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Why this course?
This practical guide to being an awesome manager is based on many years of experience managing my own teams and also working in HR/People Operations, supporting managers and employees in their professional growth.
10 modules guide you through the stages of self-management, managing others, and creating a team that welcomes delegation and reinforces self-accountability.
In short - the job of a manager becomes easier and more enjoyable and you have a positive impact on all your stakeholders, including peers and those above you.
Each module is a 10 - 20 minute video/slide deck with links to additional articles, assessments, and recommended books to enhance your knowledge.
We offer a variety of learning packages including joining a peer learning group and individual coaching.
Course Summary
The first 3 modules are foundational - understanding ourselves better in order to better understand others.
1. Vision, mission, purpose, and values. Every manager will benefit from having personal VMPV statements that drive their day-to-day actions and ideals. This module helps us focus on what is true for us, and learn what is true for those around us, so we can align in some cases and respectfully bridge the gaps in other cases. The ability to better understand a direct report, peer, or leader provides us with valuable insight into how to work together productively.
2. Building on the VMPV statements we delve into Motivation. We look at understanding different types of motivation, and how what drives us may shut down others. There is no right or wrong, only differences. Working with those differences increases engagement and trust.
3. From here we move into Mindset, how to recognize and change mindsets to embrace growth and optimism. When a manager can learn about their own mindset and how to change it, they become the model for their team. This is another foundation of trust.
Now we move more directly into managing others - up, down and sideways:
4. Emotions are data - this module demonstrates how to use our own emotions and other people’s emotions as data to indicate how best to behave in any given circumstance. We look at neuroscience as a way to understand how the brain works and interacts with the body. Here we help managers face difficult situations or personalities.
5. Communication helps the manager develop not only their outward communication skills but also their receptive (listening skills). We have a tendency to think other people are wrong if they don’t see things the way we see them. We learn the difference between listening styles and how to check for comprehension, not just the delivery of information.
Next up - learning how to apply the first 5 modules in managing/leading others.
6. Manager as Leader and Manager as Coach digs into how we apply our own self-knowledge to our relationships with others. Here we look at expectations - in the context of the previous modules to better understand when to use the skills of management, coaching, and leadership.
7. Known widely as 1:1’s this routine time on a manager’s calendar becomes the cornerstone of the feedback, delegation, and accountability conversations. When used to discover your employees' own VPMV, motivation, and mindset, the relationship gains strength, the employee becomes more independent and the manager can spend their time in more valuable areas than following up on tasks, fixing problems, or simply “checking in”.
8. Modules 1 thru 7 form the basis for Feedback, Delegation & Accountability. By providing the right kind of feedback, we are literally “feeding” the other person’s growth and our relationship with them. When feedback is actionable, people start to welcome feedback and benefit from it rather than avoid it. Delegation thus becomes much easier - everything learned about ourselves and other people makes it easier to delegate and encourages people to step up to take on new responsibilities which fosters self-accountability.
9. In Teamwork, Trust and Conflict we take a closer look at working with your team and managing the team relationships, developing team-wide trust, and embracing constructive conflict. Here we focus on trust, and how avoiding confrontations can be more damaging than having a much-needed conversation.
10. Finally we take a look forward at Goals. Understanding how to set SMART goals reinforces the accountability aspect. We look at bringing goals into alignment with individual or team values and making goals visible to the team through the use of Promise Based Management. We also look at KPIs, OKRs, and the importance of reviewing progress routinely, without looking like a micromanager.
