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Leadership Challenges: 4 Issues Your Managers Should Be Trained to Handle

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Leadership Challenges
Olivia Cicchini

Olivia Cicchini, Employment Law Expert

(Last updated )

In a 2019 report, research found that 39% of Canadian professionals have quit a job due to poor management.

The right leadership is crucial to increase productivity within your organization. Training your managers can not only educate them on how to identify and meet the needs of their employees, but it also allows them to provide clear direction to their team members to ensure they are performing well.

One serious side effect of bad management is high employee turnover. If your business has a problem retaining staff, your management style could be the issue. Leadership training is one of the best ways to create professional managers and build effective, productive, and happy organizations.

Simply having a managerial role doesn’t automatically make someone a leader. To be successful and thrive in a senior supervisory position, strong leadership skills need to be learned and honed. Here are some ways that leadership training can improve your business and four key issues that you should ensure your managers know how to handle.

What are the benefits of employee training?

Whether it’s a new hire or a long-tenured employee, employee training is one of the most important measures your business can implement to ensure operational success.

Having a business that offers employee training and development can not only boost productivity, but it can also improve your business’s reputation and help you to attract top talent. Offering employee training at your workplace shows employees they are valued and promotes a positive workplace culture which can lead to higher retention.

Why is it important to train managers?

While training is important for all employees, it is especially vital for staff in leadership roles. If managers are equipped for their roles, their teams will be more productive.

When managers are provided with regular opportunities to hone their skills, their teams have a reliable resource to consult in times of uncertainty. Alternatively, when managers are underqualified for their positions and not provided with adequate training, staff morale and retention rates decline. This could have negative effects on your business.

Boosts productivity

Strong leaders are needed to provide clear direction to their team members to ensure they are performing at or above expectations. Leadership training can help managers learn how to identify and meet the needs of their employees, equip them with the right tools and skills needed to do the job as effectively as possible.

Builds rapport

The most successful managers are those with high emotional intelligence. Leadership training can educate leaders on how to use empathy to empower and engage employees, which can build a strong rapport with staff. Additionally, having a manager with high emotional intelligence often results in higher retention rates. By investing in leadership training, your business can avoid costly expenses that come hand-in-hand with high turnover.

Increase engagement and morale

For employees to progress and grow in their roles, managers need to provide regular constructive feedback. Feedback is essential for your team, yet many managers fail to deliver this sensitive information in a way that is positively received. With the appropriate leadership training, managers can learn how to deliver praise and make employees feel valued while also giving constructive feedback that can help motivate employees to succeed, in turn boosting productivity.

Improved decision making

Being a manager means dealing with regular challenges and diffusing office conflict, while also choosing the best course of action for the team and the company. To do this successfully, a manager is expected to make intelligent and well-informed decisions. Leadership training can improve a manager’s ability to do this, so they are always prepared and can confidently lead.

What common HR challenges should you train your managers for?

To ensure managers have the knowledge to tackle day-to-day issues, Peninsula offers interactive leadership training for its clients on the following topics through its Face2Face service.

Absence management

Employee absenteeism is often a reoccurring issue in the workplace, especially with the aftereffects of the pandemic. To manage employee absences, employers must first ensure they have proper policies in place to communicate the business’ stance on absenteeism, sickness, lateness, unapproved/approved breaks, and legislated leaves of absence.

Once the business has the right documentation in place, managers must be trained on how to cope with employee absences.

Managers must be able to distinguish between different types of absences, conduct return-to-work meetings, understand how to request medical documentation, and set up accommodations. It is necessary that managers have a basic knowledge of human rights and employment standards legislation.

Appraisal and performance management

One of the most frequent management tasks is evaluating employee performance. While this seems straightforward, managers must receive training to acquire the knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage and improve performance within their teams. This will help them undertake effective appraisal reviews with their direct reports.

While most employees receive positive reviews, there are always staff members who fall short. Managers need to be trained to understand how to conduct effective performance review meetings and establish an action plan or performance improvement plan (PIP) for employees who need assistance. Informing an employee that they need to be placed on a PIP is never easy, which is why training is key.

Managing behaviour in the workplace

In addition to performance management, leadership must also ensure their reports are behaving in a manner that is workplace appropriate. While addressing poor performance can be difficult, discussing an employee’s poor behaviour can be even more challenging.

To help navigate these conversations, training should be provided to assist managers gain an effective understanding of how to deal with workplace conflicts and inappropriate behaviour, distinguish between acceptable performance management practices and workplace bullying, and to develop an understanding of sexual harassment in the workplace and deal with issues arising from same.

Effective communication

Communication is one of the most important soft skills for managers to have. As communication skills are often ingrained in us from an early age, they can be more difficult to learn. The best way to improve communication skills, especially in the workplace, is through training.

The effective communication training module provides managers with the necessary skills and information required to better communicate with reports, gain confidence in group situations, increase their understanding of communication skills (verbal, non-verbal, and listening), realize how certain communications can be perceived in the workplace, and help resolve conflicts with or between team members.

Do you need help managing staff absences and performance issues?

Our qualified experts can help you resolve HR issues, develop company policies, and assist you with any other human resources management and health & safety advice you may need. To learn more about how our services can benefit your business, call an expert today at 1-833-247-3652.

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