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INTRODUCING THE NEW TO MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME – ABOUT THE PROGRAMME
The New to Management programme is a development programme I am currently designing and developing for new managers and those managing for the first time. The goal of the programme is to give new managers and those new to managers some foundational skills for growing into their roles.
I introduced the programme in a previous post here and in this post and future ones, I want to describe the contents of the programme. The programme has six modules in addition to an introductory module which I have titled – Module 0. The programme also has a simple structure with just two elements:
- Virtual training modules
- Works tasks/homework in between the modules.
The image below illustrates the structure.
Module 0 which really is the first module, though it’s not included in the image above is titled – ABOUT THE PROGRAMME.
The objectives module 0 are:
- Describe the structure and content of the New to Management programme.
- Explain what is required to prepare for the first module.
The session starts out introducing those objectives to the participants and then moves on to ask them two questions which are:
- Why are you attending this programme?
- What do you want to be able to do by the end of this programme?
The participants will be given the opportunity to reflect on these questions and write their answers in the chat window.
It is an opportunity for them to think about what they really want from the programme.
After that, we then move on to start talking about the content of the session. There is a summary slide which shows the six modules that make up the programme. Here it is.
As you can see from the slide, the programme has six modules which are:
- Role of the manager
- Managing performance
- Crucial conversations
- Team building
- Developing people
- Managing yourself
At this stage, the participants will be introduced to each module briefly and also put into groups to look at more detailed information about each module in their workbooks and discuss their thoughts about it.
In the next series of posts, I will share with you what each of the six modules covers.
CREATING A DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME FOR NEW AND FIRST-TIME MANAGERS
I’ve worked across a number of organisations as a learning and development practitioner and in my current organisation, I also manage people. One thing I have never seen is a proper developement programme tailored to new and first-time managers. What tends to happen is organisations either commission expensive off-the-shelf individual courses for new managers to choose from or you may get development programmes offered to new and first time managers in more prestigious organisations with large budgets.
For instance, I did come across the training materials Google used to train new managers. They were published on the internet for free. But my experience is that most people who start as new managers, managing one or more people are usually dropped into the role and they learn on the go.
When I first started this blog my original vision was to dedicate it to writing about resources I have created and want to create for new and first-time managers because that’s where I found myself a couple of years ago. I do believe such managers need a lot of support and training.
I’ve decided to go back to that original vision and recently I have started working on a personal goal which also spills over into my job to create a development programme for new and first-time managers.
The programme will be developed to be delivered virtually on platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. My initial plan is for the programme to consist of an introductory module which I have called ‘Module 0’ to introduce the programme and six other modules (modules 1-6) that cover the core content of the module.
The modules will be delivered two weeks apart and participants will be given tasks to do in between the modules. The structure will look like what’s shown in the image below.
I’ve not included module 0 in the image but as you can see the programme has a very simple structure which is delivered through virtual training sessions (the modules) to the participants and in between the modules they will be given work tasks or projects to complete.
If you think the programme looks too simple, then you are right. It is simple and I have done that on purpose. My experience has taught me that complicated and complex programmes often don’t work because they have too many moving parts and they wear people out.
I remember working in an organisation with a manager who implemented a brilliant and very successful management development programme which consisted of:
- Six half-day classroom training sessions
- Afternoon action learning sets after the classroom sessions
- MBTI assessments (all delivered in-house without the involvement of any external consultants)
- End of programme projects which focused on things needed by the organisation
Though this programme has four parts it was very simple to implement. The modules were done every six weeks so there was more than enough time to do everything. The MBTI assessments were done at the start of the programme and discussed briefly during each classroom session in relation to the topic being covered.
The programme worked very well and when the L&D manager who implemented it left and a new manager was recruited, the manager tried to be a bit clever with the programme adding some spin too it. They made it too complicated and messed it up. That mistake got the manager kicked out of the organisation.
My lessons from all this is – keep your development programmes simple, especially those meant for new and first line managers. As much as possible try and deliver the programme with in-house resources without spending too much money on it. Also, don’t aim for perfection and make sure it is not unnecessarily difficult for everyone involved, both the facilitators and participants.
My vision for this programme is to make it easily accessible, of good quality, affordable, and easy to deliver.
In my next post, I will focus on ‘Module 0’ which introduces the development programme.
TWO ACTIONS FOR FORMING A TEAM
This mini-session titled – TWO ACTIONS FOR FORMING A TEAM, is a virtual training activity that can be used as part of a team-building training session.
In the session, two key actions that can help to form a team are explored.
INTRODUCTION
We get work done in teams. No matter how talented or skilled an individual is, they cannot get all the work done by themselves. This is why teams are so important. In this mini-session, participants will identify two actions they can take as part of the process to form a team.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
After going through this session, participants will be able to:
- take two actions that can help to form a team.
