Manager Bootcamp - by Carman O'Brien
One of the top reasons that employees stay with a company will always be Professional Development opportunities.
When we think about one of the items that drive success in our managers, it comes back to that same theme - professional development opportunities. Managers want training that will make them confident in how they handle the many scenarios they will come across in their job, which resulted in the creation of our “Manager Bootcamp”. Bianca, director of the dealer support department, and Kylie, HR generalist, spent time strategically planning the schedule and content that all first-time and senior managers could benefit from to strengthen their leadership skills.
Last month, we had all 50 of our dealer support managers in the office for a day of riveting, engaging training to break down all things related to management and crash course a variety of different topics. The day was kicked off by providing everyone some awesome Shift swag in addition to a binder full of essential materials that they could use throughout the day, but also reference later.
The atmosphere was buzzing, and everyone was excited to kick off the day with a presentation from one of our company executives, Ashley Cox, where she went through the history of Shift Digital, Shift’s dealer support team, and how we have gotten to where we are today. From there, Bianca took a deep dive into what a manager is, the different types of management styles, and how someone can translate management into leadership. These exercises allowed our managers to evaluate what choices they make in the moment and how to foster their professional growth and the professional growth of the employees that they oversee.
As we went through the day, we were able to hear from a member of our employee relations team, Courtney, about interview best practices. Heather, the director of our employee relations team, then spoke about performance management – arguably the most critical piece of being successful as a manager. We then rounded off the day of training with information related to specific operational tasks that our managers need to complete. Don’t worry – we don’t just work hard – we also play hard, as and capped off the day with a happy hour to take some time to unwind with our fellow managers.
Being able to get together and share experiences and knowledge with people in similar positions proved to be invaluable to our managers. This bootcamp is only a kick-off to more professional development opportunities for our managers throughout the year and we are so excited to see what is in store!
