Management Skills for Technical Professionals
21 Instruction Hours (3 Days)

People with the best technical skills make the best managers! How often have we heard that, and found it to be untrue? The truth is, there is a significant difference between being an excellent individual contributor and in being an excellent manager.

Management skills do not come naturally in all but a few cases, but rather must be learned. Sure, an individual must have the basic natural instincts to be a good leader, but many of the nuances of effective management must be learned either through experience or from someone who has made the transition into management from a technical position. In either case, there is a learning process. And that’s exactly what this seminar is all about…learning to make the transition into management from someone who has made the transition into middle management from a technical position, and then on into executive management positions.

This tools-and-techniques-oriented session examines how to develop an effective management style that will guide your transition into the senior management ranks. The emphasis is on real-world, practical techniques developed by business leaders from a wide array of industries. The techniques taught in this session are proven; the approach sound; and the results measurable.

Learn what to do to ease the transition and develop an effective management style. And, learn what NOT to do as well. Learn the critical differences between management and leadership, and how those differences separate the few truly successful managers from the many whom just struggle along, or fail. Learn how to leverage your technical expertise into a powerful management style, and when to set aside that technical knowledge so that you can really hear what others are saying.

Who Will Benefit:

- Newly appointed managers
- Experienced managers looking for to update their skills
- Managers seeking unique approaches to leading technical staff or project teams

Program Benefits...What You Will Learn:

- Make effective decisions when there is no black and white answer
- Develop customer-focused metrics for your organization
- Quantify management’s expectations of your performance
- Successfully transform from co-worker to boss without losing friends
- Establish baselines for a sound working relationship with your peers and your people
- Take disciplinary actions that will yield results, not mutiny
- Measure resistance to the changes you intend to make and learn how to reduce associated risks
- Build a truly cohesive team
- Understand the critical importance of chemistry and complementary skills in organizational teams
- Know when to work toward consensus and when to invoke management prerogative
- Differentiate between people and process problems
- Reduce the cycle time and overhead associated with your organization
- Assess the true value your function adds to the organization
- Sell your ideas to management and your people to ensure success

Program Agenda:

II. The Cultural Conversion…No Longer Being “One of Us”
- The personal transition
- The cultural transition
- From friend to manager
- Establishing the baseline for sound working relationships
- The discipline factor
- Measuring resistance to change and transformation

III. The Legal Aspects of Management according to U.S. standards…Things Every Manager Must Know
- International Reach of US Labor Laws
- Fiduciary Responsibilities…Your Personal Obligations and Exposures
- Discrimination and the Law…Age, Gender, Religion and Others
- ADA, EEOC, Title VII, and Others
- National Labor Laws…Your Rights and Theirs
- Sexual Harassment and a Legal Defense
- Wage and Conditions of Employment Issues

IV. Building Your Team…Selection, Direction, and Motivation
Key ingredient:
- Chemistry, dedication, and complementary skill sets…
- Building team synergy
- Case Study: Closed-Loop Management Styles
- Forging the transition from committees to teams
- The power of cross-functionality
- Building consensus…when to, and when not to
- Case Study: Eddie

V. Assessing and Resolving Problems…Tools and Techniques
- Situational assessment…what’s happening?
- Problem assessment and analysis…why is it happening?
- Alternative analysis…what to do about it?
- Clues to performance issues

VI. Making Decisions…Fact Versus Fiction
- Assessing the reasons for a decision
- Assessing the options and risks associated with each approach or action
- Selling your decisions…to your employees, peers, and management

VII. Establishing Organizational, Functional, Process, and Individual Metrics That Ensure Compatibility and Consistency
- The levels of performance within your organization
- Critical issues impacting performance at all levels
- Establishing customer-focused performance metrics
- Maslow…the hierarchy of needs

VIII. Politics…The Ugly Side of Management
- No denying it, politics is alive and well
- Organizational silos and other political drivers
- Politicians and their motives
- Defusing political situations with metrics
- Fortifying your position with data and facts
- Selling your credibility…the reality of it is that we must all learn to sell

Your Instructor: Michael Termini, PMP

Michael J. Termini is a certified Project Management Professional and is President and CEO of The Consulting Alliance Group, LLC, a multinational consulting and training organisation specialising in the fields of strategic planning, strategic supply-side management, strategic project management, and numerous engineering and technical disciplines. An exceptionally talented author, consultant, lecturer, and senior executive, Mr. Termini has demonstrated an expansive, exemplary record of achievement in positions up to and including president and chief executive officer levels for both public and private sector corporations. A highly accomplished business executive and management consultant, Mr. Termini has successfully combined over 30 years of pragmatic business experience with a solid academic base of knowledge to formulate and implement effective operational strategies that have dynamically and profitably expanded each organisation under his leadership. An astute problem solver and decision maker with an innate talent for absorption and analysis of situational dynamics, Mr. Termini has consistently produced outstanding results for both his public and private sector clients. His extensive international experience and success in mergers, acquisitions, facility start-ups, and supply base development have led to his recognition as a conspicuous player in the European and Latin American markets.

An internationally recognised lecturer and author, Mr. Termini conducts over 50 training classes annually for many of the major US universities and trade associations, as well as for his client base of Fortune 500 organisations. In addition, Mr. Termini conducts global satellite training through NTU to sites in both the domestic and international venues on far ranging topics such as strategic planning, strategic project management, organisational transformation strategies, innovation, and management skills for technical professionals, to name just a few.

Mr. Termini holds an MBA in marketing and finance, and a BS in aerospace engineering from the University of Missouri. He is an author of works on strategic planning, strategic supply-side management, administrative cycle time management, project and advanced project management techniques, risk management, concurrent engineering, agile manufacturing, and business process reengineering. His book, The New Manufacturing Engineer - Coming of Age in an Agile Environment, hit SME's bestseller's list shortly after its release in 1997. His book, Strategic Project Management - tools and techniques for planning, decision-making, and implementation, also reached SME’s bestseller’s list soon after its publication in June, 1999. His latest book, Management Skills for Engineers and Other Technical Professionals, is due for release this year. In addition, Mr. Termini is an active member of Who’s Who among America’s Executives.

Cost: US$895... we accept Mastercard, VISA, and American Express or Company Cheque in US or TT
Discounts: Groups of 5 or more receive US$50 off per person; Returning Students receive 5% discount

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The Management Institute is a part of the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond, Virginia.