DELIVERY MODE
- Virtual
DURATION (ESTIMATED)
- 20 minutes
HANDOUT
- Yes
PREPARATION
- Read through all the resources (facilitator’s guide, participants handout, and presentation) to understand how they all work together to deliver the session.
PREREQUISITES
- None
INTRODUCE THE SESSION
Introduce the session by sharing the learning objective with them. Display the slide titled – LEARNING OBJECTIVE.
After displaying the slide, tell them that:
- Teams are a very important aspect of work, and they help us to get things done.
- There are various things we can do to help form an effective team.
- In this mini-session, we will explore two key actions that can help to form a team.
- A team leader may have the opportunity to form a completely new team.
- But even the team leader of an ongoing or inherited team can still influence the team members to some degree.
- The team leader can replace someone who leaves the team, shift responsibility from one team member to another, or recruit additional team members if they are given the resources to do so.
- Whatever the case may be, the team leader needs to think carefully about the kinds of people she wants on the team.
- To think about that challenge briefly, let’s look at Matthew’s situation.
- Go to the part of your workbook titled – WHO SHOULD BE THE ART DIRECTOR?
Give them time to read the information there (about 2 to 3-minutes).
After that use the ‘breakout rooms’ feature to put them into pairs and give them 6-minutes to do the activity.
When the time is up, stop them and bring everyone back to the main room.
Allow each pair’s nominated person to feedback their answers. Make sure they all speak about why they chose the person for the role of Art Director.
After they finish sharing their answers, thank them for doing the activity and then direct them to the part of their workbooks titled – WHAT MATTHEW COULD DO.
Tell them that:
- The information describes what Matthew could do and that is not to say that the answers you gave were wrong.
- However, it is a situation that Matthew needs to think about carefully before making a final decision.
Let them read the information there for about 2 to 3-minutes.
After they’ve read the information, ask them for any questions or comments. Listen to them and respond appropriately (answer any questions if you can. If you can’t, let them know and if possible, tell them you will get back to them later with an appropriate answer).
Next, let them know that, when forming a team, there are two important actions they need to take.
Display the slide titled – TWO KEY ACTIONS.
When the slide displays, it will be blank with just a title.
Click on the slide once to display information and say that:
- The first action is to clearly identify team roles.
- Different teams will have different skill requirements, but every team needs some predictable roles to be filled and shared.
- Some of these roles can overlap and can be rotated to allow team members to serve in different roles, gain new experience, and spread duties around.
Click on the slide once more to display more information and tell them that:
- The second action is to select the right kind of team members.
- When choosing team members, it is important to recruit individuals who can contribute a complementary mix of skills.
- Look not just for those who already have the skills needed for the team but also those who have the potential to develop.
- What each team will need will depend on the goal of the team but every team will need a blend of technical/functional expertise and three skills.
- Here are three skills every team needs.
Display the slide titled – THREE ESSENTIAL SKILLS.
When the slide is displayed, information will appear on it automatically. You don’t need to click on the slide.
Tell them that:
- Every team will need people who can solve problems and make decisions effectively.
- Teams also need people with good interpersonal skills such as effective communication skills and a positive attitude.
- Also, you need people who can work well in a team. People who have a good spirit of cooperation and are mutually supportive.
Let them know that the information about the two actions you’ve just shared with them is also in their handouts in a section titled – TWO KEY ACTIONS.
After that let them know that you’ve got a question for them in the form of a poll.
Display the poll titled – WHICH OF THESE WOULD YOU CONSIDER?
This is what the poll will look like:
Give them 90-seconds to respond to the poll. They can choose multiple answers.
After 90-seconds, stop the poll and display the results. Then tell them that:
- All the options are things we should consider when selecting team members.
- It is very important that we select people with the required skills but you also want people with good attitudes. It is easier to train people than try to change their attitude so it makes sense to recruit those with a good attitude and provide training where skills are concerned.
- We also need to think carefully about the size of the team. When teams are too big, productivity may suffer and a team that is too small may not have all the required skills. Getting the size balance right is crucial.
- As you select team members you also want to take the time to understand what motivates your team members. It is important to find out people’s needs and desires and work towards meeting them.
- While money is important to people, it is not what typically motivates them. Some of the things that may motivate people include:
- the opportunity to learn and grow professionally,
- recognition for achievements and accomplishments, and
- the pleasure of team affiliation and working with others.
- You should also be clear about contributions and rewards. Be sure that team members know how their contributions will lead to rewards. Even if you are not recruiting a new team member, you can convert a less-than-enthusiastic member by responding to their potential personal or professional desires.
Let them know that there is information about what you said in their handouts in the section titled – CONSIDERATIONS FOR SELECTING NEW TEAM MEMBERS.
There’s also some extra information on tips for selecting team members and establishing team size titled (TIPS FOR SELECTING TEAM MEMBERS AND ESTABLISHING TEAM SIZE).
