When should we start training new managers? Good question. Google usually trains managers from 45 to 90 days after they have started in their new roles and there is a good rationale to this. By that time managers know more about what is expected of them in their roles and training at that point will feel more relevant. But I don’t believe you need to wait for 45 days before you start putting your managers through a development programme. In fact you can start training people before they become managers.

Recently, I’ve been working on a programme called Interested in Management at work. It is aimed at staff who are not yet managers and it introduces people to the basics of management covering topics such as:

• What is management?
• Who is a manager?
• What do managers do?
• Skills for effective managers
• What is leadership
• Leadership vs. Management
• Leadership and management styles
• Personal development for management

The programme is delivered through two 2.5 hours of virtual-instructor led sessions on Zoom.

Interestingly, a number of people on the course will soon start line managing at least one person so the course did feel useful to them.

What a programme like this can also do is help to identify people who are interested in management and those with management potential. It may also aid succession planning. It doesn’t have to be costly in terms of time or money but it can send out a message that the organisation is serious about leadership and management development.