Guide to Training for Management

Create more confident and effective company leaders through training for management

By Lea Terry, Freelance Journalist / Copywriter

1. Hiring a management consulting firm or coach to conduct on-site assessment and training.
2. Sending upper management to seminars, workshops and classes.
3. Using videos, online courses and other "do-it-yourself" training tools.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Seek business management information from business management consulting firms

Management consulting firms can evaluate your company's current management style and make recommendations for improvement and modification. Business management services from these firms also offer an intensive and personalized approach to training your managers to be more effective leaders.

I recommend: Find a management coach--and receive a free consultation--through The Coach Connection. Roundhouse Advisors offers management consulting for everything from growth strategies to establishing infrastructure to responding to market influences. And, the company emphasizes the role of the management team in bringing about these changes.

Send your executive management to workshops or seminars

There are management training seminars and workshops that cover everything from general principles to more specific topics like employee involvement, embracing diversity and guiding a company through change. These highly specific programs are ideal if there's a narrow area that needs improvement, rather than a major overhaul of management style.

I recommend: The American Management Association offers management seminars covering everything from delegating to high-impact decision making. The AMA holds seminars across the country, in locations including Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas and other major cities. National Seminars offers management training seminars focusing on everything from leadership skills for women to assertiveness skill for first-time managers.

Conduct your own management training with videos or online business management solutions

Maybe your management staff just needs to brush up on basic principles, or could use an introduction to new ideas. By purchasing training videos or kits, or using online courses, you can train your entire management team in-house, without trying to budget for expensive tuition or consulting fees, and without using work hours to meet with a coach or send employees to a two- or three-day class.

I recommend: Employee University offers instructional videos on essential management skills like employee coaching and evaluation, group dynamics and managing change. The Richardson Company offers training videos for managers, on topics ranging from project management to guiding your employees to excellence.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Ask your management staff for input before and after any training program. Before a training, they can tell you what areas they'd most like to learn about, helping you more efficiently invest your time and financial resources. After a training, they can offer feedback to help strengthen further training programs.

Guide to Sleeker, Slimmer, Smarter Business Management

Savvy leaders know that less is more when managing a business

By Jeanne Dininni, Writer, Editor, Blogger, Notary Public

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Say 'yes' to management, 'no' to micromanagement

Micromanagement may sound slim, but it isn't. It gobbles up the time, energy and focus you need for other tasks. Resist the urge to constantly check up on everyone and everything. Once your employees know your expectations, assume they'll follow through. Check in with them at pre-planned intervals, review their work and hold them accountable for its quality. Spend the time saved completing the executive management tasks that are actually part of your job description.

I recommend: Rewards Nation is an online resource you can use to inspire, motivate and reward your employees for showing initiative and producing quality work. When employees feel more appreciated, you'll feel less of a need to micromanage. You'll also find a few helpful tips on how to avoid the pitfalls of micromanagement at EvanCarmichael.com.

Foster communication between company management and employees, but guard your private time

Let employees know when you're not to be disturbed, yet exercise an open-door policy at appropriate times. If you're serious about both time and business management, solutions like these will be the order of the day for your company: Never allow 'upward delegation' of tasks; encourage employee collaboration and peer mentoring, instead. This will benefit both you and your staff, as you proactively free up more time for your own work and they learn to accept greater responsibility for theirs.

I recommend: Automate, delegate or outsource any non-management tasks that don’t require your personal expertise or oversight. You might try STAR 360 Feedback employee evaluation software or consider its outsourcing program. Also, try the OnlineOrganizing.com Delegation Checklist for a comprehensive set of important points to consider when delegating, or the Clickable Office for a great group of tips for preventing interruptions to your work. (Click the image of the angry boss.)

Develop, equip and empower your staff, and free yourself for company management

Arrange for training to better equip your staff to do their jobs. Provide the needed tools, resources and authority. Then, as their experience, competence and confidence grow, begin giving them greater latitude for independent decisionmaking. Free both yourself and your team from the burden of having to give or receive approval for everything done.

