Line Management

Line Management is one of those courses that has chugged along at a nice steady pace over the years.

We've been running them about every six weeks or so and they've been generally full or nearly full.

Something seems to have happened recently where we have an upsurge in demand and we have now put extra courses on because our regularly scheduled ones have filled up and have waiting lists.

So what is this upsurge inn demand for Line Management? Why now?

The time of year certainly has something to do with it. People change jobs; people get promoted; people realise after a summer holiday that they need to refresh their skills.

There's something else as well, and something we've noticed over the years that hopefully is changing: people really aren't expected to know it all when they take on a Line Manager role. In the past our experience was that often the opposite was true - people got promoted to Line Management with an expectation that they would slot into their roles and somehow they would know what to do.

In the early days of Impact Factory we were occasionally asked to tailor Line Management courses for people newly promoted because after a short while in their new roles as Line Managers, they wanted to go back to what they were doing before.

Somehow, because they were good at what they had been doing, there was an expectation that they'd be good in their new role without any additional support or training at all. The companies that hired us realised that without offering their managers training they were steadily losing good people.

Most companies (I hope!) now seem to have the same realisation: give your new Line Managers training at the beginning of their management careers and they will feel more confident, have a greater understanding of the difference between being managed and managing and of course will have a more comprehensive 'tool kit' of skills at their disposal.

Equally important is an acceptance that it's all right to ask for support, that they won't be viewed as weak or incompetent. Just the reverse is true; by seeking support, managers are more approachable, they become better role models and they gain more skills because they are more open to others and what they have to offer.

We love working with Line Managers and are delighted that places on our courses are 'flying off the shelves' as it were.

Check out Impact Factory's Line Management Training

By Jo Ellen Grzy, Impact Factory Director