Leadership: Foundational Training for First Time Managers

Adapt to the existing company culture by listening to employees and aligning changes with mission and values through open communication, accountability, and trust.

Apply the Eisenhower principle to distinguish important from urgent tasks, map them on a two-axis matrix, and prioritize using scheduling, delegation, and boundary setting.

Identify drivers and resistors behind proposed changes and gather information. Maximize benefits such as newer technology and improved structure while minimizing the impact of resistors like costs and training time.

Guide your team by pointing the way, instructing and giving feedback through leadership styles to strengthen the team, facilitation processes, and lead by example within employment laws.

Explore ten distinct leadership styles from autocratic to transformational and identify which style you relate to most to enhance your effectiveness as a first-time manager.

Explore common leadership pitfalls such as poorly communicated vision, domineering attitudes, self-centeredness, impatience, poor relationship skills, indecision, disorganized reasoning, lack of teamwork, emotional insensitivity, arrogance, suspicion, and complacency.

Master performance evaluations to assess progress and skills of your team, using resources and 21st century managerial strategies to foster a positive working environment with peers and upper management.

Apply the tools and training from this course to transition into your new manager role and improve communication. Build confidence and lead with patience, delegation, and wellness practices.

A team is a group united toward a common goal, with diverse backgrounds; managers assign tasks, support members, and oversee projects to stay aligned and adapt quickly.

Learn the four classic stages—forming, storming, norming, performing—and the later adjourning stage, as teams grow with manager guidance, coaching, and progress monitoring.

Learn which tasks to delegate, from staffing matters and daily responsibilities to promotions and routine questions, while ensuring impartiality and employee development.

Chair a meeting confidently by being prepared with a current, informative presentation, an agenda shared in advance, and on-time, focused delivery that stays fair and engaging through clear visuals.

Develop facilitation skills by mastering communication, active listening, body language, and conflict resolution, supported by preparation, decision making, emotional intelligence, empathy, self-awareness, and fair, honest leadership.

Explore a general framework for group facilitation, outlining nine phases—from pre negotiation to closing and evaluation—emphasizing flexible, context-driven approaches tailored to group size and culture.

Set fair ground rules for group discussions, clarifying the facilitator's role to guide decisions. Establish rules set by the group, formal or informal, to ensure equal participation and respect.

As a facilitator, guide group problem solving by clarifying and analyzing problems to identify solutions, not solving them, delegate when needed, and keep discussions focused on the objective.

Explore the use of external facilitators to guide meetings impartially, gain buy-in, bring fresh perspectives, and ask tough questions, while weighing learning curves, trust, and cost.

Engage in participatory group work that invites all voices, welcomes opposing viewpoints, and ensures everyone speaks in turn. Build inclusive decisions that boost commitment, job satisfaction, and interdepartmental relations.

Master time management by starting and ending meetings on time, assigning a timekeeper, and prioritizing agenda items for timely decisions and fair participation.

Define clear meeting structure with an agenda, roles, and rules; foster participation through check-ins, group discussions, and breakout sessions, then summarize decisions and assign action items for the next meeting.

Learn a structured nine-step problem-solving process, from defining the problem to implementing an action plan and evaluating outcomes, with root-cause analysis and creative brainstorming.

Explore problem-solving tools like fishbone diagrams, five whys, plan-do-check-act (pdca), swot, and grow to identify root causes, improve processes, and guide effective group-based solutions.

Facilitate inclusive group decisions by guiding thorough debate, involving stakeholders, and using collaborative methods to build buy-in, challenge assumptions, and forge sustainable agreements.

Explore the advantages and disadvantages of co-facilitation for large and small groups, showing how two facilitators create synergy, complement styles, share leadership, and monitor energy, participation, and time.

Plan ahead with your co-facilitator to define roles, agenda, and timing for a co-facilitated session, manage emotions, coordinate notes and transitions, and debrief afterward.

Learn tools and techniques to direct a group, reach consensus, handle difficult situations, facilitate breakout groups, and deal with emotions to become an effective facilitator.

Improve performance through open communication and continuous interaction with employees. Establish clear job descriptions and attainable performance goals with weighted evaluation criteria, reviewed at least six months before formal appraisals.

The lecture explains when to determine goals, recommends fourth quarter for developing them, and stresses discussing goals with employees to clarify expectations, included in appraisals, and aligned with progress checks.

Establish a mission-driven framework using management by objectives, cascade strategic goals to individuals, align personal goals with corporate aims, and regularly review progress for continuous feedback.

Explore traditional methods for monitoring and documenting employee performance, including rankings, job and checklist approaches, critical incidents, and graphic rating scales, and discuss when software may aid large organizations.

Explore how to manage employee styles by setting clear expectations, providing year-round feedback, and using open-ended questions, paraphrasing, and calm listening to drive performance discussions.

Employees see training benefits, boosting engagement and motivation. Design familiar, interactive programs with practice and mentoring to support transference of new knowledge into daily job performance.

Learn the coach's responsibilities—from hands-on leadership to spontaneous coaching—and use four leading indicators to measure progress and strengthen mentoring relationships in structured or unstructured coaching.

