Manager Training

In the purely physical office, observation was a key conduit of information about how teams were doing. In the hybrid world, leadership must be more intentional. Participants will have an opportunity to reflect on their current leadership approach and envision how they’d like to show up to be successful in the hybrid context.

Collaboration is an overused word but underutilized management practice. If you want to have great collaboration on your teams, you need agility, psychological safety and intentionality.  In this module, learn how to lead effective collaborations by fine tuning your management practices, creating an environment that is safe for risk taking, and being intentional about how and when work gets done together.

We’ll look at why performance management is so important and the role it plays in an organization’s “bigger picture” and driving things like development, growth, motivation, productivity, and overall success. We’ll clarify the roles of managers and employees in the process, and discuss and practice goal-setting. We’ll also cover three key steps and dos and don’ts for managing the career growth of others.

All teams progress through the stages of forming, storming, norming, performing and mourning. We review the signs that a team exhibits at each stage and the actions that we as managers must take to move our teams to the next level.

Talent is our most critical asset – so the ability to interview well is a critical skill, particularly during times of big transition. In this module, we’ll cover how to optimize interviews for the best candidate experience. We’ll also do a deep dive on developing competencies and asking behavioral interview questions. We also discuss the importance of probing and practice using the STAR model to help identify the best talent quickly.

In this module, we draw on the DiSC model to learn about the four different styles: dominance, influence, steadiness and conscientiousness. We examine how the approach to successfully managing each style is different and look at the priorities, motivations, fears, and limitations of each style.

Hybrid teams are here to stay, but are your managers equipped to juggle the complexities this brings? In this module, we’ll introduce 5 best practices to successfully manage hybrid teams and share tangible practices that your managers can use to co-create a team culture, establish trust & communication, and create a sense of belonging and accountability that transcends location.

When we’re collectively navigating yet another “new normal”, having grace and compassion for ourselves and others may be the most critical skill of all. 

Remote workers may experience lower levels of motivation overall. We’ll look at the role of extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation and share a simple framework to assess and build motivation in oneself and others.

Without the built-in touchpoint of being in the same physical place at the same time, managers will need to take deliberate action to fight our tendency to give preference to those in our immediate vicinity. In this module, we’ll review examples of proximity bias to help us identify it, and learn key strategies and behaviors to prevent it from happening.

Without psychological safety, individuals and teams will struggle to have the impact they want. Unfortunately, the hybrid context makes this more difficult to create and maintain. We’ll define what psychological safety is and how to tell if it’s present/absent. We’ll share three simple tools and habits managers can use to build and maintain this precious resource.

Research proves teams who give and receive feedback regularly are stronger collaborators and performers, but it’s too often avoided or not done correctly. In this session, we will debunk the myths that cause us to miss key opportunities to provide feedback to our teams. We distinguish the differences between praise vs feedback, and judgment vs observation. 

We review a permission-based process for delivering feedback that yields the most impactful results, strengthens performance, and promotes partnership. We’ll look at techniques that have been proven to be most effective and share many practical tips, tools, and examples to use. Lastly, we’ll talk about receiving feedback as a leadership skill, and how to promote a 360 feedback culture within your team and organization.

In this course, we teach a four step process for approaching and resolving conflict and review how to prevent conflict from escalating. We also review the “D.E.F.I.C.I.T.” model which helps participants organize their thoughts and approach to handling difficult conversations. 

Executive presence is a critical factor when we’re addressing any audience – in a room or on a Zoom. In this module, we define what executive presence is and why it’s important for leadership, presentations, meetings, and more. We’ll cover topics such as focus, power, warmth, character, substance and style – and ways to improve each. We watch video examples to evaluate executive presence in others and then we complete an exercise to evaluate one’s own executive presence.

There’s a major difference between doing a job and taking ownership. In this session, we discuss what it means to take ownership and embrace accountability in your role and on your projects, and more importantly, how to make it happen. We will get clear and specific about the five areas of accountability – expectations, capabilities, measurement, feedback, and consequences – and how they must work together as a system. Each participant will complete their own assessment for a current project based on these areas, and we’ll discuss specific ways to increase your own personal ownership and accountability going forward.

Theories of motivation have been around for decades, but our new hybrid world requires a refresh. In this module, leaders will learn how to help their teams build autonomy, mastery and purpose in challenging environments and how to authentically and intentionally use recognition and rewards to inspire your people to do their best.

There are numerous skills involved in managing up. We’ll review the top 20 to determine which ones we’ve already mastered, and which ones we need to focus on. We’ll discuss the unspoken skills that are commonly overlooked, learn the four management styles, and lastly put ourselves in our manager’s shoes through a series of exercises not just to better understand them, but how to improve communication and ways of working with them.

We’ll look at why performance management is so important and the role it plays in an organization’s “bigger picture” and driving things like development, growth, motivation, productivity, and overall success. We’ll clarify the roles of managers and employees in the process, and discuss and practice goal-setting.

In the manager version of this module, we’ll also cover three key steps and dos and don’ts for managing the career growth of others.

Facilitation is a critical (but commonly overlooked) skill which helps us guide others in generating the ideas, opinions, experiences, and expertise to achieve a common goal. In this session, we’ll review the key principles of quality facilitation, characteristics and competencies of strong facilitators, and how to adapt to an audience.

We’ll share the rules of engagement for successful facilitation, distinguish between the process and the content of a session, and cover do’s and don’ts, tips and tricks, and best practices for running a meeting, brainstorm, or work session seamlessly from beginning to middle to end.

Hybrid work has given employees greater flexibility and independence, but are they empowered to be proactive and make good decisions? In this module, we introduce and deconstruct empowerment leadership into tangible practices. Learn how to balance authenticity, logic and empathy to establish trust, show your love by helping people reach their highest potential, and cultivate a sense of belonging by embracing each individual’s unique strengths.

We cover why delegation is hard, why it’s important, and explore a suggested model to apply when delegation can be used as a development opportunity. We’ll complete a powerful exercise that helps participants to delegate things on their to do lists to people up, down and around.

Coaching always has and always will be a critical competency for managers and leaders across industries and teams. As we continue to navigate evolved workplaces, many of us are learning how to make sure our teams feel supported with coaching in a virtual environment. We’ll discuss what it takes to make the shift from managing to coaching while team members are virtual. We’ll share a coaching model that managers can use (in-person or virtually) to push employees from their current reality toward their intended goals. We’ll uncover the most common barriers we face, teach antidotes to overcome each one, and learn a number of effective virtual coaching techniques.