Becoming a Manager 2 Curriculum Outline

Continuous Learning for Tomorrow's Managers

Overview/Description
The future belongs to those...to whom it is a pleasure to live, to create, to whet their intelligence on that of the others. Sir Henri Deterding could have been talking about the enlightened manager for the 21st century. Tomorrow's successful manager understands the forces in the business world that are changing the way people work, the way work is accomplished, and the way managers lead. How can you lure the talent you need and keep the talent you have? How can you build that talent into an organization that is always looking ahead, always learning and growing? Continuous Learning for Tomorrow's Managers examines important insights concerning trends in demographics of the work force and how those changes will affect your bottom line. Learn adaptive strategies for attracting and retaining your future workers. And most important, discover how to turn your company into a learning organization--a powerful, change-ready work force that whets their intelligence on that of the others.

Target Audience
Department directors, managers, supervisors, coaches

Expected Duration
4.5 hours

Lesson Objectives:

Demographics of the Future Work Force

Essential People Management Skills Simulation

Overview/Description
You are a development manager at SurgerySoft, Inc., a medical software company. You are responsible for managing a staff of computer programmers. Your staff's primary function is to maintain and upgrade existing software products and to create new ones. In the first scenario, your goal is to effectively and diplomatically handle several personnel issues. You will attempt to hire Ramon, a skilled Hispanic computer programmer and graphic designer. Ramon has concerns about coming to work for SurgerySoft that you will need to address. Next, you will try to help Wendell, an older direct report, deal with personal problems, including eldercare issues, that are affecting his work. Also, you will interact with Jasmine, a Generation X knowledge worker and try to get her to buy into SurgerySoft's value system. The second scenario begins with Harvey, SurgerySoft's President, telling you about his idea for a new product. He wants you to champion this project. Your goals will be to define the project outcome that he desires, put together a project team, and hire a content specialist. Then you'll need to have an initial project team meeting to communicate project goals, procedures, and deadlines. This simulation is based on the series Essential Skills for Tomorrow's Managers and contains links to the following SkillSoft courses: MGMT0114 and MGMT0116.

Target Audience
Department directors, managers, supervisors, coaches

Expected Duration
0.5 hours

Lesson Objectives:

Essential People Management Skills Simulation

Tomorrow's Managers' Competencies

Overview/Description
It takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. Lewis Carroll's words in Through the Looking Glass, have never been more applicable than today. The workplace is changing. Today's managers are competing for skilled workers, facing high turnover, and coping with technology changes that occur at warp speed. Effective managers must be less product-oriented, and more people-oriented. In order to thrive in these shifting times, you need skills that will help you maximize the potential of your workforce. Tomorrow's Managers' Competencies will teach you how to develop your employees through influence and inspired guidance. You'll improve communications and negotiation skills, learn how to get buy-in, and discover management strategies that ensure success. You'll have the tools to achieve an office or work environment full of energized, high-performance people who are totally engaged in building a powerful organization.

Department directors, managers, supervisors, coaches

Tomorrow's Managers' Development Tools

Overview/Description
A teacher affects eternity. He can never tell where his influence stops. Henry Brooks Adams gets to the heart of what dynamic senior executives are doing to develop the managers who drive front-line performance. Teaching with influence is the key. Trained managers are more than systems and process supervisors. They lead and develop others. You and your managers will know precisely what to expect from one another. You will identify methods to make your managers change-ready, global thinkers. By applying these methods to real life scenarios, you will gain a better understanding of ways to apply these principles in your own work environment. You'll be given step-by-step, cutting-edge methods for creating and executing a performance agreement that sets the standard for development. You will explore the techniques for partnering with your top people. After completing this course, you will know how to build managers that give your organization the competitive edge to be a market leader.

CEOs, senior managers, directors, executive directors, managers, supervisors

Managing as Coach and Counselor

Overview/Description
The ripest peach is highest on the tree. A man's reach should exceed his grasp. How do you motivate employees to go after the ripest peach, or reach for the skill level that seems beyond their grasp? You do it by coaching. Coaching is what cultivates employee growth, not to mention employee loyalty. In Managing as Coach and Counselor, you'll learn to take people from adequacy to excellence. And as you build their self-esteem, confidence, and competence, you'll be building on the bottom line. This course explores four coaching styles, and the methodology to use them all. You'll also discover techniques to overcome employee resistance. Another key learning module is designed to get your workers past the confusion or mistrust that comes with having a new kind of boss. After all, if you are suddenly coach, as opposed to supervisor, they'll need thoughtful dialogue as to why you've changed your approach, and what you hope to accomplish. After this course, you will be able to develop a workplace filled with high achievers.

Department directors, supervisors, managers, coaches

Managing as Project Champion

Overview/Description
Albert Einstein said, The bitter and the sweet come from the outside, the hard from within, from one's own efforts. Are you a person who can drive a project on the outside, and hold yourself responsible from within? Can you be the force, the influence, and the point person who holds the keys to ultimate success? That's what it takes to be a project champion. This is not a course about the technical skills associated with project management. It's a course about what motivates people to deliver on well-defined project objectives. How do you engage and fully focus those involved in an important development effort? You must be equipped to teach, support, let go, and get out of the way! You must also be a skillful negotiator, as well as a person who empowers others to solve their thorniest problems. To lead a championship effort, you must become an effective project champion.

Department directors, managers, supervisors, coaches

A Primer for Ensuring Accountability

Overview/Description
You are either part of the solution or part of the problem. That assertion from Eldridge Cleaver is a perspective that you must impart to each and every employee you supervise. There are many effective ways to get them to see this valuable viewpoint. And that's what you'll learn in this course. As a manager you are on the line when things go wrong. This course is designed to enhance your ability to communicate a philosophy of continuous improvement, what you expect of your staff, and what they must expect of themselves. This is a primer on multiple approaches to performance appraisal. It's much easier to hold people accountable for their work if they know exactly what's expected, and more importantly, why it's expected. Acting on the lessons in this course will pay off in increased employee commitment, not to mention increased profitability. The other major payoff here is the opportunity to do some soul searching. How accountable are you? You'll have the chance to consider your own performance as a manager and practice your own strategic approach for ensuring accountability.

Department directors, managers, supervisors, coaches

Crucial Skills for Tomorrow's Managers Simulation

Overview/Description
In business today, managers are moving far beyond the boundaries of traditional directorship. Ever-evolving models require that managers be equal parts teacher, advocate and mentor, fostering the growth of their most valuable asset--personnel. This simulation assigns you the role of manager to a web development team. As a national-level ISP (Internet Service Provider), I-Spi encourages a forward-thinking, casual environment that holds education and personal advancement as a fundamental tenet. And while the majority of I-Spi's employees recognize the benefits of such a corporate culture, some do not. This simulation is based on the SkillSoft Series Crucial Skills for Tomorrow's Managers and has links to the following courses: mgmt_04_a01_bs_enus and mgmt_04_a03_bs_enus.

Target Audience
Mid to upper-level management and supervisory staff

Expected Duration
0.5

Lesson Objectives:

Crucial Skills for Tomorrow's Managers Simulation