Today middle management training programmes
is less concerned with vocational awareness and more concerned with business awareness
and continuous improvement. Why? - because supervisor and junior management training
programmes have successfully developed departmental resources that are well able
to manage day-to-day operations (if empowered to do so). Therefore the key challenge
for middle management training is in developing the skills needed to lead empowered
individuals, and teams, in the journey to make the organisations vision and values
a reality. This means that middle management training needs to focus on environmental
management issues, across the process chain, between organisational units and
transcending organisational levels, and through effective working relationships
with the organisations strategic partners. It is therefore imperative that
middle management training programmes focus on leadership and
change management techniques to foster the attitudes, behaviours and skills necessary
to break down and overcome barriers and constraints. Middle management
training also needs to develop management ability to cope with organisational
demergers, unitisation, flatter structures, changes in power bases, etc. With
e-commerce, and other high-tech influences, the paradox is it has never been more
easier to realise excellence (with technology utilisation, the right attitudes
and business awareness) but potentially it has never been more harder (if a traditional
culture is retained, i.e., one not permit role realignment or empowerment) to
find the management time needed to develop new management skills, or utilise them,
in the pursuit of excellence. This then is the challenge facing middle management
training. We as training consultants must stress the importance of working
in conjunction with your internal facilitators in the formulation of management
training strategies and supporting management training programmes. However
not untypical non-vocational middle management training programmes could consider: |
