COURSE BRIEF

PERSONAL PRODUCTIVITY SKILLS

MODULE 1: LEADING YOUR TEAM

Target participants

The Leading Your Team module is designed for any actor or practitioner holding managerial and/or supervisory positions in civil society organisations (CSOs) whose job involves leading and managing a group of people towards achieving a set objective.

Assumptions about current management practices

The course is developed based on the following assumptions regarding participants and their daily management practice. Participants are assumed to manage a group of people (approximately three to fifteen for the case of a manager and more or the whole organization for a case of an executive director).

They are assumed to organize their work into groups or teams and the performance and achievement of the group is significant to that of the CSO. The participant would not lead the team/group as much as manage it, that is, the group is more managed and less led.

Participants are focused on getting tasks/assignments done rather than motivating and developing the team/group. Participantsare not well aware of stages in team development and ways to help team members make the group a performing and learning team to deal with changes.

Assumptions about participants’ knowledge and skills

  • Leaders are born, not made.
  • A good team leader is one who can get the job done.

Module objectives

After completing the module, participants should be able to:

  • Identify the desirable skills and qualities of a good team leader;
  • Assess their own leadership qualities and skills;
  • Describe methods to enhance their leadership skills;
  • Identify the responsibilities of leader, and the roles to be played by a team leader;
  • Explain ways of developing their team so that it becomes more efficient and effective.

Module content

The module includes three sessions as follows.

Session 1:How to become an effective leader
Session 2:Roles and responsibilities of a team leader
Session 3:Building and developing a team

Learning methods

Trainer will use the following methodology to convey the course content.

  • Open discussion
  • Case study
  • Self-assessment
  • Role-play
  • Brainstorm
  • Mini-lecture

Evaluation methods

Participants’ learning results will be assessed as follows.

Venue / Content / Approach
In class / Knowledge /
  • Observation / Interaction / Exercice / Action plan

Skill /
  • Demonstration / roles play

At work / Skill /
  • Action plans
  • Comment by management on result

MODULE 2: BECOMING A MORE EFFECTIVE MANAGER

Target participants

The Becoming a More Effective Managermodule is designed for those who manage groups of people, including:

  • Executive Directors of CSOs;
  • Programme Managers and Programme Officers, Project Officers and Team Leaders of CSOs;
  • Managers at any level in CSOs.

Assumptions about current management practices

The course is based on the following assumptions about management practices.

  • Managers at all level are overworked.
  • Managers, particularly executive directors, want to control everything.
  • Managers are involved in operations, or worse in handling daily activities.
  • Managers do everything by themselves.
  • Efforts are appreciated more than the results.
  • Managers have a multi-functional role.

Assumptions about participants’ knowledge and skills

It is assumed that managers believe that effectiveness is the key of their job performance and that they are ineffective in a number of ways at their jobs. Also there is a lack of understanding of themselves and the ways that would make their directions effective. Participants are assumed not to have specific techniques and plans to develop themselves.

Module objectives

After completing the module, participants are expected to be able to:

  • Recognize the needs to be effective at work;
  • Explain the positive attitude and behavior that should be followed in the workplace;
  • Assess their own effectiveness;
  • Identify the skills needed to improve their own effectiveness;
  • Choose appropriate forms of development;
  • Set a plan for personal development.

Module content

The module is split into two sessions as follows.

Session 1:The need to be effective

Session 2:The ways to be effective

Learning methods

Trainer applies the following methods to convey the content of the learning module.

  • Open/Group discussion
  • Case study
  • Self-assessment
  • Role-play
  • Game
  • Brainstorm
  • Mini-lecture

Evaluation methods

Participant’s learning outcomes will be assessed as follows.

Venue / Contents / Methods
In class / Knowledge /
  • Observation / Interaction / Exercices / Action plan

Skills /
  • Demonstration / Roles play

At work / Skills /
  • Follow up action plan
  • Comments from management on tasks performance

MODULE 3:COACHING AT WORK

Target participants

Target participants for this module are those in management positions in CSOs. Their daily jobs require them to assist their staff in solving problems, and they bear responsibility for managing and supervising the outcome of subordinates work.

Assumptions about current management practices

When employees underperform, managers often respond with job transfers, or even dismissals, even though coaching may lead to a greater performance improvement at lower cost.

Some managers respond to an employee’s inability to fulfill a particular task by assuming part of the employee’s responsibilities. This is a natural reaction driven by a need to deal with problems quickly, but it often leads to an over-reliance on managers for non-managerial tasks and diminished performance by employee and manager. Coaching is a way to improve an employee’s skills and confidence, leading to greater staff independence and higher-quality work.

When a new employee joins a CSO, the manager is expected to provide him or her with the necessary training to attain necessary skills and knowledge. Many managers provide less support than is necessary, often because of a lack of confidence in the skills needed to train employees. Developing coaching skills can give managers the ability to understand employees’ needs and difficulties more completely, communicate more effectively, and support employee development with confidence.

Assumptions about participants’ knowledge and skills

In their jobs, target participants coach employee based on personal experience and may have achieved a degree of success. However, target participants are interested in acquiring more advance skills and tools to make their coaching efforts more effective.

For those who lack confidence when coaching employees, they consider coaching a difficult task that requires specialised techniques.

Module objectives

After completing the module, participants will be able to:

Define coaching at work and explain its benefits for the manager;

Apply coaching tools in the workplace;

Formulate and implement long-term coaching strategies.

Course content

The course consists of three sessions:

Session 1:Coaching and its benefits for the manager

Session 2:Coaching skills and tools

Session 3:The four steps to successful coaching at work

Learning methods

Trainer use the following training methods to deliver the course content:

Open discussion

Self-assessment exercises

Case-studies

Role-play

Lectures

Games

Evaluation methods

Participants’ learning outcome will be assessed as follows:

Venue / Contents / Methods
In class / Knowledge /
  • Observation
  • Interaction
  • Exercises
  • Action plan

Skill /
  • Demonstration
  • Role-play

At work / Skill /
  • Follow up by implementing coaching plan
  • Comments on performance outcome by management

WACSI/IFC Course Brief: Personal Productivity Skills1