Category Archives: Management

INTRODUCING THE NEW TO MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME – ABOUT THE PROGRAMME

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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

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Photo by Wonderlane on Unsplash

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.

Virtual Training Activity – What is your role?

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INTRODUCTION

What is the manager’s role? There are many ways to describe what a manager does or what management is? In this session, participants will explore one view of management that describes the role of a manager in three words.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Describe what the role of a manager is.

WORKBOOKS

  • Yes

PREPARATION

  • Read through all the documents you need to deliver the course (facilitation guide, workbook and presentation)
  • Make sure the participants get a digital copy workbook before the session starts.

PREREQUISITES

  • None

INTRODUCE THE SESSION

  • Once the participants have settled down, start by introducing the session.
  • Display the Slide titled – LEARNING OBJECTIVE.

  • Tell them that:
    • In this session, we want to discuss what the role of a manager is.
    • There are different perceptions of what the role of a manager is and what we discuss here is just one perception but one that is helpful.
    • The aim here is for you to gain an understanding of what your role as a manager may look like.
    • I will start off by introducing you to the perceptions of a new manager called Larry before he became a manager and after he became a manager,
  • Display the slide titled – LARRY’S PERCEPTIONS

  • Click on the slide to display some information and tell them that:
    • Before Larry became a manager this (information displayed on the slide) was what he thought the role of a manager was.
  • Allow them to read the information for about 30-seconds.
  • Then click on the slide again and say that:
    • Three years after becoming a manager, here are his thoughts about what the role of a manager is.
  • Ask whether they agree with any of Larry’s descriptions and whatever their answer is find out what made them answer that way.
  • After that, tell them that you are interested in their own perceptions about what the role of a manager is.
  • Tell them to type what they believe to be the role of a manager in the chat window.
  • Allow them to do the activity for up to 3-minutes.
  • As they write their answers in the chat window, read through them silently.
  • When the time is up, stop them and get their attention.
  • Read out their answers so they can hear and acknowledge each person who contributed an answer by name.
  • After that thank them for doing the activity and tell them that:
    • Since the last time we met Larry, his perception of what the manager’s job is has changed.
    • He now believes that he has a better understanding of what management is.
    • From that understanding of management, Larry has also identified three core roles of a manager.
  • Here is how Larry now thinks about management. Display the slide titled – A THOUGHT ABOUT MANAGEMENT. Let them read the information on the slide for about 30-seconds.

  • After they finish reading the information ask what they think about the statements.
  • Listen to them for up to 2-minutes without making any comments about what they said.
  • Then display another slide titled – YOUR THREE PRIORITIES.

  • When the slide displays it will be blank with just a title.
  • Click on the slide to display some information. Tell them that:
    • The first priority is that of ‘Purpose’.
    • Purpose is the outcome your team is trying to achieve also known as the ‘why’ of your team.
    • Purpose is what your team needs to achieve to justify why it exists.
    • If this purpose is missing or unclear, then you may experience conflicts or mismatched expectations.
    • Therefore, the first big part of your job as a manager is to ensure your team knows what success looks like and they care about achieving it.
  • Display the slide titled – COMMUNICATING PURPOSE.

  • Allow them to read the information on the slide for about 10-seconds.
  • Then let them that, as managers they must know what the purpose of the team is, show they are interested in it and talk about it often.
  • Next, to explore the other two priorities of ‘People’ and ‘Process’ you will get them to do a group discussion.
  • Display the slide titled – LET’S TALK ABOUT PEOPLE AND PROGRESS.

  • Use the ‘Breakout rooms’ feature to split them into two small groups and assign the task shown on the screen appropriately.
  • Give them 7-minutes for the activity.
  • After 7-minutes, stop them and bring everyone back to the main room.
  • Then allow each group to present their answers and listen to them.
  • After they finish, thank them for doing the activity and ask if any of the groups want to add to the information that the other group presented.
  • If they do want to any extra information, allow them to do so and thank them again for doing that.
  • After that, direct everyone to the part of their workbooks titled – WHAT IS THE MANAGER’S ROLE?
  • Give them 5-minutes to read the information on page 7.
  • After 5-minutes, stop them and get everyone’s attention.
  • Ask for their thoughts about what they just read and listen to them.
  • After that, thank them and move on to review and close the session.
  • But before that ask if they have any final questions or comments.
  • Listen to any they have and respond appropriately only if necessary.
  • Next, review the session by telling them that:
    • During this session we explored what the role of a manager is?
    • We looked at some thoughts about management.
    • Explored your views of the manager’s role.
    • Then we summarised the manager’s role in three words which are – Purpose, People and Process.
  • After that, end the session.

This is the end of the session.

