186 | How Integrating Practical HR Training into Manager Development Helped Managers Succeed (with Amy Critchley)

Managers are expected to handle everything from one-to-ones and development conversations to absence, performance issues and disciplinaries. Yet many step into management without having been properly taught how to deal with these responsibilities. For HR and People professionals, finding a way to build managers’ knowledge and confidence without overwhelming them can be a real challenge.

In this special bonus episode of HR Coffee Time, Fay Wallis is joined by Amy Critchley, Head of People at Indigo Networks. Amy explains how she created a management development programme from scratch after joining an organisation that had not previously had a dedicated HR or People team.

Amy shares practical ideas for combining essential HR knowledge with wider management development, making potentially dry subjects more engaging and helping learning stick. She also explains how the programme strengthened relationships between managers and changed the way they worked with the People team.

What You’ll Learn How to decide which topics to prioritise when creating a management development programmeWhy combining practical HR knowledge with wider management skills can make training more effectiveIdeas for making subjects such as absence, investigations, disciplinaries and employment law more engagingHow to accommodate different learning preferences without relying on lengthy presentations or uncomfortable role playWays to support learning beyond the workshop through e-learning, workbooks, drop-in clinics and People Partnering sessionsHow real-life scenarios, discussion and peer learning can build managers’ confidenceSigns that manager training is working, including stronger peer relationships and a more positive relationship with the People team

Chapters [00:00] Introduction: Why managers matter

[01:14] The challenge of developing managers

[02:02] The Workforce Success Stories Summit

[02:49] Meet Amy Critchley: building a management development programme

[04:11] How Amy identified the need for manager training

[05:47] Deciding on the training content

[08:28] Combining HR knowledge with management development

[09:50] Designing engaging, brain-friendly training