Most organisations are aware of the benefits that motivated, capable and focussed mangers can have on their business. These may range from driving improvements in bottom line performance (in terms of sales, service and profitability) to leading a challenging change programme that the organisation is going through.
However, no one became a star perfumer by accident. While everyone is born with a number of inherent gifts, it does not automatically mean that they will be a great manager. Many organisations have had their fingers burned by promoting their best engineer, salesperson, or customer care assistant into a management role without any appropriate management training, only to see them fail dismally because they simply do not know what to do, or how to do it.
But what is the solution?
Clearly a manager at any level must have the relevant ‘know how’ to fulfil their role completely. This ‘know how’ might range from being able to motivate someone to holding them accountable for their work. However, while the fundamental skills mangers need are similar across most organisations the context in which managers have to operate can be very different.
Managers learn best when the management training is relevant to them. In other words the course is designed to address what they need to learn and it is presented in a manner that they can relate to. For example, teaching an engineering manager how best to motivate their vehicle engineers using theory and examples from an office environment will have limited impact.
It is for this reason that tailored or bespoke management training courses have a grater impact on learning and performance than open courses. Every organisation is different, with different strategies, cultures, and people and these need to be reflected in the management training course.
In summary, the key to the effectiveness of a management training course is that it should be tailored to suit the organisation, its strategy, culture, learning styles as well as individual needs of the participants. One size definitely doesn’t fit all when it comes to getting the best from your managers.