Management & Leadership Skills for New Managers and Supervisors (2-Day)

You've just been promoted to "manager" — now what?

Getting promoted is a heady experience … until reality sets in, and you realize you're not quite sure exactly what's expected of you in your new position. You're not alone: Many first-time managers step into their new positions feeling apprehensive and ill-prepared. Why? Because it's a lot easier to be a follower than a leader. The skills and talents that made you a valued team player won't necessarily make you a great manager or supervisor.

It's for people like you that this seminar was created

This powerful management and leadership training will make your transition smoother and more successful. You'll use what you learn right away. If a tough problem comes up, you'll know how to handle it. When you're faced with a crisis, you'll react with confidence. You'll be better equipped to keep your people motivated, productive and on target.

Consider this seminar a crash course for beginning managers and supervisors

In two solid days of practical instruction, we'll demonstrate and drive home the essential skills you'll need to step confidently into a leadership role. You'll gain insights into everything from making a good first impression to motivating people and managing change in the workplace.

The pace will be fast and full of variety, with a lot of information exchanged. To make everything you learn more relevant — and to help make it stick — we'll use a combination of proven training methods, including …

• Trainer-led briefings
  Your leader is an experienced management and leadership training coach — a skilled facilitator whose two day goal is to prepare you for the realities of your new role. Through case studies, right way/wrong way demonstrations and examples drawn from actual workplaces, you'll gain a big-picture understanding of what it means to be a manager today. And you'll have the opportunity to get your questions answered on the spot.

• Group exercises and discussion
  Collaborative learning (sharing your experiences, listening to your peers, working together to find answers) is a highly effective way to gain — and give — knowledge. The exercises and discussions in which you'll participate will bring to life the principles and practices you'll need to master as a manager.

• Situational practice
  "Learning by doing" sharpens any newly acquired skill. These practice drills let you put your new skills to the test by applying them to real-world scenarios. You begin to see how things work, where you need more coaching, what the results look like. Whether you choose to be an observer or a participant, these practice sessions are a key part of your total learning experience.

Learn the most effective and efficient ways to …

• Solidify your position
• Prioritize tasks
• Delegate responsibility
• Foster accountability and ownership
• Motivate people
• Coach individuals and teams
• Earn trust and respect
• Assess skills and weaknesses
• Hire and develop staff members
• Communicate with peers and superiors
• And perform practically every other duty expected of you in your new role.

Note: This seminar is exclusively for managers and supervisors — new ones, prospective ones and those with some experience but no formal training. If you're a manager or supervisor now, or you're considering a move into management, leadership training is essential. You'll soon find that many of your concerns are the same that others are facing, no matter their level of experience. As a result, you are all on common ground and will feel comfortable knowing that you're all there to learn.

How to avoid "beginner's blunders"

A lot of judgments are made during your “honeymoon.” It’s inevitable that you’re going to make some mistakes in the beginning, but the fewer, the better.
• How to manage the mountain of information coming at you from every direction
• Tips on supervising people who are still your friends, but were your equals
• How to deal with the legacy left by your predecessor, whether you're walking in the shadow of a saint or a tyrant
• Diplomatic ways to gather intelligence about your work group
• How to establish a good working relationship with your own supervisor - Loyalty exercise: Learn ways to demonstrate loyalty to your boss(es) and still remain true to your values.
• What you can do to minimize surprises - Preparation, poise and prevention: In this group exercise, you and your fellow participants will learn to assess the signs of a potential situation and devise a plan to avert it.

How good are your leadership skills?

How do the skills and talents you demonstrated as a follower translate to your role as a leader? Where do you need to grow, which of your old traits are best left behind, how do you decide which skill sets to focus on?
• “Bureaucracy basher,” “expediter” and six other hats you’ll wear
• Specific ways to strive for and achieve personal excellence as a leader - Self-assessment: A benchmarking activity shows you how to measure your current abilities against those of experienced leaders.
• Are you a leader or a manager? Four unique qualities that distinguish one from the other - Case study: What leadership looks like at your level and how to use the four classic leadership traits to make the biggest impact.
• What are your own goals? A way to clarify your peronal vision and mission

Your role as a "change agent"

Today’s workplace is in constant flux. The sooner you learn the essential change management skills, the better off you will be.
• How to ensure your team understands — and accepts — any top-down directive
• Ways to help others be proactive about change — so they feel more ownership and less like victims of change
• How to link lofty corporate goals to the people who do the actual work

How to hire, train and develop a top-notch staff

As a manager, you may feel a dangerous urge to try to do everything yourself. But that’s not what a good manager does. Instead, you must learn to enlist the right people and assign projects and responsibilities that keep them enthused and growing.
• How to come up with a list of qualities to define your ideal candidate - Activity: Build a profile of your perfect employee.
• The kind of questions to ask in an interview — and answers to look for
• What you should delegate, what you should not
• Ways to monitor delegated work without coming across as a meddler
• Common delegation traps every manager must avoid
• Tips on matching the person to the job - How good of a delegator are you? An exercise will reveal any hang-ups you have about handing off work and what you can do to overcome them.

Mastering the art of motivation

Getting people pumped up is not a simple task, but it becomes easier once you know some basic principles of human motivation.
• How to find — and nurture — the unique talents within each of your employees
• Proven motivators that work every time
• How to get your people to reveal what really motivates them
• Goal-setting tips: how to set targets people believe in and will work toward
• How to use appraisals to reward success, correct subpar performance and re-energize efforts
• The five elements of effective discipline: ways to use corrective measures without destroying the willingness to change
• How to deal with reprimands, warnings and dismissals

How to say what you mean — and mean what you say

Your instructions — written and verbal — must leave no room for misinterpretation. You need to listen to what people are feeling vs. what they are saying. And you have to be aware that your body language often has a far bigger impact than any words you utter.
• The best ways to project authority without being overbearing
• What are you secretly saying? How to recognize the red flags of body language
• Understanding the ways people communicate so you can pick the one that works best in a particular situation
• Quick tips on becoming a better listener
• Email, phone call or face-to-face? A simple way to decide which form of communication to use and when
• What your desk and office say about you: what items to display, what to keep private

The power of a positive attitude

You must project optimism and confidence, even when you’re feeling otherwise. It takes determination and practice to put on a good face — and knowing what goes into having a positive attitude is a big help.
• How attitude affects team performance — assessing your group's present outlook
• What to do when negativity creeps into your group or into your own thinking
• Where attitudes come from, what feeds them and how to control their impact