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Line Management Development

Nine modules over 6 months, including co-coaching, strategic action planning and inter-module projects

Structure

Each workshop is 2 hours - 3.5 hours long and  builds on the previous one.

 

There is the golden thread of Psychological Safety through Management Communication through the programme.

The workshops themselves are highly interactive. For the past four years our management development programmes have been as effective online or face to face. Each participant is actively brought into the training, and there are many opportunities for breakout rooms and small group discussion and exercises.

Every module has pre and/or post workshop reading, questionnaires or videos, plus post-workshop exercises and co-working with colleagues.

Benefits of the Programme

- Enhanced Leadership Skills: The programme equips managers with advanced leadership skills tailored to WFD's specific context, enabling them to lead diverse, distributed teams effectively and with cultural sensitivity.​ - Improved Employee Engagement: By focusing on strategies to promote psychological safety and wellbeing, the programme helps managers boost staff engagement and retention, even in challenging environments.​ - Alignment with WFD’s Values and Competencies: The programme directly addresses the core competencies outlined in WFD’s framework, ensuring that managers can embody and promote the organization’s values in their daily work.​ - Adaptability in a Dynamic Operating Environment: Managers will gain the tools to adapt to the rapidly changing demands of WFD’s operational landscape, including the challenges of remote work and post-COVID management practices.​ - Sustainable Impact and Continuous Improvement: The programme is designed for long-term impact, with follow-up support and resources to help managers continuously improve and apply their new skills in real-world situations.​ - Consistent approach: The programme takes into account the cultural diversity of the managers while also providing consistency in the models used, and a consistent management language that can be adapted across the different regions​

Jump to:

Module 1 - Communication as a Manager

Module 2 - Introduction to Managing Performance

Module 3 - Coaching for Performance

Module 4 - Difficult Conversations

Module 5 - Delegation, and Building the Team

Module 6 - Getting Results through Diversity

Module 7 - Managing Remote Teams

Module 8 - Managing Change

Module 9 - Wrap up, Key Learning Points, and final questions​

Comprehensive list of models and references used throughout the programme

  • PRISM Brain Mapping​

  • The Competence model and situational leadership​

  • The neurochemistry of positive conversations – Glaser & Glaser​

  • The neuroscience of trust – Paul Zak​

  • The Eisenhower matrix for prioritising​

  • Herzberg’s motivators​

  • SMART goals​

  • Various feedback models​

  • Intrinsic motivating factors and Dan Pink

  • The GROW model​

  • The COACH framework​

  • The employee effectiveness questionnaire​

  • Radical Candor – Kim Scott​

  • Teams – Tuckman, Smith & Katzenbach, Google’s Project Aristotle, Patrick Lencioni​

  • Rebel Ideas – Matthew Syed​

  • Time to Think – Nancy Kline​

  • The Kubler-Ross model​

  • Framework for thinking about systems change – Knoster, Villa

Module 1 – Communication as a Manager (4 hours)

The first mandatory module will give you a clear idea of your role as a manager – what is expected of you. ​
We will discuss two areas which will be used throughout the programme: how staff needs change depending on their competency level and being too hands on or not hands on enough; and communication and behavioural styles – how we work with different behavioural types. ​
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This module is the baseline for everything that comes after and is therefore essential for all managers to attend.​

Introduction to the programme​

  • Materials

  • Structure

  • Objectives

  • Expectations

Self-awareness and emotional intelligence

  • Develop authentic, empathetic relationships by learning to adapt your approach to different personality types and improving interpersonal communication.​

  • Understanding different people – PRISM Brain Mapping - theory​

  • Communication skills – Pre workshop reading​

  • The Neurochemistry of Positive Conversations and Neuroscience of Trust

Module 2 – Introduction to Managing Performance (3.5 hours​)

Module 2 is about managing performance issues – how we ask for things to be done, follow up, and where necessary, have that initial performance conversation. We will also discuss when is management time, and how we ensure staff don’t come to us with their every issue (and how we don’t solve their every problem for them), and Herzberg’s motivation theory.​
Pre-workshop work – try to analyse the behavioural style of each of your team.

Debrief

Debrief on behavioural Styles

Managing Time and Manager’s Time​

  • Ensuring staff keep responsibility & Who’s Got the Monkey​?

  • When is ‘Management’ time?​

  • Prioritising workloads​

  • Structuring effective 1-2-1s – when, how often, why​

Motivation

  • Setting SMART goals and objectives​

  • The theories of motivation

Introduction to Understanding Poor Performance​

  • Sickness and Absences​

  • Giving Feedback on Performance and Behaviour​

  • Introduction to the Employee Effectiveness questionnaire

Module 3 – Coaching for Performance (3.5 hours)

Module 3 is about performance coaching – this hands-on virtual workshop focuses on developing your coaching skills using the GROW model to inspire and empower your team to reach their full potential. By guiding team members through Goal setting, exploring Reality, identifying Options, and determining the Way forward, you'll foster greater ownership and accountability. Through practice and feedback, you'll learn to trust your team’s ability to find solutions, enhancing their growth while reducing your own workload.

