Practical, hands-on program for new or aspiring managers
Program starts September 16
- Develop the knowledge and skills needed to effectively manage a team and navigate the challenges of frontline supervision
- 10-week course offered in Newark, Del. — September 16-November 18
- Financial assistance options — Scholarships, discounts, click here for details
- Career resources and support to help you succeed
According to Gallup, managers account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement levels, significantly impacting employee motivation and satisfaction.
At the same time, managers are very often promoted from within the ranks, sometimes without receiving formal management training, and being left to learn by observation.
This class is designed to provide the formal training needed to successfully manage a team. Participants garner hands-on, practical skills that they can immediately implement on-the-job and throughout the rest of their careers. Designed for new or aspiring frontline managers, the focus is on essential management skills like delegation, disciplinary actions, employee motivation, on-the-job training and interviewing techniques. Participants will also develop skills such as resilience, time management, problem-solving and handling difficult customers.
In this 10-week foundational management development program, participants will walk away with tangible outcomes, such as when and how to delegate, specific guidelines for disciplinary actions and terminations, how to motivate your employees, on-the-job training techniques, and interviewing skills. Also, a digital resource toolkit will be provided to each participant, including such resources as SMART goal templates, interview guide and questions, email templates, etc.
REGISTRATION AND SCHEDULE
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PROGRAM DETAILS
Program Instructor — Lorraine Serva, M.B.A., SPHR, SHRM-SCP, CPSP
Program instructor — Lorraine Serva, M.B.A., SPHR, SHRM-SCP, CPSP
Lorraine served as the Chief People Officer for SDI, a digital supply chain company, until February 2025. She led an HR team providing comprehensive human resources for employees across the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Prior to SDI, she led human resources for Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurants for 11 years. While pursuing HR excellence is a key objective, a side benefit is that she and her teams have won over 30 awards, including the Delaware Valley Human Resources Department of the Year award in 2014, 2022 and 2023. While leading human resources for Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant the team won Top Workplaces in Delaware every year from 2008-2019, and in 2023 SDI won a Top Workplaces Philadelphia award for the first time. Lorraine has designed and/or delivered hundreds of in person or online classes for her managers and employees in topics like safety, management, leadership, personal development and human resources. Lorraine taught classes for the University of Delaware (Introduction to Management), Baylor University (Entrepreneurship) and for McClennan Community College (various management and leadership continuing education classes).
Program Outline
Part 1: Setting Goals and Delegation
- Articulate the reasons why delegation is critical for management success
- Explore which strategy to use to delegate under different circumstances
- Create well written SMART goals
Part 2: Performance Management
- Explain how to improve performance so that you don’t have to discipline
- Evaluate and define performance problems and apply the correct management action
- Illustrate the ability to write and deliver disciplinary actions correctly
- Demonstrate how to conduct a termination meeting appropriately
- Demonstrate how to praise and motivate employees effectively
- Cultural competency: Recognize the differences in how to successfully manage employees who are not native English speakers
- Compare and contrast union vs. non-union requirements
Part 3: Interviewing Skills
- Describe the basic flow and structure of an interview
- Distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable interview questions
- Write ‘good’ interview questions (legally acceptable, behavior based)
- Evaluate candidate answers to identify which are better and be able to explain why
Part 4: Training a New Team Member
- Discuss on-the-job training fundamentals including how to improve learning
- Develop a training outline
- Debate what makes an employee a better trainer
- Evaluate the effectiveness of a trainer
- Assess a learner to determine how to proceed (termination, further training, etc)
Part 5: Dos and Don'ts to Avoid Legal Issues
- Distinguish between absences that require additional action and those that don’t and identify when to contact your human resources team (or involve others)
- Summarize the basic legal employment requirements for managing employees in your state(s)
Part 6: Personal Skills for Manager Success
- Explain the importance and demonstrate the skills of how to productively respond to constructive criticism
- Discuss and implement techniques to be better at time management
- Practice being assertive as manager (not aggressive)
- Examine how to build great relationships with your boss and your team
- Solve a problem using specific problem solving techniques
- Evaluate and practice skills to improve resilience and manage workplace stress
- Write effective emails
- Demonstrate how to respond to difficult customers and explore how to deliver outstanding customer service
Grading and Assessment
This program will be graded using a Pass/Fail grading system only.
In order to earn a certificate of completion, all participants must:
- Successfully complete all assignments in order to complete each module
- Attend all sessions (or complete make up asynchronous assignments)
