Becoming a new manager can be both exciting and overwhelming. With countless training programs out there, how do you know which one will truly prepare your leaders for success?
The right management training isn’t just about learning processes—it’s about building confidence, communication, and leadership skills that drive real impact.
At Comprehensive Learning Solutions (CLS), we believe effective management training is tailored, practical, and results-driven. Organizational success is built on the foundation of a workplace culture that invests in essential management skills.
In this guide, we break down the essential management skills new leaders need, the key values to embed in leadership development, and the best learning methods—from online courses to in-person and custom training.
Let’s dive in.
3 Essential skills for successful new manager training
Stepping into a new role as a manager requires a strong foundation of skills to lead with success. While each individual may develop their own management style in time, every new manager needs key skills to succeed.
1. Effective communication and emotional intelligence
Strong leaders have strong core skills. They communicate clearly, actively listen, and adapt their approach to different personalities. Emotional intelligence helps managers navigate team dynamics, build trust, and handle difficult conversations with empathy.
2. Decision-making and delegation
Managers must assess situations quickly, make informed decisions, and delegate tasks efficiently. Learning to trust their team while avoiding micromanagement leads to increased productivity and engagement.
To achieve this, leadership training should encourage these management skills:
- Time management: Prioritize tasks effectively to meet deadlines without overwhelming the team.
- Problem-solving: Tackle challenges efficiently by making informed, strategic decisions.
- Delegation: Learn to effectively delegate tasks, responsibilities, and decision-making to your team.
- Focus: Keep sight of big-picture goals while managing daily responsibilities.
3. Coaching and conflict resolution
The best managers develop their teams by providing constructive feedback, fostering growth, and resolving conflicts effectively. Proper coaching and training programs ensure employees feel supported, motivated, and aligned with company goals.
Successful new managers use a holistic approach to strategic planning, conflict resolution, and relating with employees. This is instilled through the leadership pipeline by existing and experienced managers within the organization, as well as training for new managers aligned with company culture.
Proper coaching and conflict resolution develops new managers who:
- Handle new challenges with grace and confidence.
- Feel supported, empowered, and informed by the business.
- Create a healthy workplace environment where employees feel safe and encouraged to communicate, ask questions, and strive for success.
Types of new manager training courses
There are many courses out there offering training for new managers—but which is the best for your business? To instill new manager skills that stick, you have the following leadership training options:
Online courses
Online courses offer a convenient route for training new managers as they often do not depend on time or location. These courses can be live online (LOL)—in which an instructor is delivering the content in real time—or self-study—which involves pre-recorded lessons taken at the learner’s pace.
The flexibility of this method of training is favorable for remote organizations and companies with new managers in multiple locations. Yet, the cost of training employees is more than just the initial figures.
While online courses offer convenience, your basic online “first-time manager guide” may lack engaging, up-to-date management training activities and best practices, and may not effectively instill the manager skills your business needs. If opting for self-study, new managers also miss out on the chance to practice the skills they’re learning—especially those that require situational decision-making based on guidelines.
Face-to-face (F2F) courses
Face-to-face courses involve in-real-life instruction, hands-on activities, and real-time interaction with instructors, colleagues, and other new managers. While interactive, they can often come in “cookie-cutter” form.
Standardized courses provide a convenience factor in the short run, but in the long run, the lack of customization forfeits the installation of your business values and workplace culture in the development of an effective manager.
Custom courses
Great leaders aren’t born, they’re built.
Custom training programs are a great way to ensure company culture, the skills needed for your organization’s specific needs, and essential management training best practices are all included in your leadership training.
At Comprehensive Learning Solutions, we create tailored training content in half the time. Our short, targeted workshops are designed with the busy employee in mind—most last less than four hours. Workshops within the same series can be combined for a full-day training experience.
Contact Comprehensive Learning Solutions to start customizing your new manager training program.
“CLS has an amazing ability to learn quickly about topics ranging from agricultural processes to financial literacy and translate that content into fun, flexible, and practical training for a wide variety of audiences. CLS brought creative insights and flexible approaches to the training we design and deliver to our clients around the world.”
— Khadiga Fahmy, Senior Operations Officer, International Finance Corporation (a World Bank Group Member)
Resources for successful new manager training
Whether you use online, F2F, or a custom course to grow your business, your investment in new manager skills will pay off. To encourage better management skills and effective leadership styles in the workplace, we recommend these leadership development tools:
- Harvard Business Review’s must-reads: Offering valuable insights on communication skills, emotional intelligence, and encouraging self-awareness in great leaders.
- Customizable courses: Our ‘Transitioning to Management’ course is a ready-to-go course that can be delivered as is or tailored to your company and specific goals.
- Learn with CLS: The worry-free answer to your organization’s workplace learning needs. Specializing in strategy and implementation, Comprehensive Learning Solutions takes a practical approach to achieving training results.
Get in touch to explore how CLS can support your organization’s leadership training needs.
