As part of my career development I started  the Aspiring Manager Programme this past January with support from my line manager. The programme provides a framework to develop core management skills and behaviours to set aspiring managers up for success in future management roles. This post is a reflection of the programme following the core workshops.

The Aspiring Manager Programme

It runs 2 cohort intakes per academic year beginning in October and January and requires a nominating manager to support your application (usually your line manager). If interested, you can find further details through the Aspiring Manager Programme dedicated web page.

The first phase of the programme involves attending an onboarding session, starting working on weekly prompts and attending the first of two main workshops. The weekly prompts feel like school home work but I have to admit that they are helpful to reflect on key topics about becoming a manager and successfully supporting a team.

During Workshop 1 we explored our motivations and management styles whereas Workshop 2 was dedicated to team development, constructive feedback and managing challenging conversations through real-world scenarios and role-playing activities. Not being a big fan of group activities I found them more interesting than I initially envisaged. The break up rooms had the right timing and length to avoid making them boring or annoying.

Workshops Reflection: What is important as a good manager

While reflecting about our management styles and what we consider important as a manager, some of the most cited ingredients were the ability to empower and support , fairness,  creating a safe environment, clear communication and leading by example. The latter was clearly something important for most if not all the participants as future managers-leaders.

Workshop 2 addressed these core “ingredients” and was actually really good. One of the concepts that I liked as it matches my personal views about how I like to work although I did not know it had a name is “Psychological Safety”, a concept developed by Harvard professor Amy Edmondson. It refers to creating an open, safe and trusting environment for the staff, where they are allowed to speak up,  admit mistakes, ask questions, and propose new ideas without fear of punishment or humiliation. The other element that I found of great importance is communication, not only to provide clear instructions but also when it comes down to having difficult conversations, coaching or supporting a team member. No matter how much you may know, it is never that easy, requiring constant practice to keep honing these skills. I think that getting this right is probably one of the most challenging parts of being a good manager and building high-performance teams.

On the other hand, while reflecting on the concept of leading by example, my attention was drawn to Japan as it has some of the most impressive examples of great leadership and leading by example, in particular, in the face of adversity. Some well known examples during periods of financial downturn are Nintendo´s President who chose to halve his salary to avoid laying off employees and preserve talent for future success and Japan Airlines CEO Haruka Nishimatsu who slashed his own salary and gave up executive perks during 2007 and 2009 while the airline faced severe changes to recover from financial debt. He famously stated that if a leader doesn’t share the pain, they cannot expect the followers to endure it which sets a quite high benchmark for leadership solidarity. I would say this is key as a leader and/or manager to avoid an organizational disconnect that may likely impact performance and long term results.

Final Thoughts

We are used to think about management or being a manager as being responsible for the operational activity of the team, work planning, setting priorities, dealing with a wide range of issues, supporting team members and dealing with People & Money for multiple administrative tasks (which may likely include screaming time to time). At some point during the activities, I defined a team as a living organism, where every member has its particularities, and hence requiring constant adjustment or fine tuning aka management from a manager in order to achieve a suitable balance. Like a garden with different plants, each one displaying different qualities, requiring different nutrients, water intake and sun in order to thrive. Through the different conversations with other participants and my peer group, it unfolds that,  as a manager you manage tasks, but you also lead people and the best way to lead is by showing (leading by example).  It turns out that one of the most important things a manager can do isn’t “managing” at all—it’s leading by example, otherwise, none of the other elements involving being a manager may have the expected results.

As we progress into the final part of this adventure, it is time to reflect about the most important lessons I have learned as this is that last activity for us before being able to complete the course.

If you are considering joining the programme, go for it. I get bored quite easily and thought it may be just another boring set of activities and now I have to admit that it is actually a really good experience plus the facilitator is brilliant so I strongly recommend it.

What does good management look like to you?

Lessons from the Aspiring Manager Programme: Beyond Managing / EdTech Unchained by is licensed under a