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Faced with skills gaps amongst managers, Brett Martin needed to provide a robust development programme to support their managers in becoming highly effective in their roles. Brett Martin knew that they required external expertise to implement a long-term solution. By partnering with Discovery, experts in training and development, Brett Martin successfully upskilled their managers, increased productivity and aided employee retention.

The Challenge

After making an internal promotion, Brett Martin identified the need to develop their newly-appointed manager. The employee had limited management experience and had a challenge on their hands after the previous manager had left the existing team with some difficulties.

The manager was very effective at the functional elements of the role, however, they had lower competency with certain soft skills – in particular modifying their leadership and management style to suit the audience. They also hadn’t undertaken much strategic responsibility previously, so this was an area that the Managing Director of the company was keen for them to develop in.

As the manager’s development areas were negatively impacting the progression and development of the whole team, Brett Martin recognised that they required support from external expertise to deliver a long-term solution to address the manager’s skills gaps.

The new manager was enrolled onto Discovery’s Managers OPEN Programme, enabling Brett Martin to effectively develop the manager without the expense of building an entire programme in-house, particularly as they were only enrolling one delegate.

Subsequently, Brett Martin decided to assess their other managers to determine whether further training was required. The employees participated in several assessment interventions, which uncovered that there was a further skills gap amongst their existing managers.

The Process

The Managers OPEN Programme

The Managers OPEN programme is designed to help delegates and become highly effective in their role by equipping them for the challenges of Leadership & Management. Areas that the programme will explore include:

  • Interpersonal excellence
  • Organisational performance
  • Personal effectiveness
  • Behavioural impact

As a delegate on the programme, the manager gained knowledge and skills around the difference between leadership and management, coaching and mentoring, improving self-awareness, thinking strategically, and managing innovation & change. This subsequent uplift in performance was so great, that the manager was recommended for a future position on the board.

As a direct result of the manager’s individual development success, the department became much more engaged and produced exceptional results.

Talent Labs

Talent Labs are an engaging five-stage process of self-awareness and positive learning designed to help organisations establish a common agreement on development areas. To achieve the best outcomes for workforce improvement, all diagnostic activity is objective and without bias. Unlike other diagnostic tools, Talent Labs don’t generalise competencies across an organisation, instead they measure capabilities of set roles.

After Brett Martin employees participated in multiple interventions that measured them against desired competencies, such as time-restricted role plays and presentations, it became evident that there were leadership and management skills gaps amongst some of the other managers. Due to the prior success experienced, four additional managers at ‘Head of’ or equivalent level were enrolled on The Managers OPEN Programme.

The programme significantly improved the individuals’ leadership skills, self-awareness and strategic thinking, resulting in higher productivity and success within their roles. Not only this, it also aided retention as 100% of the managers who attended the programme still work at Brett Martin.

“The OPEN Programme for Managers was quite simply an excellent experience for me. As a new manager, I took away a clearer understanding of the role of leadership in my business and learned and practiced several approaches that I could implement straight away to motivate my team and improve their performance. Discovery’s approach to leadership development is second to none. Their wealth of expertise, not only in leadership & motivation, but as experienced coaches and facilitators is inspiring in itself. I would highly recommend this programme to any manager looking to become a highly effective leader.”

– Natalie Heatherglen, Business Manager at Brett Martin

The Solution

By developing their managers ‘The Discovery Way’, Brett Martin significantly improved performance and development within the managers’ career journeys; the first leader to attend was even recommended for a future position on the board. The investment in their professional development also contributed to retention rates, with 100% of the first Brett Martin managers to attend The Managers OPEN Programme, still working at the company.

In addition to the individual success and development experienced, the department were much more engaged with the leader, which produced exceptional results.