Articles / Leadership Course Managers: Development for Those Who Lead Teams
Development, Training & CoachingExplore leadership courses for managers. Learn what management-focused leadership training offers and how to develop leadership capability in your management role.
Written by Laura Bouttell • Tue 25th November 2025
Leadership course managers programmes address a crucial truth: management and leadership, though related, are not identical. Being appointed to a management role doesn't automatically confer leadership capability. Research from the Chartered Management Institute indicates that 82% of UK managers entered their roles without formal management training, and many struggle to transition from managing tasks to leading people. The Center for Creative Leadership reports that leadership development specifically designed for managers produces better outcomes than generic leadership programmes that don't account for managers' unique contexts and challenges.
Understanding leadership courses for managers helps those in management roles select appropriate development, recognise what such programmes offer, and maximise their value. Managers face distinctive challenges that require distinctive development approaches.
Managers' leadership development needs differ from other audiences in several ways:
Role-specific context: Managers lead within defined organisational positions with specific responsibilities. Their leadership development must connect to this context rather than addressing leadership abstractly.
Authority and responsibility: Managers have formal authority and accountability that shapes their leadership. Development must address leading with authority—including its limitations and responsibilities.
Upward and downward orientation: Managers lead teams whilst being led themselves. Development must address both leading those below and influencing those above.
Operational pressure: Managers typically face intense operational demands. Development must fit within these constraints and produce applicable capability.
Performance accountability: Managers are accountable for team performance. Development must connect to improved team outcomes, not just personal growth.
Managers typically need development in specific areas:
People leadership: Moving from managing tasks to leading people—understanding motivation, building relationships, developing others—represents core manager leadership development.
Difficult situations: Handling underperformance, conflict, difficult conversations, and resistance requires capability that management appointment doesn't automatically provide.
Team dynamics: Understanding how teams function and malfunction, and intervening effectively, enables team leadership beyond task allocation.
Influence skills: Leading beyond direct authority—influencing peers, stakeholders, and seniors—extends manager impact beyond their direct reports.
Strategic connection: Connecting team activity to organisational strategy—translating direction and providing context—represents leadership beyond task management.
Personal effectiveness: Managing oneself—time, energy, stress, development—enables sustainable leadership of others.
| Manager Development Need | Why It Matters | What Development Addresses |
|---|---|---|
| People leadership | Roles involve leading people | Motivation, relationship, development |
| Difficult situations | Inevitable in management | Conversations, conflict, underperformance |
| Team dynamics | Teams need effective leadership | Functioning, intervention, culture |
| Influence skills | Authority has limits | Stakeholders, peers, upward |
| Strategic connection | Context enables meaning | Translation, communication, alignment |
| Personal effectiveness | Leaders need self-leadership | Time, energy, resilience |
Managers can access various leadership development options:
Internal programmes: Many organisations offer internal leadership development for managers. These programmes align with organisational context and may be mandatory or optional.
Professional body qualifications: CMI (Chartered Management Institute) and ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management) offer qualifications specifically designed for managers at various levels.
Business school programmes: Business schools offer open-enrolment and custom programmes for managers, ranging from short courses to extended programmes.
Training provider programmes: Commercial training providers offer manager leadership development in various formats and price points.
Coaching: Individual coaching provides personalised leadership development for managers addressing their specific needs and contexts.
Online learning: Digital platforms offer manager leadership content from introductory to advanced levels.
Action learning: Programmes structured around real work challenges develop leadership through application rather than abstraction.
Programmes target different manager populations:
First-time managers: Programmes for those new to management address the fundamental transition from individual contributor to manager—delegation, one-to-ones, feedback, performance basics.
Experienced managers: Programmes for those with management experience develop more sophisticated capability—change leadership, strategic thinking, senior stakeholder management.
Senior managers: Programmes for those leading managers address leadership at scale—leading through others, organisational influence, executive presence.
Function-specific: Some programmes target specific functions—sales managers, project managers, technical managers—addressing leadership within those contexts.
Industry-specific: Some programmes address particular industries—healthcare, manufacturing, financial services—where context significantly shapes leadership requirements.
Manager leadership programmes typically address:
1. Leadership vs management: Understanding the distinction between managing (organising, planning, controlling) and leading (influencing, inspiring, enabling) helps managers develop leadership alongside management capability.
2. Self-awareness: Understanding yourself as leader—strengths, weaknesses, style, impact—provides foundation for development. Programmes often include assessment instruments and feedback.
