Management Course

[batmanreturns]

We are a firm thats expanded to the point of now requiring managers. I'd prefer to promote internally, however most of our staff are aged 30 or below and therefore don't have management experience.

Having been thrown in at the deep end myself at that age with no guidance in how to develop people and get the best from them i know my guys will really benefit from having some great training and an introduction to management via a course.

Does anyone have any suggestions for these that they have been on? I know there are loads of courses out there but a lot of them leave you feeling like you've wasted a day or two listening to a guy spouting what you could have read in a book.

thanks

[trickywoo]

I went on a few day hotel based course with this chap a few years ago. http://www.njcassociates.ltd.uk/

The course I went on was designed for developing seafarers management skills and was perhaps more interesting as a result - one of the Russian guys there had been previously accused of mutiny.

It was good fun and also educational. A very broad summary would be to say it was story based with practical exercises as well as more structured teaching.

Don't think it was cheap and anything like this should be considered a stepping stone IMO. You aren't going to make a manager in a week long course but its a step in the right direction.

[Yipper]

Do something like an Oxford Uni MBA (longterm) or Management Diploma (short-term).

[prand]

Yipper said:

Do something like an Oxford Uni MBA (longterm) or Management Diploma (short-term).

Blimey you get everywhere! Spot on knowledge as usual too...

Having an MBA or diploma is absolutely no guarantee of creating a good manager, except perhaps in giving the person a more strategic view of running a business, finances, marketing etc. It will not give you anything useful in a practical sense like how to handle conflict, build and motivate a team, run team meetings, 1-2-1s and performance reviews.

OP - I'd suggest recruiting an old hand or two bringing in external experience - or even a short term contractor who can mentor the internal recruits - and look for practical training for the internal candidates on how to step up from a normal worker bee to one of the management team, and how to handle budgets, recruitment etc. Lots of continuous support and ongoing training on the more strategic stuff to bring out the best in them and find out who your top leaders are.

Remember too, that some people have a total aversion to being a manager, some unexpected really excel at it, and those who are great at their jobs now, don't always make the best managers either. So make sure you choose wisely (see my point about recruiting an old hand to help with this process)

[Bogsye]

I managed to get onto a leadership program up here in Glasgow which was part subsidised by Scottish Enterprise and was provided by a really decent consulting group. They also offered subsidised courses for people moving up to managerial positions. Might be worth finding what your local equivalent body can offer. It also seemed a good lead into other contacts and opportunities.

By coincidence our IT provider had done the same course, and retained the services of the consulting group as they are busy growing their business.

By way of example (albeit the leadership course) I think we paid something like £300 which got me 6 morning sessions, 3 meetings with a mentor at my office and there was a final presentation to do.

Worth a shot.

[anonymous-user]

over the years Ive been on loads of management courses ranging from the useful to the bizarre (survival weekend in the brecon beacons building a shelter, skinning a rabbit anyone?)

From my experience the most useful were the practical courses, how to plan, how to budget, how to manage, all the more ethereal "leadership" courses were useful for the cv, but not for doing the job.

[anonymous-user]

My first job after qualifying was as financial accountant for a subsidiary of large British Engineering group, they sent me on a week long management course, the course was aimed at managing professional ambitious people, so motivations mentoring, my staff were all middle aged women, who wanted a nice job and money at the end of the month, I learnt nothing useful for my then role, so make sure you pick course that is relevant to your industry, and needs.