How Not To Manage: What Management Development Training Taught Me

Early in my career, as so many people do, I worked in customer service roles. I was eventually promoted to a management position—something I assumed, at the time, was simply a natural progression. 

Companies often recruit for management positions internally, which is great news for employees looking to take the next step on the career ladder. However, not everyone is suited to management. 

In hindsight, I realised that I was promoted because I was good at my job. I got along with everyone, communicated well with customers and colleagues alike, and I wasn’t afraid to raise ideas and concerns with management. I was reliable, consistent, and maintained good relationships at every level.

Making Mistakes

When I was promoted to a managerial role, I was eager to get started and looking forward to the challenges ahead. However, my excitement soon faded when I realised what hard work managing people actually is. 

I made plenty of mistakes in my early days. I avoided reprimanding my team members when necessary and addressing performance issues, feeling awkward about doing so with people who used to be my peers. Instead, I looked the other way and hoped the problem would sort itself out. (Needless to say, it never did.) 

I dreaded giving negative feedback, and broke out in a cold sweat at the thought of conducting disciplinary procedures. I would also take on too much work myself rather than delegating tasks effectively. 

The first time I sat on an interview panel, I was terrified. What if I recruited a bad employee? Another mistake I made was recruiting people like me—single, of a similar age and personality type, and able to work full time. After all, I reasoned, would I get the same commitment from someone older, shyer, or only able to work part-time? It is this type of thinking that stifles diversity and results in homogeneous teams. 

Whilst I was fortunate to have supportive colleagues, a great boss, and a fantastic HR advisor, I was a very young manager who was thrown in at the deep end almost overnight.  Like many new line managers, I was promoted from an operational role with no managerial experience or education whatsoever. 

So What Changed? 

I’ve grown tremendously since those early days of management experience. I am now confident and self-assured in my role, able to lead my team and get the best out of everyone as well as handling issues when they arise. 

Time and experience can account for a lot, but it was taking some relevant management development training that really marked the turning point for me.

Effective people management is a specialised skill, and since we all have different strengths, not everyone is suited to it. A great employee in an operational role may not necessarily function well as a manager. 

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), successful managers must display the following five behaviours and attributes to effectively lead their teams: 

• Open, fair and consistent
• Handling conflicts and problems
• Knowledge, clarity and guidance
• Building and sustaining relationships
• Supporting development

Management development training supports managers at all levels and in all kinds of organisations to build and hone these skills. 

The practical, interactive training sessions I attended were game changers for me. I learned what it means to be a good manager, and built on my skills until I could put myself into that category. My confidence increased, expectations were clear, and I was able to put what I was learning into practice straight away.

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Continuing Growth

After a period of time, things changed for the better, and I left my previous rookie manager mistakes behind. I became a confident interviewer, I recruited a diverse team, and performance issues were dealt with promptly. I thrived on developing my team members and watching them get promotions, learning and growing, and moving on to other areas of the business. 

My team members’ confidence and abilities grew along with mine. They enthusiastically took on additional responsibilities, making my life easier by taking tasks off my plate so that I could focus on the bigger picture. 

This was fantastic news for me as a manager. I was able to give some of my focus to my own professional growth as well as supporting my team, and explore other areas including training, learning, and development.

What Does All This Mean for You?

An organisation’s people are its most important asset, and line managers play a crucial role in the development of those people. A manager’s skills and attributes can have an enormous impact on employees’ attitude, commitment, motivation, and job satisfaction—all factors that are key in determining a business’s overall success. 

But line managers are busy people with many conflicting responsibilities. Unfortunately, this means that developing their own managerial skills often falls down the priority list. 

According to the CIPD, “Effective management in all organisations is widely recognised as critical to their success and, more broadly, to national economic wellbeing. Developing managers so that they can perform effectively is a particularly crucial part of wider organisational learning strategies.” In other words, management development is not an optional extra but a crucial aspect of growing your business and reaching your business goals. 

I offer various training courses in the area of “People Skills for Managers”. These practical management development courses ensure that your managers are fully prepared to recruit, support, develop, and lead their teams effectively. They are available at all levels, including a basic grounding for new managers, refresher courses, and advanced programmes for those with more experience. 

I look forward to supporting you in your continued business growth.

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