Every C-suite executive knows that even the most experienced managers can benefit from consistent learning and development.
This is where managerial training programs can be hugely beneficial. Besides helping leaders to manage employees effectively, they can also lead to a more productive and profitable team. But that’s just the beginning. Managerial training can also improve the people management skills that lead to a motivated, positive, and loyal workforce.
As many as 84% of US workers say that managers with poor people management training cause unnecessary work and stress. What’s more, 27% of people have quit their job because they didn’t get along with their boss.
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The bottom line is this: untrained managers drive employees away and disrupt business processes. A managerial training program can help you avoid these problems.
What is a managerial training program?
A management training program is a professional course that organizations offer employees who want to develop the skills they need to be an effective leader.
Management training programs are designed to be industry-specific as well as organization-specific, tailored to reflect the business’ unique needs. For example, a call center management training course might aim to develop conflict resolution and time-management skills. They’d also require in-depth technical training to enable them to use the newest small business call center services.
Most businesses opt to design and deliver their own training courses through a corporate learning management system (LMS). This is the best option for businesses that want to provide enhanced value with hyper-relevant, organization-specific modules.
Roles that benefit from management training programs
Management training programs should be designed to accommodate the essential employee skills requirements of new, aspiring, and seasoned managers alike.
- New managers: Whether you hire them internally or externally, all of your new managers can benefit from being enrolled in a management training program, such as a professional business organization course. Management training increases confidence in a new manager’s transition as they’ll be trained on the aspects of management that are most relevant to your business.
- Aspiring managers: For employees who desire a management position but lack the experience, management training programs provide a way in. They offer complete inclusivity to anyone considering career advancement. And in a climate where 77% of employees want to upskill (but 74% feel as though it’s a personal responsibility), a management training program can give you a competitive advantage.
- Seasoned managers: Even experienced managers need additional training to keep up with changing demands. Managerial training programs can refresh and refine large-scale empowerment, communication, and relationship-building skills. They can also teach managers how to utilize emerging technologies effectively.
Benefits of management training
From understanding the role of a leader to fostering a culture of teamwork, the benefits of management training are widespread. These are just some of the key advantages:
Helps to develop a deeper understanding of management roles
For many team leaders, the title of manager has certain connotations. In fact, many see managers as delegators. However, the merits of a successful leader are much broader. A manager should be able to strategically plan, organize, and coordinate the daily processes of their team.
What’s more, a management role requires both existing and aspiring leaders to inspire and motivate their team. A management training program should help managers to identify the primary goals and responsibilities of management personnel.
Cultivates company culture
According to PWC’s Global Culture Survey 2021, 67% of senior management acknowledge the necessity of company culture, deeming it more important than strategy or operations. Therefore, one of the modern manager’s foundational goals is to foster a culture of unity within their team.
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A unified workforce is one in which employees feel connected to their company’s culture. It involves aligning individual and team goals with the large-scale goals of the company, ensuring that every employee acknowledges the value of their daily tasks.
Managerial training programs enable managers to drive innovative collaboration, build effective goal-setting, and improve communication skills.
Facilitates department-level unity
Managerial training doesn’t just provide cultural unity at a team level. It can also help to eliminate the detrimental repercussions of department-level silos.
Organizational chaos, lack of cohesion, distrust, and lowered team morale are just some of the issues that occur when managers don’t communicate with other managers. Managerial training programs promote unified dynamics, educating managers on cross-functional collaboration so they can solve common challenges and work toward common goals.
Improves management of remote and hybrid teams
The modern workplace is embracing remote working, which means that the modern manager needs to do the same. However, there are a few unique hybrid working challenges and solutions to consider.
There’s the technological side to take into account, such as knowing how to set up a virtual meeting or how to use the newest collaboration tool. Then there’s the team management side, which involves tackling productivity loss, diminished unity, and lack of team culture. It’s simply not the same as managing an in-office team, which is why aspiring and seasoned managers can benefit from virtual team management training.
Increases employee engagement
It should go without saying that engaged employees are better employees. But do you know just how much of an impact employee engagement has on your business?
