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A large national organisation (approx. 300 staff) was performing well. They were industry leaders, had a clear business strategy and new initiatives were reasonably well implemented.
They had done a lot of work getting the right people in the right jobs which was now paying off.
However, due to the size of the organisation there was a bit of an 'us and them' attitude. Engagement was variable and while many of the operational things that were strategically important were done, there was a lot of grumbling and questioning.
The whole organisation wasn't quite on the same page. As a result of the development and growth of the business, middle manager's required greater management skills and business acumen as well.
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Strategy was seen as a senior management responsibility.
While day to day operations were very aligned with core strategy, because the business strategy was not concisely presented to staff, or linked to operational and staff responsibilities, most staff felt excluded from the 'really important stuff'. This meant initiatives were interpreted as another senior management request, rather than essential to the business's success.
Middle managers felt a bit like 'piggy in the middle' and needed and wanted more management skills to help, but were unsure where to go. They had graduated from supervision type courses and most management courses were targeted at senior managers.
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We spend some time with the general manager understanding, clarifying and summarising the core business strategy so it was relevant to all staff.
We also learned more about the business values and systems and then made recommendations where the systems and initiatives could be more explicitly linked to strategy.
The middle managers completed the Business Unit Management Course using the company strategy, systems and initiatives. This increased their understanding and relevance of the strategy.
As part of the course they also received comprehensive training in a wide range of management disciplines, e.g. performance measures, employee management, process improvement, sales & marketing and finance.
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The whole organisation had a unifying strategic summary that was relevant to all staff. the 'us and them' reduced and their was an easier flow of initiative implementation.
Day to day operations where aligned and clearly relevant to strategy.
Staff understood how their work related to the organisation's strategy and they felt more relevant and engaged as a result.
The middle manager's felt more strategically relevant and were far more confident in explaining senior management initiatives to their staff. Their workplace based assignments helped improve the performance of their unit and their increased management skills made them more effective on a daily basis.
The whole organisation benefitted from a more strategically aligned management methodology.
These results were achieved through our
Strategic Management for Middle Managers Training Programme - a workplace based training programme that uses the manager's own organisational strategy and systems to increase their understanding and skills in achieving their organisation's desired results.
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