Thurs 15, Tues 20 & Thurs 22 June, 10:30-12:00 BST

If your role involves managing people, along with the added responsibility comes the need to invest your time, thought and preparation to build trust and empathy in your team. Working in a fast-paced industry requires your communication skills to be at their absolute peak to align your team with your company vision and achieve your goals together.

In three in-depth online sessions focused on practical learning, Sue Shaw, Founding Partner at Journey HR, will expertly guide you through the key principles and components of being a good manager. We will start with the foundation to your people management skills; communication. Working through the essential skills of questioning and listening, you'll be able to crystallise key messages into action and be equipped with the confidence to give constructive feedback and handle difficult conversations with ease. Next, you’ll learn how to create clear roles, responsibilities and set expectations, both in person and remotely, and how to delegate effectively and efficiently to get your team working to their strengths and enable progression. Finally we’ll explore coaching and knowing when and how to adjust your style to get the best from your team as they develop in their role. Whether you're new to management or have been in the role a while with no formal training, this workshop provides tried and tested techniques to develop you into a great manager.

We will cover

  • The role of the manager

    Understanding responsibilities, expectations and key skills.

  • Communication skills

    Exploring the models of active listening and powerful questioning.

  • Setting expectations

    Creating clear roles and responsibilities and how to give motivational feedback.

  • Situational leadership

    Adjusting your approach to each situation or task, and the needs of the team or team member.

  • Management skills

    Coaching and handling difficult conversations.

Course structure

  • Thursday 15 June, 10:30-12:00, Communication skills

    How often do you listen to someone speak and just wait for your opportunity to chip in your thoughts? Fundamental to your armoury as a great manager, the first session will explore effective communication. First up, active listening and how to take a deep dive into the detail of what is being said so you can summarise and clarify the information. You'll understand how to use open questions and ask great probing questions, funnelling the information you receive and you'll be able to fully engage and gain a richer understanding of what you're hearing.

  • Tuesday 20 June 10:30-12:00, Setting expectations and delegating

    When we work with others sometimes it can be challenging to get the results you had hoped for. Now you've honed your communication skills, you can use that foundation to get the results you need from your team. The second session will cover the importance of delegating and how to do it in a way that motivates your team. We'll explore how to set clear roles and expectations to ensure you hit your goals together and we'll share an insight into people's preferences and ways of working. You'll leave with practical tools to help you get great results when delegating.

  • Thursday 22 June, 10:30-12:00, Coaching skills

    One of your responsibilities as a manager is to guide the person you are managing to develop in their career. Considering their strengths and creating opportunities for them to build on their knowledge and grow. It’s also important to manage expectations or else you can have a demotivated and frustrated team member on your hands. The final session will look at how to spot and understand your team members strengths and untapped potential and you'll gain practical skills to have productive conversations around performance, enabling your team to grow in their role.

You will gain

  • Key insights into the role of the manager and how to bring the role to life.

  • Methods and techniques you can put to use immediately with your team.

  • Practical tools to help you get great results when you delegate.

  • The confidence, knowledge and skills to deliver high quality, constructive feedback.

Meet your trainer

Sue Shaw

Sue is a co-founder at JourneyHR, working in partnership with Founders and Directors in the world of advertising and marketing communications. By understanding each of her clients’ business needs, she applies practical solutions that are strategically linked to her clients’ values and business goals. Sue harnesses the power of psychology in her work and spends a great deal of her time coaching leaders on how to create high performance and effectiveness in their teams. Sue is an expert within the creative space; she’s the longest standing judge on the IPA CPD Gold panel and has led sessions on the IPA Leadership Programme, sharing knowledge with industry leaders around creating a great place to work through engagement and the creation of a strong talent strategy.

Pricing options

DBA members receive a discount off the standard price. To talk to us about joining the DBA, email [email protected]. Prices include VAT. If you're buying from outside the UK please select the price without VAT.

Previous feedback for Sue

We have been working with Sue from Journey HR in various capacities for a couple of years now and always had very positive experiences. It always feels like a partnership when we work together to develop work streams. We have worked together on a range of training and coaching situations from training of HR and legal basics to leadership coaching and appraisal support training all the individuals have been excellent and very knowledgeable with an ability to adapt to the audience.

Michelle Keskin, Director Of Operations, Design Scene

“The session was enlightening, thought-provoking and engaging. Good stuff!”

Jackie Arnott-Raymond, Joint MD, Frontpage