Introduction

The Problem with ‘Traditional’ Management Training

Many organizations are disappointed with the improvement they see after management training courses. The lack of impact can be traced to five key reasons:

Just too much – typically a three day management course is packed with hundreds of ideas. No one can change their habits in such a disruptive way. This inhibits the transfer of learning from classroom to workplace and it is unreasonable to expect a manager to change so much all at once.
Lack of planning – no accommodation is made to help people change habits in a busy work schedule (I’ll get round to this when I have some time). Unless specific plans are put in place to implement small changes, over a reasonable period of time and in a quality way, change does not take place.
Lack of context – training has not been designed to help people where they really need help. How many managers have gone to management training events that cover such broad subjects as ‘leadership, people management, managing teams, etc?’ And how many have gone to these events with no consideration given to the specific things they need and want to do better in order to change business performance
Internal processes don’t allow implementation – so much management training is theoretically perfect, but the tools don’t exist to implement it. A good example of this would be a typical sales management training program. Sales managers will be told to measure ratios to assess effectiveness (the ratio of calls to appointments, appointments to continuations, continuations to orders). The significant majority who attend the sales management training do not have systems in place to give them this data.
No follow up – if those who manage the people who attend the training do not coach, measure and develop the skills of their people, then there is a rapid deterioration of skills.

(Dettaman and Sternberg – Transfer on Trial 1996 – this publication conducted detailed studies into management training and evaluates the transfer of learning from classroom to workplace of management training. They concluded that 86% of training fails to transfer into the workplace unless it is supported in specific ways.)

We have spoken to hundreds of organizations about the depressing fact that only 14% of management training ever gets used and most agree that this figure is about right. Many think it is too high!

The Difference with Prosell

We implement a three stage approach, in order to make sure the training is practical, relevant and gets implemented.

Stage one – diagnosis

We meet with the business management to make sure a management training course is deigned that covers exactly what the managers need and is not full of too much theory. It will include specific examples based on your company’s standards and requirements.

Stage two – training delivery

We never run a course for more than two days and if further training is required, it takes place only after the group has shown that they have effectively implemented the key practices. The training is interactive and practical.

Anything that is trained becomes part of a plan that is monitored by us and your management. The training is not presentation based, but rather uses exercises to allow the participants to practice and develop skills.

Stage three – implementation support

We would agree how the group will implement what the training covers and agree specific coaching and follow up that measures successful implementation. We define roles for Prosell, the target group, their manager(s) and HR in this process.

The benefit of this approach is that we only train what is needed and everything needed gets implemented and measured.

What this means is that any management training addresses the specific needs of the group and we change the 14% to 90%. This in turn means genuine change in business performance as a result of the training and implementation process.

Sales Management Training

As well as covering the full range of capabilities needed for any manager, we recognize that those in sales and service management roles have additional needs to be truly effective.

Sales management training is also customized so that the training course content focuses on adding genuine value to the employee. This is done by creating sales execution standards and then developing sales people through sales coaching and other support mechanisms to the point where their performance has measurably improved.

This is based on the Centre for Sales Management research paper, 2007, which concludes that the highest performing sales managers were the ones who had good management skills, but were also expert in what their sales people had to do.

Prosell’s sales management training creates this expertise though both management training and management coaching programs. In practical terms, we coach in the workplace what was agreed in the classroom to the point where managers get better results from their people.

Management Coaching

It has been proven that workplace coaching delivers better results and quicker changes in skills than just attending training courses. At Prosell, all the management training we do is supported by management coaching. This is delivered by our expert coaches and in many cases by our clients’ resources.

Management coaching is based on the same three stage process we apply to management training.

We assess the specific needs and set measurable goals for personal and business improvement.
We schedule meetings that allow us to observe and improve effectiveness rather than simply mentor. (Mentoring is an advisory role – management coaching is observing a manager in action and improving specific skills)
We check post –coaching implementation and measure improvement

This allows our management coaching to be practical and reach specific business outcomes.

WEB DEVELOPER