Give them 3-minutes to read the information there.
After they have finished reading, ask them for any comments or questions. Listen to them and respond appropriately to them if necessary.
Then end the activity.
Designing a Course On Having a ‘Challenging Unhelpful Conversation’ – Introduction
In a previous post, I introduced you to a course I am designing and developing titled – Having a ‘Challenging Unhelpful Behaviour’ Conversation. I wrote about the course’s learning objective and key learning points. In this post, I am going to dive into how I start developing the course and the first part of the course (or the first key learning point) is ‘Introduction’ where I introduce the participants to what the course will cover.
My goal for this part of this course is to share the learning objective, give an overview of what the course will cover, and also tell them what they should be able to do by the end of the course.
The steps I follow in this part of the section are:
- Share a slide with the learning objective.
- Tell the participants what the course will cover and what they should be able to do by the end of the course.
Here’s the slide I created to share the learning objective:
After sharing the slide, I share the information below with them. You don’t have to follow that actual information but it does act as a guide:
- During this session, we will explore how to have a ‘challenging unhelpful behaviour’ conversation that will lead to a positive outcome for all the parties involved.
- We want you to leave this session with a good format or structure to have the conversation and some helpful resources too.
- Most managers will agree that this type of conversation is the one they most struggle with and need help with.
- When an employee demonstrates continuous failure in performance or behaviour, it is never easy telling them about it and challenging them to change.
- The conversation structure we discuss in this session will help you overcome some of that fear.
After sharing that information, I might ask if they have any questions or comments, respond to them appropriately, and then move on to the next part of the session to deal with the next key learning point titled – PURPOSE OF THE CONVERSATION.
In my next post, I will discuss the ‘PURPOSE OF THE CONVERSATION‘ section.
Designing a Course On ‘Having a ‘Challenging Unhelpful Behaviour’ Conversation – About The Course
In a previous post, I wrote about my intention to design and develop a series of training resources with ideas from the brilliant book by Nick Cowley and Nigel Purse – 5 Conversations: How to transform trust, performance, and engagement at work.
I now want to start designing and developing the first of those training resources titled – Having a ‘Challenging Unhelpful Behaviour’ Conversation. What I intend to do each is write our how I design and develop the resource. Unlike previous blog posts, I will not post the actual course. Rather, I will write about how I go about designing and developing the actual course and once I finish provide a way for people interested to get the whole training resource.
What I will discuss in this post is my starting point for design which is to define the course’s learning objectives and key learning points.
Quick recap here:
- A learning objective defines what participants should be able to do after attending a training session.
- Key learning points are what I define as the learning steps you will take in a training course to ensure the learning objectives are covered adequately.
Let’s start with the learning objective(s)
Learning Objective
This course has just one learning objective which is:
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- follow a structure that enables them to have a positive ‘challenging unhelpful behaviour’ conversation.
Therefore, the goal of the training session is to help participants learn and develop a structure they can follow and use to have a ‘challenging unhelpful behaviour’ conversation.
Key Learning Points
To achieve the afore-stated learning objectives the course will go through the following learning steps or key learning points.
- Introduction - introducing the participants to the course by discussing the learning objective.
- Purpose of the conversation – discuss the purpose of the ‘challenging unhelpful conversation’ by answering five questions.
- Nonviolent communication – exploring the principles of the ‘nonviolent’ communication principles for having challenging conversations.
- Demonstrating a ‘challenging unhelpful behaviour conversation – participants observe and comment on a scripted demonstration of a ‘challenging unhelpful conversation.
- Create your own script for a demonstration – participants work in small groups to write write own script of a conversation that they will demonstrate.
- Practising in small groups – participants practice having ‘challenging unhelpful conversations’ in small groups.
- Review - a review of the session.
- Reflect-Note-Act – each participant reviews some of what they learned using stop-start-continue questions and shares one thing they will do as a result of the session. Then close the session.
These are the learning objective and key learning points for the session. In my next post, I will discuss the first key learning point which is the ‘Introduction’.
Insights from 5 Conversations: How to transform trust, engagement and performance at work
The book I will be curating insights from to develop some training courses is 5 Conversations: How to transform trust, engagement, and performance at work by Nick Cowley and Nigel Purse.
As the subtitle infers, this is a book about powerful conversations that can improve work relationships, build trust and improve performance.
There are five conversations discussed in the book which are:
- Conversation 1 – Establishing a trusting relations
- Conversation 2 – Agreeing mutual expectations
- Conversation 3 – Showing genuine appreciation
- Conversation 4 – Challenging unhelpful behaviour
- Conversation 5 – Building for the future
For each of these conversations, I will design virtual and face-to-face courses which can be used to train people to have these five conversations.
The first conversation I will focus on is how to have ‘challenging unhelpful behaviour’ conversations and we will start discussing it in the next post.
LearnaBytes 