What is the manager’s role?

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Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

What is the manager’s role?

This is a question we probably all struggle with as managers and there are probably as many answers to this question as there are managers.

In her book, The Making of a Manager, Julie Zhuo, a former executive director at Facebook answers the question in three words:

  • Purpose
  • People
  • Process

Before we look at those three words, here are things that are not a manager’s MAIN role.

A manager’s job is not to:

  • have meetings with reports to help them solve their problems,
  • share feedback about what is going or not going well, and
  • figure out who should be promoted and who should be fired.

It’s much more than that. Much, much more.

But here is a statement from Julie that describes her view of what the manager’s role is:

Your job, as a manager, is to get better outcomes from aher group of people working together.

This one-liner sounds simple and covers the three words mentioned earlier — purpose, people, processes.

Let’s look at each of these words to help us understand that one-liner definition.

Purpose

According to Julie,

“Purpose is the outcome your team is trying to accomplish, otherwise known as the why.”

Some key questions that help to understand ‘Purpose’ are:

  • Why do you wake up and choose to do this thing instead of the other thousand things you could be doing?
  • Why pour your time and energy into this particular goal with this particular group of people?
  • What would be different about the world if your team were widely successful?

Purpose is the manager’s goal to help the whole team understand why the work they do matters.

Julie writes that if the purpose is missing or unclear, then you may experience conflicts or mismatched expectations.

“The first big part of your job as a manager is to ensure that your team knows what success looks like and cares about achieving it.”

People

On this Zhuo writes that,

“The next important bucket that managers think about is people, otherwise known as the who.”

Does the team have the right people with the right skills set up in the right way to succeed?

Are they motivated to do great work?

If you don’t have the right people for the job working in the right environment to motivate and empower them to do the job then achieving the purpose may not be possible.

There are some key actions you will need to take to get the people aspect right and they include (but are not limited to):

  • Develop trust with team members
  • Understand their strengths and weaknesses
  • Make good decisions about who should do what
  • Coach individuals to do their best

Having the right people with the right attitude in the right environment to work on the right purpose is a crucial aspect of the manager’s role.

Process

The final role is ‘Process’. Not a word we like as it reminds us of boring, administrative, and bureaucratic stuff. But ‘Process’ in this sense refers to how the team works together.

Why is process important?

Because in Julie’s words,

‘You might have a superbly talented team with a very clear understanding of what the end goal is, but if not’s apparent how everyone’s supposed to work together or what the team’s values are, then even simple simple tasks can get enormously complicated.’

In essence, a key role of the manager is to arrange the work in such a way that every team member is clear about what they should do in relation to what other team members should do.

This will include things like knowing who should do what by when and how you make decisions.

Time needs to be spent coordinating how the team will work together. Processes, policies, and guidance needs to be made available to guide how the team works to prevent confusion.

“Purpose, people, process. The why, the who and the how. A great manager constantly asks herself how she can influence these three levers to improve her team’s outcome.”

Leadactivity – A structure for effective delegation

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Slide11

INTRODUCTION

Delegation is a process that can help managers be better team leaders. Not only does it hold many benefits for the managers but it is also very beneficial to team members too. When delegation is done effectively, it can help managers utilise their teams more effectively, develop team members and establish a culture of trust in the team. In this session, which can be part of a larger course on delegation, participants will discuss a structure for delegating effectively.

DURATION (ESTIMATED)

  • 30-minutes

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this session, participants will be able to

  • Describe a three-part structure for effective delegation.

WORKBOOK

  • Yes

PREPARATION

  • None

PREREQUISITES

  • Participants should know what delegation is and why it is important.

FACILITATION GUIDE

  • Introduce the activity by sharing the learning objective with them. Display the slide titled – LEARNING OBJECTIVE.

Slide12

  • After displaying the slide, tell them that:
    • In this session we are going to look at how having a structured delegation process can help us delegate more effectively.
    • Delegation can go wrong if it is not planned and implemented properly so having a good structure to follow can help us avoid problems down the line.
    • While we will look at a delegation structure, we are not going to discuss it in detail.
    • We will discuss the various parts of the structure and in a later session look at each part in more detail.
  • Display the slide titled – A THREE-PART STRUCTURE FOR DELEGATION.