3. Communication skills: Effective communication—listening, feedback, difficult conversations, presentation—underpins leadership. Programmes develop practical communication capability.
4. Team leadership: Building effective teams, managing team dynamics, developing team members, and handling team challenges represent core manager leadership content.
5. Performance management: Setting expectations, monitoring progress, addressing gaps, and handling underperformance require skill that many managers lack.
6. Delegation: Effective delegation—determining what, to whom, with what guidance—enables managers to lead through others rather than doing everything themselves.
7. Motivation and engagement: Understanding what motivates people and creating conditions for engagement helps managers lead effectively beyond task assignment.
8. Change leadership: Leading teams through change—a constant in most environments—requires specific capability beyond steady-state management.
Delivery approaches vary across programmes:
Workshops: Intensive sessions—typically one to three days—provide concentrated learning. Workshops suit focused skill development but require time away from work.
Modular programmes: Learning spread across modules over weeks or months allows application between sessions. Spacing enables integration of learning with work.
Online learning: Digital content—videos, readings, assessments—provides flexible access. Online learning suits self-paced development but lacks interaction richness.
Coaching integration: Some programmes combine group learning with individual coaching. Coaching personalises development to specific needs.
Action learning: Working on real challenges with facilitated reflection develops capability through application. Action learning connects development directly to work.
Blended approaches: Combinations of methods—perhaps online preparation, workshop skills practice, coaching application support—leverage different delivery strengths.
| Delivery Method | Advantages | Limitations |
|---|---|---|
| Workshops | Intensive, interactive | Time away from work |
| Modular | Application between sessions | Extended duration |
| Online | Flexible, accessible | Less interactive |
| Coaching | Personalised | Resource intensive |
| Action learning | Work-connected | Requires suitable projects |
| Blended | Multiple benefits | Complexity |
Select programmes through systematic evaluation:
1. Clarify development needs: What specific leadership capabilities do you need to develop? Clear needs guide selection rather than pursuing generic development.
2. Consider career context: Where are you in your career? First-time manager programmes suit new managers; senior programmes address different needs.
3. Evaluate programme content: Does the programme address your specific needs? Don't assume comprehensive programmes address what you specifically require.
4. Assess programme quality: What evidence indicates quality? Provider reputation, accreditation, participant feedback, and outcome evidence suggest likely quality.
5. Check practical fit: Does timing, location, cost, and format work for your circumstances? Practical constraints matter alongside programme quality.
6. Consider organisational context: Does your organisation recognise or prefer particular programmes? Alignment with organisational expectations may matter.
7. Evaluate follow-through: How will you apply and reinforce learning? Programmes without application support may produce limited lasting development.
Before enrolling, ask:
About programme design:
About relevance:
About quality:
About practical considerations:
Maximise development through intentional engagement:
Before the programme:
During the programme:
After the programme:
Common mistakes that undermine development:
Passive attendance: Attending without engaging produces minimal development. Active participation—contributing, practicing, questioning—enables learning.
Isolation from context: Learning concepts without connecting them to your specific situation limits transfer. Constantly relate content to your actual challenges.
Post-programme abandonment: Returning to work and immediately resuming old patterns wastes development investment. Deliberate application maintains momentum.
Expecting immediate transformation: Leadership development is gradual. Expecting instant change produces frustration; recognising gradual improvement sustains effort.
Solo application: Trying to apply learning alone limits reinforcement. Involving your team, manager, and peers in your development multiplies impact.
Ignoring feedback: Programmes provide feedback—from assessments, facilitators, peers. Ignoring feedback wastes valuable external perspective.
Organisations benefit from manager leadership development:
Performance improvement: Better-led teams perform better. Manager leadership capability directly affects team outcomes.
Engagement enhancement: Manager behaviour drives engagement. Research consistently shows manager quality is the primary determinant of employee engagement.
Retention support: People leave managers more than they leave companies. Effective managers retain talent; poor managers lose it.
Culture creation: Managers create culture in their teams. Manager leadership development shapes organisational culture at scale.
Succession building: Developing managers builds leadership pipeline. Today's managers become tomorrow's senior leaders.
Risk reduction: Poor management creates risk—legal, reputational, operational. Capable managers reduce these risks.
Organisations should approach manager development systematically:
Assess needs: What leadership capabilities do your managers need? Assessment before investment ensures relevance.
Define expectations: What does good leadership look like here? Clear expectations guide development direction.
Provide appropriate programmes: Match programmes to manager levels and needs. Generic programmes for all managers miss specific development needs.
