It’s not easy being a manager. Where, in times of trouble, does the business buck get stopped? With the manager. Who, when things go well, ends up with the burden of expectation that, from now on, above-average performance becomes the norm? The manager. And who gets nailed from all sides, when those new averages can’t be maintained? Got it in one.
The manager is responsible for the performance, or non-performance of all staff – despite the fact that, as often as not, the manager has had promotion thrust upon them, pulled, like Macbeth, into a web of forces beyond their control. This, then, is where management development comes in. Management development allows companies to train their (often reluctant) managers – giving them the tools to make their lives a lot easier and company productivity a lot better.
Management development, like most work-related training programs, can be undertaken with minimal disruption to the daily running of an office or store. Good management development courses are tailored to the needs of the company in question – so one management development model might be on-site training for store managers, while another might involve single-day seminars for mid-level office management. In all cases, management development training focuses on a Sun Tzu-esque single-minded issue – teaching normal people to lead.
