Getting to Grips with People Management in Publishing
A comprehensive training course for first-time managers in publishing.
Managing people for the first time can seem like a daunting prospect, even for high-achieving publishing people. This highly practical course will give new managers the core skills they need to manage confidently and successfully.
As well as providing core management skills, the course is tailored to the specific context of publishing, helping new managers to engage effectively with the challenges and opportunities they face and to support their colleagues to do the same.
Who will benefit from this course?
The course is for anyone stepping up into line management for the first time or aspiring to do so. It’s suitable for first-time managers across publishing functions, in companies and imprints of all sizes.
Learn how to…
- recognise core management skills and responsibilities, and what makes a good manager
- make the most of your own personal management style and preferred team role
- handle the transition from peer to manager
- carry out everyday management skills such as recruitment, induction, appraisal and handling trouble
- get the best out of a diverse team
- manage change and get a handle on innovation
- tackle the basics of budgeting and financial reporting
- develop a network of contacts, allies and mentors
- create your own personal action plan to help keep you on track when you get back to the office.
Programme
Day 1: Management essentials
An introduction to management: the core skills required of managers in a publishing organisation, including:
- What is management?
- What are the responsibilities of a manager?
- What makes a good manager?
- Motivation and delegation
- Personal styles and management
- Team roles assessment: identifying your own - and others' - strengths and weaknesses
- Navigating the squeezed middle
Building blocks of people management: an introduction to some tools and techniques to support a manager in running their team, including:
- Recruitment and interviewing
- Unconscious bias and discrimination
- Induction
- Setting goals and objectives
- Giving feedback
- How to deliver effective appraisals
- What happens when a team member leaves
- When things go wrong: conflict, resignation, capability, disciplinary and grievance
Day Two: Management in publishing
Specific challenges facing the industry and how these can be addressed by managers
Managing change: change is a constant in all industries and publishing is no exception. This session will focus on how to support the manager and their teams to adapt to change as the “new normal”.
- The change process
- Understanding the personal impacts of change on your team
- The change curve and how to identify where your team members are in the process
- Case study analysis to explore how to manage change effectively
Managing innovation: all publishers are being forced to innovate constantly. This session will look at how to create the conditions for innovation and how to structure the processes surrounding it for the best results
- Triggers for innovation
- Types of innovation
- Prototyping, concept development and validation
- The innovation process
Financial management for publishers: how are publishing budgets created, and how are they measured?
- The basics of financial management in publishing
- The key financial reports
- Using profit and loss (P&L) reports
- Project appraisals
- Building budgets
Time management: being a manager puts extra pressures on your time, so you need to think carefully about balancing time spent with others and time spent on your own work – while also carving out time for personal and career development too.
- Management vs operational tasks
- The pareto principle: where does the time go?
- Time audits
- Pomodoro and other useful tools
Developing a network: publishing is an industry based around people; this session will give a practical insight into how to develop relationships and sustain a professional and industry network
- Why networks matter
- Being strategic
- Identifying key players
- Following through
- Finding allies, mentors and champions – within or outside your organisation
Personal development plan: using the insights of the previous sessions, each delegate will be supported to create a 90-day personal action plan to help them to practice the skills they have learned and ensure that the knowledge translates into actionable steps which can be implemented when they return to work.
Tutor(s)
DELEGATE FEEDBACK:
“I can't fault the course at all, it was excellent – in every aspect of the programme, the content and teaching style.”
Senior Supply Planner, Cambridge University Press
“I feel so much more energised about my work and my ability to manage my time balancing managerial responsibilities and my other work. I also have some new ideas for our current recruitment cycle. I will be recommending this course to my colleagues.”
Translation Rights Agent, David Higham Associates
“Good tips on dealing with performance reviews and how to have difficult conversations.”
Operations Manager, Nosy Crow
“I was very impressed by the course – it was outstanding and I got lots of tangible value from it. Really knowledgeable leaders who gave a good coverage of relevant topics and were open to giving personal feedback which was exceptionally useful.”
Commissioning Editor, Kogan Page
“Clare and Nancy delivered an excellent course - their style of delivery was really engaging and the content was everything you'd need to know as a new manager. The personal development plan has really given me some concrete steps to begin straightaway. The course helped me realise that I do have a lot of these skills already and I need to find ways of using them - a good confidence boost!"
British Sociological Association delegate