In today’s evolving workplace, managers and leaders are being asked to do more with less.  The Management Advantageã is a comprehensive leadership and management development program.  It is designed for managers at all levels who want to develop and reinforce the skills and behaviors required to effectively and efficiently implement best practices in their organizations.  Each session will introduce you to skills and techniques to effectively manage departments, teams, and individuals while dealing with the day-to-day challenges you encounter. You will learn to lead and manage using methods including strategic goal setting, coaching for performance, conflict resolution and delegation. The concepts and skills are presented in conjunction with the specific behaviors required to successfully practice and implement solid management and leadership skills.  This format allows participants to improve their own management competencies and enhance their career development.  Each module is one-day long and can be conducted as a stand-alone training or combined with other modules to create a custom training experience.

Best Practices in Leadership and Management

Understanding Yourself and Others

Managing Priorities Effectively

Strategic Planning and Goal Setting

Decision Making and Problem Solving

Empowering People Through Delegation

Coaching and Managing for Performance

Resolving Conflict

Negotiation

Providing Constructive Feedback

Teams That Work

Case Studies and Certification

Best Practices in Leadership and Management <Back to Top>
Leadership. Management. Two words used interchangeably in today's business world. Two words that can mean different things to different people. Because today's managers are asked to both manage and lead, this session sets the foundation for participants to understand and use both functions. It will assist participants in identifying the similarities and differences between Leadership and Management, the purpose of the two processes, and the importance of both in organizational development.

Understanding Yourself and Others <Back to Top>
Have you ever wondered why people do the things they do or do things in a certain way? Have you experienced miscommunication or conflict over the differences between individuals and personalities? Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), participants will learn to better understand their own style of communicating and the communication styles of others. They will learn ways to more effectively communicate with those who prefer different communication styles and to appreciate the differences between individuals.

Managing Priorities Effectively <Back to Top>
As many of you may know, becoming a manager can lead to an overwhelming feeling of stress and a lack of time to complete those tasks which will yield the highest return of your time investment. In this session, participants will learn to identify the symptoms and causes of stress, methods to reduce stress and its causes, focus on activities to achieve priority goals, and implement a five-step process for effectively managing time while reducing stress.

Strategic Planning and Goal Setting <Back to Top>
Leaders and managers are responsible for formulating, articulating and communicating a compelling vision that people will aspire to and that will guide them to achieve results. This session introduces participants to long term planning, developing strategies to achieve the vision, empowering employees to act on the organizational vision, and recognize the importance of goal-alignment at all levels of the organization.

Decision Making and Problem Solving <Back to Top>
Of all the skills a manager and leader will use throughout any given business day, problem solving and decision making are those most often used. This session introduces participants to the close relationship between the two processes, an eight-step problem-solving process, several techniques to use when making decisions, and when to use individual and group decision making procedures.

Empowering People Through Delegation <Back to Top>
As a developmental tool, delegation can serve two primary purposes. It can help managers accomplish their goals and empower employees with new responsibilities and the accompanying authority to fulfill them. Using situational leadership models, participants will learn how to develop others through delegation, mentor employees for long-term development, and adapt their leadership style to the readiness of the employee to perform delegated tasks.

Coaching and Managing for Performance <Back to Top>
Every manager is responsible for achieving results through other people. To effectively manage those results, a manager must be able to set clear performance goals and expectations, involve the employee in the process and the plans to achieve those goals, and monitor the progress to insure target dates are being met. Every manager is concerned with maintaining and improving performance. When an employee needs assistance mastering skills and applying instructions, coaching is required. In this session participants will learn how to effectively set, monitor and manage performance for optimum results, instruct employees on how to recognize opportunities to improve performance, provide motivation and a supportive climate to achieve goals, and provide both positive and constructive feedback for improved results.

Resolving Conflict <Back to Top>
It is difficult, if not impossible, to think of a relationship of any type that does not encounter disagreements at one time or another. Unless relationships are able to withstand the stress involved in their inevitable conflicts, and manage them productively, they are not likely to endure. This can be counterproductive to the achievement of goals. Using the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Instrument, individuals will identify their preferred approach to dealing with conflict, learn conflict management skills, understand the five basic styles for handling conflict, and implement conflict resolution steps which assist in preserving relationships.

Negotiation <Back to Top>
Managers spend a lot of time negotiating. Salaries, budgets, differences with associates, and the need for resources are just a few of the things managers negotiate on a regular basis. This session introduces participants to two strategies of negotiation, barriers to effective negotiation, ten steps for effective negotiating, and an action plan for implementing negotiation tactics.

Providing Constructive Feedback <Back to Top>
For most managers, providing constructive feedback can be an awkward and uncomfortable situation. Sometimes this feedback must be given to former peers who now are their direct reports. In this session participants will learn to develop effective feedback skills and behaviors, speak to employees about poor performance, implement guidelines and provide meaningful feedback for learning, prepare for a feedback session, and use words to pinpoint specific behaviors to avoid personality conflicts.

Teams That Work <Back to Top>
Like the words management and leadership, the word "team" is used to describe many types of work groups. In this session, participants will learn to identify the characteristics of high-performance teams, design high performing teams, recognize the stages of team development, and adapt their leadership styles to the different stages of team development to facilitate effective team processes.

Case Studies and Certification <Back to Top>
Based upon an actual management challenge they are currently facing, participants will serve as facilitator with their classmates in applying the principles learned in TMA to develop an action plan which they will begin implementing upon returning to their workplace. This process will be followed by a graduation ceremony in which participants will receive a certificate of completion of The Management Advantage.

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