently doing – in order to better develop his/her people


Course Outcomes

This program will achieve the following business outcomes:

  • Improve relationships between managers and direct reports to encourage employee productivity and commitment
  • Improve manager’s ability to create a culture of quality and customer service that encourages sales
  • Improve manager’s ability to interview effectively, the first step in developing a high-performing workforce
  • Improve morale among managers and team members by improving quality of work life
  • Lessen stress by training managers to handle conflict
  • Provide career growth, learning and development to keep managers’ skills at the highest level to support the companies competitive advantage
  • Create an environment that supports team building activities and behaviors, improving overall employee engagement

Target Audience

This course is designed to support the development of newly-promoted and aspiring managers as well as experienced managers who want to update their management skills with a new perspective which includes developing increased emotional intelligence, a critical skill in today's continuously changing workplace.

The course is designed to provide a personalized learning experience, incorporating the use of selected assessments and a Manager's Toolkit to provide deep and individualized insights into areas for development.

Deliverables and Outputs

Each module consists of a half-day facilitated session, delivered virtually or face-to-face. It is recommended that the modules are scheduled approximately a month apart to allow the applied learning to take place in between which enable participants to practice, reflect and receive developmental feedback as they embed their skills into the workplace. Recommended group size is 7 - 15 although larger groups can be accommodated with an additional facilitator. Sessions are highly interactive with experiential activities to stimulate shifts in mindset and behavior through 'live learning'. Program delivery includes:

  • Facilitation of experiential learning sessions by an experienced facilitator/coach
  • A Program Implementation Kit including supporting Communications materials
  • A participants' Toolkit, participants' guides and job aids for each module
  • Follow-up assignments (completed between sessions and debriefed in class)
  • Developmental Action Planning
  • Group Coaching

All courses are designed not just to provide information but to provide the 'how-to's' - ensuring participants have a safe space to explore, practice, review and develop their skills. This will results in more significant behavior change and is based on the latest research in the neurosciences and the principles of 'brain-friendly learning'. The structure of the course encompasses not just skills development but also shifts in mindset and emotional maturity. The core principles of our development approach are:

  • A focus on increased self-awareness which results in real behavior change
  • A focus on engagement and interaction during the sessions which involves hands-on activities and reflection to try out new behaviors and ideas
  • A focus on application and integration by building in the opportunity to transfer learning back into the workplace using structured activities and processes
  • A focus on organizational support. Behavior changes are more easily made when the development process is supported by managers and additional reinforcement, reward and organizational processes are in place.

To learn more about how this course might be customized for your needs, please schedule a time to talk.

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