it was a cold winter’s day when …

This national high street and web-based retailer asked Mary to design a five-day management skills course for a group of R&D managers who were brought together as a HIPO team (high potential) of managers.

They had been earmarked for great things and the organisation wanted to give them some basic management skills by way of a face to face course, so they could get to know each other to furnish a supportive group who relied on each other on their way up the corporate ladder. 

This course formed part of a wider talent development project.

 We were given a brief that the course needed to align to an agile working environment.    

We took a much-loved course on leading technical teams and adjusted it. It covered the main areas of any management programme:- Building a positive team dynamic, motivation, delegation, performance management, change, conflict, team development with incorporated content on project management in an agile environment. We did this by designing a five-part case study that flowed through the whole programme. 

The case study culminated in hosting a difficult performance meeting with each individual receiving detailed feedback.  

The course was well received and there is intention to roll this out to other high potential groups in the future.