Page Updated on March 14, 2023
Ensuring that new and existing managers, team leaders and supervisors have the right skills is essential for a successful business. So what training topics for managers and supervisors are worth providing? Let’s take a look!
1. Communication Skills
Being able to communicate with other employees is an absolutely essential skill for all staff, but none so more for managers and supervisors.
Leading other people in the workplace requires, I think you will agree, a certain level of skill in terms of how to communicate effectively and in such as a way that the message gets across.
A recent Harris Poll in fact showed that 69% of managers were uncomfortable communicating with their staff.
One aspect of communication that is increasingly important in most companies these days is Intercultural Communication. Workplaces are becoming much more diverse culturally and it’s essential, in a cohesive workplace, to have managers who are sensitive and who understand how to manage effectively and ethically.
2. Managing Staff Virtually and Digitally
Another increasingly vital skill for managers, supervisors, and team leaders these days, is being able to manage staff online.
Even though some types of work cannot take place online, there is an increasing need, in many business topic areas, to be able to manage staff virtually online, at least some of the time.
Furthermore, the desire from our employees to work from home (WFH) or to Work From Anywhere (WFA) is increasing at pace.
Indeed, statistics show that companies allowing staff to work remotely, have an average of 25% less staff turnover. This statistic is not a surprise because staff who are offered flexibility and who are trusted, are known to be more loyal as employees.
The Managing Virtual teams training can be a particularly useful program to offer managers and supervisors.
3. Dealing with Difficult People
As a manager, you will have to deal from time to time with difficult-to-manage employees, management and customers.
The good news is that there are techniques for learning how to manage these difficult people, and this starts with:
- clarifying what the difficult behavior is i.e the causes and why it occurs
- using techniques to deal effectively with these difficult people (such as by using active listening techniques)
It is worth also considering that some people you manage might not normally be problem employees. But, with certain workloads, outside influences, management changes, and job role changes, these employees can become what we might call difficult to deal with people.
There is though always a cause and a solution and understanding management techniques for dealing with difficult people can leave you much better at solving such issues.
4. Delegation Skills Management
Being in charge of other staff, it’s essential to be effective as a manager in terms of understanding how to delegate tasks.
A good course for managers and supervisors on delegation Skills will likely include covering the following the:
- types and elements of delegation (including authority, accountability, and responsibility)
- issues and barriers that can block effective delegation
- ways to deal with conflict that can arise as you try to delegate work to staff
5. Managing Employee Wellness and Well-Being
As a manager or team leader, you will also want to ensure that you are correctly and properly managing and considering the overall well-being and wellness of those people that you manage.
In recent years much greater awareness of employee well-being seems to be occurring in many companies and there are several types of training that you might wish to consider within this training topic area and these include:
- Mental health awareness in the workplace
- Digital wellness at work
- Wellness for Employees WFH (Working from Home)
As a manager, there are various strategies and techniques that you can use for ensuring that those whom you manage are properly cared for.
Look after your team and not only will you be doing the ethically correct thing, but confident and happy employees result in a better workplace for all and a more productive one at that.
Investment in wellness and well-being training, in other words, can in essence pay for itself, particularly when you consider the savings from staff turnover if staff feel valued and happy in your workplace.
>> Digital wellness teaching pack
6. Inclusion and Diversity People Management
Another area in terms of training topics for senior managers and others who manage teams is in inclusion and diversity awareness.
Your workplace may or might not be typical of many other workplaces that today are much more diverse both in terms of age range and culture.
Employees are staying in employment to an older age, for example, and this means that as management, you must manage a wider range of generations that in the past (4 generations these days).
Understanding how to manage different ways of thinking and working, by different employees of differing generations can make you a better and more effective manager.
Another essential training topic that also needs considering, is in equality and diversity such as in:
The training programs above are invaluable for all staff but especially so as a manager or supervisor.
Consider the scenario as a manager, for example, whereby you are in charge of deciding who should get a promotion from your team.
Are you subconsciously likely to promote someone whose general work views or background matches your own, or are you aware of unintended and quite natural biases that we all have?
Learning how to be aware of and better manage these biases can make us better managers.
7. Presentation Skills
It is quite surprising how many managers and supervisors lack effective presentation skills.
Having said that, many managers rise through the ranks and have never had a proper chance to learn and correctly develop their presentation skills.
Likewise, a new manager arriving into the company might have excellent knowledge in their topic area, but they might not be the most experienced though when it comes to doing presentations.
Presentation Skills can be learned and although practice is one of the best methods, there are many techniques and tricks that your managers can be taught.
Management Training Topics PDF
In addition to the titles discussed above, there are numerous other useful training topics for managers you might want to consider.
Do consider the idea of using training needs analysis to try and evaluate what training is most needed within your own company.
You can also view our own Training Topics PDF catalogue to see the full range of topics and titles that we offer training course materials for.
Motivational Training Topics for Managers to Provide Employees
If you yourself are a manager, supervisor, or team leader, you might also be interested in training topic ideas that help you to motivate your team?
- Self-Confidence Building – is a great training session you can provide your staff to really build their confidence within the team. Create a happier and more focused team.
- Emotional intelligence – you might have heard the idea that EQ is the new IQ. In other words, Emotional Quotient is about human factors and emotions. Understanding how to manage emotions and to become a better communicator and team player can be a great training topic to provide both to managers and lower-level staff.
- You can find more training topics ideas here for motivating employees.
Dr Valeria (Lo Iacono) Symonds
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I am highlighting the important of presentation skills for managers. Without this skills, managers will not be able to make people understand their great ideas.