Development Plans for Managers

It is considered standard practice for business leaders to develop growth strategies for their teams. However, it is also essential for those managers to work from their own development plan to build leadership skills and improve their division performance. A managerial development plan is a written document that manages a specific function within a business.  These plans integrate steps and activities managers should take to elevate their team’s performance and reach their goals within a specified timeline. These development plans typically include both general business objectives and goals.

To implement a development plan, leadership must assess current performance and goals, set expectations for improved performance, and have a strategy for tracking progress.

Top Goals for Manager Development Plans

When developing a strategic plan for management development, key recommendations may include:

1. 1. Having more productive meetings: Managers are typically responsible for holding individual staff meetings and team and partner meetings. Unfortunately, meetings may waste time and resources if the moderator doesn’t control the agenda adequately. For more effective meetings, managers should establish a regular schedule or meeting cadence, develop clear and concise agendas, prepare for meeting utilizing coaching guides, stick to their timelines, ensure accurate documentation and dissemination of minutes, and clearly communicate action items. When employees understand their time and participation are valued and respected, morale and engagement will increase.
   2. Practice techniques for active listening: An active listener is aware of non-verbal cues and has practiced asking clarifying questions. Managers who are proficient active listeners will repeat, confirm, or paraphrase what team members express during interactions to clarify the employees’ true intent or emotion. By showing interest in what their employees are saying, effective active listeners cultivate trust within their teams, resulting in honest feedback and engagement.
   3. Increase productivity across the team: Productivity goals are typically integrated into overarching, formal objectives – but communicating these goals and tracking progress regarding individual team members can enhance overall productivity. Regularly reviewing progress and asking questions to ensure that team members have the necessary productivity tools and knowledge to succeed at their jobs can allow trends to move in the right direction. (Click here to learn more about establishing effective organizational communication and feedback.
   4. Incorporate motivational methods and techniques: One of the critical responsibilities of managers is to motivate their teams toward achieving goals. Managers can increase motivation in a variety of ways, including:
      • Offering praise for exceptional performance
      • Cultivating teams that can operate independently and make decisions
      • Respecting and trusting employee ideas and methods
      • Soliciting positive feedback and allowing criticism to encourage open conversations
      • Exhibiting fairness by being personally accountable
      • Encourage engagement by identifying and sharing operational improvements
      • Recognizing and rewarding team members who perform well
   5. Learn change management techniques: Managers must adapt to evolving organizations, innovative tools, employee attrition, and changing industries. Giving managers the tools to manage this change effectively allows them and their teams to continue to be productive with as little disruption as possible. Therefore, the necessary management skills to be developed may include the following:
      • Routinely communicating vital information to teams
      • Exhibiting empathy and support for employee’s reactions to change
      • Soliciting feedback and input from employees
      • Communicating with leadership about team issues and concerns
      • Helping teams understand corporate-wide goals

Companies should establish a centralized knowledge database to help managers succeed at their jobs. By aggregating best practices and training tools into an accessible platform, they provide managers with the support they need; while establishing effective communication and feedback channels that allow the entire organization to streamline workflows and information.

Call today if you are ready to learn more about how KLONE can optimize growth strategies, share knowledge, improve productivity, and support your company goals and business outcomes.