Support application: Create conditions for application—manager support, time, psychological safety to try new approaches.
Reinforce development: Follow up on programmes. One-off events without reinforcement produce limited lasting change.
Measure outcomes: Track development impact. Measurement enables improvement and demonstrates value.
First-time managers face the fundamental transition from individual contributor to manager:
Identity shift: Success previously came from personal contribution. Now success comes through others' contribution. This identity shift underlies all first-time manager development.
Delegation basics: Learning to delegate—what, to whom, with what guidance—enables leading through others rather than doing everything personally.
One-to-one effectiveness: Regular one-to-ones with direct reports establish management relationships. Learning to conduct effective one-to-ones matters immediately.
Feedback skills: Giving feedback—positive and developmental—represents core management activity. Many first-time managers struggle with feedback delivery.
Performance fundamentals: Setting expectations, monitoring progress, and addressing gaps require skills that individual contributor roles don't develop.
Relationship building: Building relationships as manager differs from building them as peer. First-time managers must navigate this relationship transition.
Experienced managers typically need development beyond basics:
Strategic thinking: Connecting team activity to organisational strategy, and providing strategic context to team members, becomes increasingly important.
Change leadership: Leading significant change—transformations, restructures, new directions—requires capability beyond steady-state management.
Influence beyond authority: Leading stakeholders, peers, and seniors without direct authority extends leadership impact beyond direct reports.
Developing managers: For those managing managers, developing other managers requires meta-level leadership capability.
Complex problem-solving: Addressing ambiguous, multi-faceted challenges requires sophisticated analysis and judgment beyond routine decision-making.
Executive presence: Projecting credibility and influence with senior stakeholders becomes increasingly important as managers progress.
A leadership course for managers is a development programme specifically designed for those in management roles. Such courses address the distinctive challenges managers face: leading people with formal authority, building and leading teams, handling difficult situations, connecting team work to strategy, and leading while being led. They differ from generic leadership programmes by addressing the manager-specific context.
Managers benefit significantly from leadership training. Research indicates most managers enter roles without formal training and struggle with people leadership. Management appointment provides authority but not capability. Leadership training develops the skills—communication, motivation, team dynamics, influence—that enable managers to lead effectively rather than merely managing tasks.
A leadership programme for managers should include self-awareness development, communication skills (especially feedback and difficult conversations), team leadership and dynamics, delegation, motivation and engagement, performance management, influence skills, and change leadership. Content should connect to managers' actual contexts rather than addressing leadership abstractly.
Effective manager leadership training typically requires significant duration for meaningful development. Short workshops (1-3 days) provide introduction but limited skill development. Extended programmes (weeks to months) enable depth, practice, and application. Modular approaches spread learning over time, allowing workplace application between sessions. Single events rarely produce lasting change.
Management training focuses on processes and systems—planning, organising, budgeting, controlling. Leadership training focuses on people—influencing, inspiring, developing, engaging. Managers need both: management capability to organise work effectively, leadership capability to lead people effectively. Effective manager development addresses both dimensions.
Choose a leadership course by clarifying your specific development needs, evaluating whether programmes address those needs, assessing programme quality (reputation, accreditation, feedback), checking practical fit (timing, cost, format), considering organisational preferences, and evaluating post-programme support for application. Match programme to need rather than pursuing generic development.
Leadership courses are worth the investment for managers when they address genuine development needs, provide quality content and facilitation, receive active participant engagement, and include support for post-programme application. The return depends on these factors. Research demonstrates leadership development can significantly improve manager effectiveness, but not automatically—engagement and application determine value.
Leadership course managers programmes address a fundamental need: developing leadership capability in those appointed to lead. Management roles require leadership—inspiring teams, handling difficult situations, building capability in others, connecting work to purpose—that management appointment alone doesn't provide.
Effective manager leadership development addresses managers' specific contexts and challenges. It develops practical capability for the situations managers actually face, connects learning to real work, and supports application beyond programme completion.
For individual managers, investing in leadership development builds capability that enhances both current performance and future career opportunity. Choose programmes that address your specific needs, engage fully with learning opportunities, and apply new approaches deliberately.
For organisations, investing in manager leadership development improves team performance, engagement, and retention whilst building leadership pipeline. Approach development systematically, matching programmes to needs, supporting application, and measuring outcomes.
Managers lead every day—whether they've developed leadership capability or not. Those who invest in their leadership development lead more effectively, achieve better outcomes, and build stronger teams.
Lead, don't just manage. Develop the capability that makes the difference.