A survey by The Conference Board reports that 53% of Americans are unhappy at work, which is an astonishing number. Some job aspects are not able to be changed, but how much can you improve your employees’ happiness through proper management training?
In this article, we will cover what management training is, the difference between leadership and management training, why it’s essential, and how you can conduct an engaging management training program.
What is Management Training?
Management training can prepare an employee to lead a team or run a department successfully. From soft skills (communication, organization, interpersonal) to departmental functions (budgeting, reporting, scheduling), it should never be assumed that a subject matter expert is ready to be a successful manager. Managerial skills are learned through training and on the job experience.
There are many different types of training that a leader/manager/executive could benefit from, but let’s review some of the most in-demand management training topics:
- Conflict Resolution
- Hiring and Firing
- Delegating Tasks
- Time Management
- Coaching and Employee Retention
- Emergency Procedures
- Effective Discipline
- Communication Skills
- Delegating Tasks
- Providing Feedback
- Change Management
- Budgeting and Financial Planning
Management Training vs. Leadership Development
Not all leaders hold a manager position, but you should do what you can to make sure all of your managers function as true leaders. Leadership and Management have often become interchangeable as if they were the same words. While some topics and duties overlap, there are some distinct differences between the two types of training programs.
Leadership Development works to inspire subject matter experts to create and implement a strategy for a department or organization. More actionable skills for leadership development include teaching employees to develop innovative processes, bring about change, and spur growth in an organization. On a soft skills level, leadership development includes inspiring the workforce, communicating strategic planning, and improving employee morale.
Read More: Corporate Leadership Training: What You Need To Know
On the other hand, management training teaches skills that keep employees and departments optimally functioning. Every day practical skills like creating and interpreting important KPIs, working within a budget, and managing employees are essential to maintain the status quo of the business. For soft skills, management training will include conflict resolution, task delegation, and inspiring motivation for their teams.
Why Is Management Training Important?
When career pathing with your employees, it’ll be common to hear goals that include leading teams, running departments and managing projects, but having expertise in a subject does not necessarily mean that they are already equipped to be a successful manager.
Your top salesman may not have the best emotional intelligence; your best marketing strategist may not have advanced financial skills. Before you put your employee in a management role, you owe it to the employee and the entire team to make sure that the new manager is ready to succeed.
CareerBuilder.com reports that 58% of managers say that they never receive any management training. When you think about that astounding report and think about the familiar adage, “Employees don’t leave jobs, they leave bosses,” how many people can you retain by having adequately trained managers on your frontline supporting your employees?
Properly trained managers can boost your company culture, improve your retention rate, encourage more productive employees, streamline processes, and create a more profitable business that benefits everyone. Can you afford NOT to train your managers?
How To Conduct Management Training
When designing a management training program, you have a vast array of options for modalities (modes of communicating the material) and topics. Let’s review some popular ways to conduct management training.
Instructor-Led Training
With instructor-led training, you get a group of employees together to facilitate discussion, work through activities together, and learn as a team. This gives your employees access to subject matter experts and builds a great team dynamic.
Read More: What is Instructor-Led Training? Everything You Need To Know
Immersive Training
Immersive training leverages technologies such as fully immersive virtual reality, 360º virtual reality, and augmented reality to simulate real-world environments and allow employees to practice their decision making in a safe environment.
Read More: What is Immersive Learning? Everything You Need To Know
eLearning
eLearning can consist of online modules that the employees can complete on their schedule and pace, boosting their retention of the information. With eLearning, you can create an engaging program with custom branding, characters, illustrations, and functionality.
Read More: What is eLearning? Everything You Need To Know
Blended Learning
At Roundtable Learning, we believe that a blended model of learning is the most impactful. Blended Learning is a concept that brings together traditional and digital learning techniques to create a fully comprehensive program.
A learning program that combines traditional and digital learning techniques allows the instructional designer to build a more personalized learning experience that can increase knowledge retention.
Read More: What is Blended Learning? Everything You Need To Know
Are You Ready To Manage Your Company’s Future?
In this article, we covered what management training is, the difference between leadership and management training, why it’s essential, and how you can conduct an engaging program. A Harvard Business Review survey reveals 58% of people say they trust strangers more than their boss, are you ready to elevate your management team and support your workforce?