Pre-workshop video

Greatness by David Marquet​

The manager as a Coach

  • Empowering, getting buy-in and responsibility​

  • Coaching for problem Solving​

  • Having formal and informal coaching conversations​

  • The Skills of Coaching​

  • Using the GROW model for coaching​

  • Having the GROWTH conversation

​Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

Managing motivation in terms of Autonomy, Relatedness and Competency

Coaching Practice

Coaching pracice

Post-workshop work

Establishing pairs for co-coaching practice

Module 4 - Difficult Conversations (3.5 hours​)

All leaders at some point have to tackle issues of poor performance, inappropriate behaviour and other sensitive topics with their staff. Remaining calm, dealing with the issue, understanding perspectives and agreeing a way forward is a valuable skill. Dealing with issues assertively, positively and sensitively helps to promote higher trust, engagement and productivity in staff, and avoiding difficult conversations can have the opposite effect.​


This workshop covers ways of addressing subject matters such as resistance, difficult behaviour, constructive feedback and dealing with poor performance​
Pre-course work – complete the Employee Effectiveness questionnaire for at least one staff member​

Pre-workshop work

Complete the Employee Effectiveness questionnaire for at least one staff member (online)

Behaviours

Why we do not (and do) like to have difficult conversations

Employee Needs

What staff expect and need from their manager

COACH Framework

  • Using the COACH Framework​

  • Scenario Practice

Responses

  • Typical manager response vs Recommended response​

Practice

  • Theory Discussion

  • Practice Session

Module 5 - Delegation, and Building the Team (3.5 hours​)

This module concentrates on two key areas for management skills: 1) Delegation – increasing the skills, knowledge and competency of your staff, getting the delegation process right, and developing your succession planning; and 2) Developing the team - development theory and how your team sits as far as development stages, how they compare to Google’s research into exceptional teams, and you will be given the tools for developing both the team’s Purpose, and Team Development Plan.​

Delegation

  • How to delegate? The Delegation process

  • Self-analysis - what can you and should you delegate, now?

Building the Team

  • Tuckman’s team theory – in practice​

  • Google’s Project Aristotle – how do we measure up?​

  • Do you need a team or individuals?​

  • Developing your team’s purpose​

  • Team Development plan​

Post-workshop work

Working with the team on ‘Team Purpose’. Putting together your team ‘development plan’

Module 6 – Getting Results through Diversity (3 hours)

This workshop looks at the benefits of diversity on results, innovation & creativity, overall performance, teamwork and morale. We will particularly focus on Cognitive Diversity and how to create a culture that allows for freedom of thought and freedom of expression through working with people with different backgrounds, beliefs, education, communication styles, personalities, upbringing. The premise being that by facilitating more diverse ideas, it brings more quantity and quality into results.​
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Part of this workshop is also designed to enable you to skilfully support and celebrate the neurodiverse talent in your workplace. You will feel more confident to have inclusive conversations with neurodivergent colleagues, and will feel better equipped to create a workplace culture in which people who think differently can thrive. Those who identify as neurodivergent will gain, and contribute to, an awareness of the value of their unique traits and qualities.

Pre-workshop reading

Excerpt from Rebel Ideas – Matthew Syed

Definitions

Understand what we mean by diversity, cognitive diversity and neurodiversity​

Why is it important?

Understand the importance of cognitive diversity in complex teams and complex problem solving

Facilitation

Know how to facilitate discussion and inclusion to encourage Rebel Ideas (Matthew Syed)

Power of 10

Understand the Power of 10 and its importance in complex problem solving​

Leadership Styles

Know how to balance Dominant Leadership and Prestige Leadership styles​

Workplace culture

Be able to create a psychologically safe and inclusive culture

Thinking Meetings

Know how to run Thinking Meetings by;​

  • Facilitating inclusion in groups​

  • Using inclusion tools such as 1,2,4 All​

  • Ensuring all ideas from all group participants are given equal opportunity and importance ​

Neurodiversity

Have an awareness and appreciation of neurodiverse talent in the workplace

Module 7 - Managing Remote Teams (2 hours)

It is important for your workforce to feel connected and not isolated. This short course will support you to manage and motivate staff who are working from home or another agile setting, away from you and/or the rest of the team. ​
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We will give you the tools and tips to ensure your staff know what is expected of them so that you can trust that they can fulfil their role whilst working apart from the rest of the team. You’ll also think about how to ensure that, despite the distance, team members still feel an integral part of the team.​

  • Understand how to keep appropriate interaction across the team:

  • Creating structured communication channels​

    • Use Zoom and WhatsApp, or Microsoft Teams effectively for the team​

  • Use practices for keeping the team connected and deepen the social capital for the remote team​

  • The 10 Top Tips for managing a remote team;​

  • From Agreeing ways of Working through to fostering Relationships and Wellbeing​

  • Use objectives (OKRs) to help the remote team to align their goals and work as a unified body​

  • Promote fairness and visibility of decisions, understanding how visibility and biases can impact chances for promotion, unfairly and give equal access to opportunities​

Module 8 - Managing Change (2.5 hours)

The Managing Change module is designed to give managers an awareness why organisations need to change, whilst being appreciative of the psychological impact of negatively perceived imposed change on different people. Staff can react very differently when change is thrust upon them, and as managers we are often asked by leadership to ensure change is driven forward, while getting push back from staff. This is known as the manager’s squeeze!​

This workshop will give you the tools and techniques to ensure staff are supported through change, as well as the knowledge to take forward to drive change yourself.​

The need

Why the need for change?

VMOST

  • Understanding the VMOST statement​

  • Aligning your team to organisation strategy​

Managing Staff through change​Managing Staff through change​

  • The Kübler-Ross change curve​

  • The Bridges model​

  • Knoster’s framework for systems change​

  • Kotter and Lewin – leading change​

Module 9 – Wrap up, Key Learning Points, and final questions (2 - 2.5 hours)

  • Group Work: What was useful, interesting, and what have we tried from each module?

  • What has been difficult to use or understand?

  • What unanswered questions do we have?​

​A comprehensive book/reading list will be provided at the start and end of the programme

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