Apply Maslow's hierarchy to business scenarios by examining how personal stress and unsafe work environments affect productivity, trust, and social relationships at work.

Steve and Jeff explore streamlining orders and invoices, emphasizing practical process improvements and clear teamwork. They discuss career growth, candid feedback, and guidance toward moving into management.

Navigate office politics by addressing meetings, bureaucracy, and voicing opinions, while coaching and bridging the communication gap with sales in your new role.

Develop skills to help people break bad habits and build good ones using behavior modification techniques like conditioning, reinforcement, biofeedback, and aversion therapy.

Practice active listening to uncover concerns, build trust, and encourage open opinions during meetings. Address communication gaps with sales through coaching and direct dialogue to reduce politics and boost collaboration.

Explore different types of trust: reliability, integrity, and no-harm trust, each shaped by communication. Protect mentees' success by avoiding white lies that erode trust as a coach.

Explore the gap between communication and understanding, detailing ten actions for communication and five steps for confirmation, and show how precise listening, encoding, and decoding prevent miscommunication.

Master face-to-face communication by balancing verbal, nonverbal, and paraverbal cues, analyzing messages from the sender to the receiver, and minimizing 45 potential misunderstandings.

Learn how active listening speeds bonding with techniques to find common points of reference, establish commonality, and create talking points, illustrated by the Jeff and Steve scene of liking.

Align goals with internal motivations and map a five-year aim backward using the 231 rule to create attainable milestones. Use coaching moments to sustain momentum toward each milestone.

Discover how first-time managers identify a mentee's strengths and weaknesses through trust-building and active listening to guide coaching conversations.

Create a complete learning plan after a needs analysis with goals, milestones, and metrics aligned to job performance. Apply I do—we do—you do and Maslow’s framework to test knowledge.

Explore how right and left brain thinking shape learning, balancing holistic insight with linear analysis. Use role-playing and organization routines to strengthen evidence-based conclusions for managers.

Explore the elements of communication, from idea generation and encoding to transmission, decoding, and confirmation, including verbal, nonverbal, and para verbal cues that affect understanding.

A communication exercise on delegation shows how to set clear expectations and success criteria, while prioritizing the other person's perspective to ensure precise, two-way instructions and reduce miscommunication.

Use active listening to uncover why employees resist delegated tasks, then break tasks into elements and teach each step. Adjust expectations and priorities when workloads feel heavy.

Develop effective delegation to grow employees and balance workload by understanding how different people learn, maintaining clear lines of communication, discussing task aspects, and monitoring progress with support as needed.

Prepare for emergencies with a strong crisis management plan and strategies to anticipate crises. Involve executives, public relations, and other professionals to protect a company's reputation and mitigate vulnerabilities.

Learn the fundamentals of business crisis response, including planning, containment, and credible communication to protect your organization’s credibility and reputation, with employees and media in mind.

Apply universal crisis steps quickly and decisively to protect a bank’s reputation, customer trust, and profitability while addressing age discrimination risks and regulatory pressures.

Build crisis readiness by identifying vulnerabilities, conducting risk assessments, and testing response plans; apply scenario planning to anticipate warning signs and consider the human impact on employees and families.

Identify unusual signs of crisis and evaluate their source. Learn how crisis management minimizes fallout and protects reputation through prevention, assessment, planning, and dialogue.

Choose a spokesperson who can learn quickly, express core messages, and remain believable under pressure, while planning ahead for crisis responses.

Prepare for crises by establishing open channels for questions and voices, maintaining an updated media contact list, and training spokespeople on delivery and concise, professional responses.

Identify warning signs of potential crises, including disgruntled employees, customer complaints, product recalls, and financial trouble, and develop a crisis management plan with legal guidance.

Lead with a cost-effective crisis simulation that hones your organization's crisis response, practicing standard operations and decision making through scenario-based drills, while building a crisis response plan and team.

Create crisis response manuals for each active role in the crisis management team, including senior leadership and the CEO, and distribute them to all involved.

Insulate your business by building a crisis counselor culture and integrating a crisis management plan into operations, updating manuals and collateral, and recognizing crisis management as an ongoing process.

Adopt a crisis management mindset to prevent, manage, and recover from events, building a culture of planning, preparing, communicating, and evaluating; establish core messages and goodwill with key groups.

Discover five modes of communication in new media—verbal (journalism, spoken word, storytelling), visual (graphics, charts, images), musical, cinematic, and procedural—and learn to apply them to convey ideas effectively for projects.

Avoid these five signs that lead to poor communication as a first-time manager by sharing information, addressing rumors, clarifying roles, giving feedback, and seeking input.

Navigate managerial pressure with clear, respectful communication under deadline stress. Emphasize timely follow-up, addressing concerns, and using grace to prevent fear and support task completion.

Develop strong organizational skills to boost leadership in time, performance, and stress management; delegate wisely, prioritize tasks, monitor progress, and address disorganization to prevent costly errors.

Apply stress management through aerobic exercise, limit caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine, adopt a low-calorie, high-protein diet with five small meals, and prioritize sufficient sleep to lead with focus.