#453: The MTL Half-Day Course Plan on "The 21st Century Manager"

Introduction

Today, on the "People Skills" newsletter, we're showing you how easy it is to train your staff in soft skills without great expense or disruption to people's routines.

The reason why you can do this is thanks to the "MTL Half-Day Course Plan". With this simple plan, you can get your team together for just one 3-hour morning or afternoon session and focus on teaching them one key soft skill in the session.

Although this seems like a magic solution to the problem of an under-skilled workforce, it's not. It simply requires commitment to do it and to use the MTL Half-Day Course Plan regularly.

Our topic today is "The 21st Century Manager", which is a vital subject for anyone who is leading and managing a team or organisation today. At the end of this half-day course, you will have a good understanding of what it takes to succeed in the coming century.

Pre-Course Preparation

The first part of the MTL Half-Day Course Plan is the "Pre-Course Preparation". This consists of notifying all course participants about the time, date, and venue of the course and providing them with pre-course preparation material.

Amongst other worksheets on the Pre-Course Preparation, you can send all your trainees the course "Self-Assessment" worksheet so that they can think about how well they know the topic already.

Session 1: Welcome!

The first session of the course itself is the Welcome! session. This covers your welcome to the trainees, basic administration tasks such as the attendee list, and dealing with any concerns.

You can also hand out the following "Course Details" worksheet. On this worksheet, there are 5 course targets which you can read out to your trainees and explain that they will be used at the end of the course to see what trainees have learned. These are...

1. list the 8 "P" archetypes of future managers

2. list 3 key skills of the 21st century manager

3. list 3 work expectations that people will have in the future

4. list 3 key roles of managers

5. list 3 key values of the 21st century organisation.

The "Welcome!" session lasts 10 minutes. (Total course time so far: 10 minutes)

Session 2: Icebreaker

The icebreaker is aimed at getting trainees to have a bit of fun and, at the same time, find out more about their colleagues.

There are 100 icebreakers you can use in the "Trainers' Resources" category of MTL.

For this particular course, we've picked the icebreaker, "My Best and Worst Expectations", which you'll find in the "Course-Related" slide topic on Manage Train Learn. This icebreaker gets everyone to share their expectations, good or bad, about the course.

The "Icebreaker" session lasts 10 minutes. (Total course time so far: 20 minutes)

Session 3: Discussions

The Discussions session gives trainees the chance to think about the course and what they want to learn from it. They can also discuss with others what they already know about the course topic.

You can also hand out the following "Group Discussion" worksheet, so that trainees have questions to talk about.

The "Discussions" session lasts 25 minutes. (Total course time so far: 45 minutes)

Coffee Break

The "Coffee Break" lasts 15 minutes. (Total course time so far: 1 hour)

Session 4: Presentation

The Presentation session is the session in which you, (or a guest presenter), can present new information on the course topic.

For this course, you can use the following ready-to-run presentation from our Professional Development Programme.

The "Presentation" session lasts 20 minutes. (Total course time so far: 1 hour 20 minutes)

Session 5: Exercise: "The Empowering Attitude"

The next session is the Exercise session. The exercise we've chosen is "The Empowering Attitude" which requires teams to consider the amount of knowledge, skill, and attitude needed to master delegation and empowerment.

The "Exercises" session lasts 25 minutes. (Total course time so far: 1 hour 45 minutes)

Tea Break

The "Tea Break" lasts 15 minutes. (Total course time so far: 2 hours)

Session 6: Video: "Leadership is About Humility and Empowerment" from Skillsoft

Intro: You can’t lead others if you’re not leading yourself first. In this sample video from Skillsoft's video course catalogue, Dan Labbad explains why humility and just being yourself are key traits of today’s top leaders...

The "Video" session lasts 20 minutes. (Total course time so far: 2 hours 20 minutes)

Session 7: Quiz

The Quiz is a 10-question test of what trainees have learnt on the course. You can use the quiz questions as a team-versus-team game or an individual trainee game.

The following is the first quiz slide for this course.

The "Quiz" session lasts 20 minutes. (Total course time so far: 2 hours 40 minutes)

Session 8: Review and Close

The Review and Close session is the last session in the "MTL Half-Day Course Plan". This session allows you to review the course, the new information in the presentation, and any issues arising from the skills practise.

The following are 3 worksheets which can be used in the "Review and Close" session:

The "Review and Close" session lasts 20 minutes. (Total course time so far: 3 hours)

Post-Course Practice

The last part of the MTL Half-Day Course Plan is the "Post-Course Practice". In this part of the course, you can arrange follow up sessions with trainees to assess their progress. You can also hand out the following "Follow-Up Activities Worksheet".

End of the MTL Half-Day Course Plan

What Next?

If you are like the majority of businesses, you will have a workforce that is significantly lacking in the skills that the modern world needs today, in particular, what we call "people skills".

One of the reasons why this is a serious problem is that these soft skills are needed not by just a few of your staff but by all of them. And, as a result, you may feel that this is an insurmountable problem.

However, it is not.

With simple approaches, such as the "MTL One-Hour Course Plans", and the back-up content on our 6 websites, you can overcome the problem and build a skilled workforce that will do you proud.

Thanks for reading this edition of the "People Skills" newsletter and good luck with your ongoing learning.

Oh, and one last thing.

In the spirit of making the world a freer, happier and more enlightened place...

...please pass this newsletter on.

Thankyou!

Manage Train Learn Is Now Selling it's Business - Find Out More Below

Are You Interested in Acquiring a Highly Profitable and Successful E-Learning Business?

Due to Eric's forthcoming retirement, we have now decided to put KSA Training Ltd, (parent company of Manage Train Learn), up for sale.

This sale comprises all 6 websites, over 22,000 soft skills learning items, and optional sale of all 37 e-books which have earned over ￡1 million in global sales through our publishing partners.

We have been leaders in Soft Skills e-learning since the late 1990's and, today, there is unprecedented demand globally for "People Skills" learning and training.

Uniquely, we currently offer our materials for free use and download but a new owner can easily commercialise our offering through a wide range of options.

There is a time limit on this offer when we will sell to the highest bidder.

So, if you're interested in owning a successful e-learning business with huge potential in a huge market, email us in the first instance at [email protected] for further information.

You can also view us on LinkedIn where we have over 1500 followers and over 200 editions of the "People Skills" newsletter. Click here for our channel: https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/eric-garner-100a1b128/

For more about Manage Train Learn, view "About MTL" here: https://www.managetrainlearn.com/#/category-listing/147.

Eric Garner

Managing Director

KSA Training Ltd