Research shows that businesses with high employee engagement have lower volumes of absenteeism and turnover, and higher volumes of productivity, profitability, and sales. Management training programs aim to equip managers with the ability to foster engaged teams through effective communication, smart goal-setting, consistent recognition, and other strategies.
Encourages growth through personalized feedback
Management training programs are delivered by skilled instructors who can provide objective, personalized feedback. This feedback gives managers objective insight into their strengths and weaknesses. It also presents managers with a practical demonstration of how to deliver constructive criticism to employees.
Management training program topics
When it comes to developing hard skills, there are various industry-specific training certifications available online. For example, you can Google Databricks learning paths to learn how to master data analytics.
On the flip side, the skills required of managers tend to be less niche. For that reason, managerial training programs cover a range of general management and soft skills. This makes them ideal for managers in any industry, plus these skills are often transferable.
If you’re creating a training program for your managers, here are a few key topics to incorporate.
Coaching and mentoring
Managers often make the best mentors. They have the relevant industry experience to guide work-focused skill development while influencing personal development goals such as confidence-building and stress management.
Surprisingly, though, only 37% of employees have a mentor. This is despite 76% of people considering mentors to be important for their skill development and job happiness.
You may want to look into mentoring software to help you develop your team and their technical skills. Your learning platform should also enable you to create quality mentorship opportunities.
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Decision-making
What exactly constitutes a “good” decision?
Management training programs tackle the theory behind the practice of being a good decision-maker. They aim to improve the foundational skills needed to make decisions efficiently and effectively, including research, analysis, collaborative thinking, confidence, assertiveness, and open-mindedness.
Conflict resolution
Conflicts in the workplace are inevitable. Whether it’s an argument between two coworkers, a disagreement between a customer and a supervisor, or a large-scale management dispute, conflicts have the potential to cause serious disruption.
Conflict resolution training enables leaders to avoid toxic work environments through leveraging active listening, mediation, problem-solving, and empathy skills.
Ethics and compliance
Corporate compliance training should be an essential requirement for managers in industries that abide by compliance laws and regulations. This includes health and safety, data protection, diversity, and harassment training.
However, teaching managers how to act ethically in alignment with proper codes of conduct doesn’t just help them avoid legal repercussions. It also provides their employees with an example of how to assert themselves respectfully at work.
Technology skill-boosting
Whether it's utilizing contract management software for small business or the best collaboration tools for hybrid teams, managers need to keep up with new technology. They should be able to identify and utilize the best tools for their business and know how to onboard staff.
Soft-skill development
Soft skills are an essential aspect of effective management. In fact, of all the skills that employees wish their managers would improve, being able to communicate effectively is the most desired at 41%, according to research from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
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Management training programs provide the perfect opportunity for soft skill development. They can simulate situations that test managers in several areas, guiding them towards improvement.
Soft skills that managers can develop include:
- Communication skills
- Time-management
- Problem-solving
- Relationship building
- Critical-thinking
- Emotional intelligence
- Empowerment
Project Management
Project Managers should have an intricate understanding of the path, timeline, and budget of a project. They can make informed plans that account for unforeseen problems and delegate tasks according to the individual strengths of their team.
What’s more, they should also be able to leverage digital collaboration tools like project management software and whiteboard collaboration apps to guide projects to completion.
Overall, online training programs can be extremely beneficial. However, one of the mistakes businesses make when using online training is that they fail to measure the real-life impact of their program. Make sure to analyze the success of your program through social learning, on-the-job observation, performance goals, and employee feedback.
More importantly, don’t forget to utilize the in-built analytics supplied by your corporate LMS.
Continuous learning
Learning and development shouldn’t stop when you become a manager. In fact, the increased responsibility makes it even more critical.
Managers in every corner of your organization need to work consistently to build their critical leadership skills. Not only do managers deserve to meet their development goals, but the employees they lead deserve a manager who motivates them to do their best.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: the more competent your managers are, the more competent your employees. And, of course, the more productive your business is as a whole.