I recommend: Downloadable training courses are available from SoftSkillsCourseware.com, including Sales and Marketing and Career Development training. You'll also find guidance on employee training in American Management Association’s Performance and Profits e-newsletter and tips and techniques for inspiring your team in the AMA Leader’s Edge e-newsletter.

Get the best advice about company management

Tending to your own ongoing leadership growth will help you run your business or department with increasing effectiveness. One way to gain greater managerial insight is by using management consulting services. You may also attend local or not-too-distant seminars or workshops or take online courses or webinars, where you'll have access to all the latest business management information, strategies and techniques.

I recommend: Consider using consulting firms that offer business management services, such as Accenture or BCG (Boston Consulting Group). Signing up for American Management Association’s Moving Ahead e-newsletter will also provide insights into better management techniques. BusinessTrainingMedia.com offers numerous Management/Supervisory Skills e-seminars, and SoftSkillsCourseware.com provides Management Training courseware, as well.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Business management services can help get you on the road to a tighter, more efficient management style. But, if you're serious about self-study, you may get just as much from many of the courses available online.

Guide to Management News and Trends

Give your company an edge by keeping up with management news and trends

By Lea Terry, Freelance Journalist / Copywriter

1. E-newsletters for employees at the executive management level.
2. Professional associations for management executives or for your industry.
3. Print and online magazines for management executives.
   

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Get the latest business management information through e-newsletters

Email newsletters may provide the most current information about business management because they're delivered right to your inbox every week or even every day.

I recommend: BetterManagement's free eNewsletters focus on everything from basic management information to industry-specific news to regional topics. The Economist offers Management Thinking, a free weekly e-newsletter featuring highlights of the magazine's management coverage. Management-Issues, a website dedicated to today's changing workplace, also offers a free email newsletter.

Find timely and relevant business management information through professional associations

Associations for management professionals emphasize learning about and using the newest trends and management, and they help their members learn about new practices through articles, newsletters or seminars. For management news and trends specific to your industry or field, consult the websites for your industry's professional associations, which usually include a news section.

I recommend: The Southern Management Association serves management professionals at colleges, universities and business firms, and publishes the Journal of Management. The Society for Human Resource Management features articles on issues affecting human resource managers on its website.

For in-depth information on business management solutions, turn to management magazines

If you're looking for an in-depth analysis of the latest trends in management, including examples of how they've worked for other companies, and a look at their pros and cons, management magazines may offer the most relevant information.

I recommend: Workforce Management magazine offers both print and online editions. Or, get industry-specific management information with magazines like Credit Union Management.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Carefully evaluate any new business management solutions you read about before you apply them to your company. They may sound promising, but if they're new to the field, it may be too soon to determine how effective they are or if they're relevant to your organization. You may want to wait until more companies have implemented them, and then research how well they worked for them.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

American Management Association (AMA)

The American Management Association is an industry organization for those in management positions. The AMA offers educational opportunities for managers to learn how to improve their businesses.

I recommend: The American Management Association gives its corporate and government members access to education and training opportunities to improve management strategies.

Continuous improvement plan

A continuous improvement plan is a long-term plan for a business. The plan includes a number of smaller goals that help reach the larger goal of improvement in all areas of the business.

I recommend: Plante Moran provides information on how specific characteristics of a continuous improvement plan can help to increase profits for a business.

Key performance indicators (KPI)

Key performance indicators are specific measurements that offer information on how a business is meeting key goals. KPIs can be use to measure manufacturing and other areas of business.

I recommend: Learn more about key performance indicators and how they can help any business succeed from Vorne Industries.

Focal review, calendar review

A focal review, or calendar review, is an employee review conducted by management to assess work performance and is usually scheduled once a year for employees.

I recommend: Halogen Software provides information on whether focal reviews are better than anniversary reviews for employees.

Organization chart

An organization chart is a document that provides information showing which employees report to specific managers or executives. This helps to establish everyone's role in the company and how their jobs relate to the overall goals of the business.

I recommend: Microsoft Office Online provides an example organization chart that can be downloaded.

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is a process of determining who sets the standard in the company or in a specific industry. This can be applied to the company standards or to the standards of a specific project.

I recommend: iSix Sigma provides an explanation of benchmarking, how it can be determined for a specific business and how to implement it to achieve better results.