Slide13

  • The slide will be blank when you display it with just a title. Tell them that:
    • Let me introduce you to the three-part structure for delegation.
  • Click on the slide to display some information and tell them that:
    • The first part of the structure is ‘Before Delegation’ and here you answer the question – What will you do before you delegate to prepare for the actual delegation?
  • Click on the slide again to display more information and let them know that:
    • The second part of the structure is ‘During Delegation’. The question answered here is – What will you do to delegate? Or how will you delegate?
  • Click on the slide for a final time and tell them that:
    • The final part of the structure is ‘After Delegation’. The question to answer here is – What will you do after delegating?
    • So, this is the simple three-part structure that will help you think about the necessary actions you need to take in order to delegate effectively.
    • Next, let’s look at some of the actions we will need to take under each part of the structure.
    • For that, I’ve got a little sorting activity for you to do.
  • Direct them to the section in their workbooks titled – MATCH THE ACTION TO THE STAGE.
  • Delegation6

Delegation7

VIRTUAL ACTIVITY: WHAT DO EFFECTIVE 1:1s LOOK LIKE?

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Slide22

INTRODUCTION

In this session, participants will identify what effective one-to-one meetings look like. They will discuss some of the qualities of effective one-to-one meetings.

DURATION (ESTIMATED)

  • 30-minutes

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this session, participants will be able to

  • List and describe three actions they can take to make their one-to-one meetings more effective

WORKBOOK

  • Yes

PREPARATION

  • None

PREREQUISITES

  • Participants should know what one-to-one meetings are and their purpose.

FACILITATION GUIDE

  • Introduce the activity by sharing the learning objective with them. Display the slide titled – LEARNING OBJECTIVE.

Slide8

  • After displaying the slide, tell them that:
    • In this session we want to explore what effective one-to-one meetings look like so we can identify some concrete actions to take to ensure they are beneficial to us and our team members
    • We know that one-to-one meetings can help to build trust between managers and team members, guide team members development and give you the opportunity to have open and honest conversations with the people you manage.
    • These benefits are only possible if our one-to-ones meetings are done effectively. We want to answer a key question in this session which is – What do effective one-to-one meetings look like?
  • Direct each person to the section of their workbooks titled – TWO ONE-TO-ONE MEETINGS.

two one to ones 1

two one to ones 2

two one to ones 4

  • They should read the information for about 8-minutes.
  • After they’ve read the information, tell them you are going to split them into small groups to do the activity in the section of their workbooks titled – TWO ONE-TO-ONES: DIFFERENCES AND LESSONS (you may share the page on screen to further explain what they will do in their small groups).

two one to ones 5

  • Use the ‘breakout rooms’ feature to put them into small groups. Ideally, no group should have more than three people (maximum of four).
  • Give them 10-minutes for the activity. If they need more time, you can give them an extra 5-minutes.
  • Join each room briefly to check that they understand what they are required to do.
  • When their time is up, stop them and bring everyone back to the main room.
  • Thank them for doing the activity and let them know that you will first explore what didn’t work well in both one-to-one meetings.
  • After that you explore what worked well in each of the meetings.
  • Then you will ask each person for one lesson that will make their one-to-one meetings more effective.
  • Go through this process by first listening to each group talk about what didn’t work well, then what worked well and ask each person for one lesson.
  • After having that discussion, let them know that you are going to share with them some actions we can take to make out one-to-one meetings more effective.
  • The information summarises some of what they identified as what worked well from Pablo’s one-to-one meeting with Bernice.
  • Display the slide titled – ACTIONS FOR EFFECTIVE ONE-TO-ONES.

Slide9

  • When the slide displays it will be blank with just a title. You will need to click on the slide six times to display information and each time read out the information to them. You don’t need any extra information because it is self-explanatory.
  • After presenting the information, let them know that the information you just presented is in their workbooks.
  • There’s also an excerpt from a Harvard Business Review article by Rebecca Knight titled – HOW TO MAKE YOUR ONE-ON-ONES WITH EMPLOYEES MORE PRODUCTIVE in their workbooks.

two one to ones article 1

two one to ones article 2

  • Give them 5-minutes to read through the article.
  • Next direct each of them to another section in their workbooks titled – THREE PERSONAL ACTIONS FOR EFFECTIVE ONE-TO-ONES.

two one to ones article 3

  • Tell them to read the information there and complete the reflective activity.
  • Give them 5-minutes to do it.
  • After that, ask each of them to go into the chat window and share one of the actions they wrote down in their workbooks.
  • Allow up to 3-minutes for them to write down their actions and as they do, read through them quietly so you don’t distract them.
  • After 3-minutes, stop them and appreciate them for doing the activity. Then read out all the actions they wrote in the chat window, while at the same time appreciating each person that wrote the action.
  • After that, move on to review what was discussed during the session.
  • Tell them that:
    • During this session, we explored actions we can all take to make our one-to-one meetings more effective.
    • We compared two one-to-ones to see what went well and what can be done to make them much better.
    • Finally, you reflected on three actions you will take to improve your own one-to-one meetings and shared one of them.
  • After that, end the session.

This is the end of the session.

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