Management Training: Are You Satisfied With The Results?

If you're not satfied with the results of your management training programs, maybe it's because you handle training as a 'one shot' event rather than a process of developing your people to be better managers.

One of the common misconceptions is that a manager can take a course and voila he is now skilled in communicating with others, or managing his time or delegating work. Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither will people change in one day. Particularly many leadership competencies require several courses and ongoing feedback and reinforcement. Here is how you can get the biggest bang from your training dollars:

Make sure training is 'just in time'.
Provide training when people need it not when it's on a schedule. If people know they will immediately be able to use the new skills or information, they'll be more motivated to learn. Otherwise they'll see it as a waste of time.

Create performance tools.
These are inexpensive, user friendly aids - laminated cards or posters or booklets - that will keep key points fresh in people's mind.

Schedule TIPS.
Tips for Improving Performance are short sessions planned several weeks after the training. Here people exchange what's working, what's not and how to make it work better. In essence, they are teaching and coaching each other.

Make sure training is more than a checklist of courses but rather an effective method of improving performance.

Marcia Zidle, the 'people smarts' coach, works with business leaders to quickly solve their people management headaches so they can concentrate on their #1 job ­ to grow and increase profits. She offers free help through Leadership Briefing, a weekly e-newsletter with practical tips on leadership style, employee motivation, recruitment and retention and relationship management. Subscribe by going to http://leadershiphooks.com/ and get the bonus report "61 Leadership Time Savers and Life Savers". Marcia is the author of the What Really Works Handbooks ­ resources for managers on the front line and the Power-by-the-Hour programs ­ fast, convenient, real life, affordable courses for leadership and staff development. She is available for media interviews, conference presentations and panel discussions on the hottest issues affecting the workplace today. Contact Marcia at 800-971-7619.

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