Aims of the Managers Toolbox
Those holding a management position are often looked to with an expectation of always knowing what to do or say. While some skills and strategies will have grown and developed during the time spent in this and previous roles, all managers can benefit from finding time and space to explore alternative approaches and fresh solutions.
The workshops offered within The Managers Toolbox series will give the opportunity to work with a diverse group of peers to explore a range of topics, and gather practical advice and tools which can be readily transferred to the workplace. The workshops offered will be reviewed and refreshed regularly, ensuring that there will be the opportunity to access learning relevant to the current health and care climate.
Target audience
The Managers Toolbox series will be of benefit to staff holding a line management role, with opportunities for cross boundary working. This could include supporting work across a whole Directorate, supporting process improvements across systems etc. Agenda for Change banding is not a criteria for exclusion; managers working at differing bands and across diverse roles and organisations will face similar challenges.
This offer is not intended for those who are first time managers (i.e. in their first line management role for 12 months or less). We recommend accessing Introduction to Leadership and Management and/or the Edward Jenner programme for staff at this career stage. Please contact us at [email protected] if you wish to explore alternative offers.
Features and benefits to participants
- The opportunity to gain key skills within managing people and processes to support personal and professional impact and wellbeing.
- The opportunity to access a range of high quality learning interventions which suit individual need; the workshops can be accessed in any order, and as many as are relevant can be accessed.
- Direct booking to the chosen workshops (places are limited, as all sessions are virtual classroom and not webinar format)
- Virtual delivery of workshops supporting ease of access. Workshops will be experiential in nature, and should be joined from an environment where you can attend camera on, and fully participate.
- Access to a range of complementary learning materials (articles, videos etc.)
Workshop Outlines
Additional themes, sessions and resources will be added throughout the year. Please check for updates, and register for our newsletter to ensure you receive updates as to new offers.
| Workshop | Aims and outcomes | Date |
| The Employee Lifecycle: Bringing out the Best in your team members at all stages of their career journey | Understand the 7 stages of the employee lifecycle Appreciate the importance and benefits of actively managing every stage of the lifecycle Learn some key strategies for successfully managing each stage of the lifecycle. | 07/10/24 05/02/25 |
| No More Talking Shops:– Chairing really effective meetings | Discover the skills, techniques and strategies to plan, lead and participate effectively in meetings, both in person and virtual. Learn how to keep meetings under control and how to ensure that those with plenty to say are kept in check! Cover techniques on how to focus on getting actions from your meetings and how to follow up on them effectively. | 15/10/24 21/01/25 |
| Collaborative Problem Solving: Facilitating inclusive decision making | Consider the benefits of working in collaboration on individual and shared problems in the context of systems and the absence of formal authority. Learn to identify the type of problem and the most appropriate collaborative approach to determining resolutions Participate in a ‘skills lab’ to experience in real time the use of collective approaches and practice facilitation. | 12/11/24 04/03/25 |
| The Transformational Power of Building Trust: Understand the positive impact trust has on how we communicate, collaborate, and create a thriving team culture | Consider the team and organisational benefits of building a high trust environment. Explore the neuroscience of trust, and how this impacts our brain chemistry. Understand our emotional responses within high and low trust environments. Explore and identify where negative stress is having a detrimental impact on you and others, and strategies to overcome this. | 20/11/2025 13/03/2025 |
| The Accidental Programme Manager: Essential skills for those leading projects as part of their wider job role | To introduce the core principles and skillset of planning, implementing and running a successful project in the health and care sector using the framework of ‘mindset, skillset and toolset’. To provide an understanding of each of the key stages of a project (Planning and Launch, Implementation and Management, Closure and Lessons Learnt) To equip participants with the skills and tools to enable success at each stage including prediction of issues and risks and how to address these if they occur. | Dates TBC |
| Effective Delegation | Delegation is a powerful topic and tool. At a simple level it is about making sure tasks are done by the right people, however an enhanced understanding of the skills involved, and potential outcomes allows managers to release resources (own and others) and increase motivation and initiative within a team or organisation. By attending this workshop participants will be able to: 1. Be more able to use delegation as a tool to support the management of their own time & focus. 2. Feel confident to improve their focus and in their ability to managers to manage time effectively. 3. Can ensure that delegated tasks can be completed safely and reliably. 4. Develop an increased awareness of the value of delegation in developing initiative in others. | 26/11/2024 20/02/2025 |
| Self-Management | Few people ever they have more than enough hours in the day; exploring how we can better apply self-management by considering time management, and seeing the priorities. This requires some self-reflection; join us for an engaging workshop which will include: • Calendar/diary management, time blocking, creating boundaries • The ‘Eisenhower Matrix’ for prioritisation • How to develop and maintain focus • Hints and tips on maintaining self-management, including cycles of planning and review • Email management By attending this workshop participants will be able to: 1. Become more aware of the tools and approaches available for self-management 2. Have developed their own approach to self-management 3. Understand the challenges presented by their working environment | 18/03/2025 |
Useful Resources
Our Leadership Way: This resource has been created by NHS England to offer a structured way of considering how behaviours and responses impact those working with us. This link has an overview of Our Leadership Way, and links to download the full guidance. https://www.leadershipacademy.nhs.uk/organisational-resources/our-leadership-way/
Learning Hub: The national NHS Leadership Academy provide a range of free to access, bite size learning resources covering a wide range of management, leadership and wellbeing themes. https://learninghub.leadershipacademy.nhs.uk/
Edward Jenner Programme: If you have not had the opportunity to consider your leadership impact, Edward Jenner is a great place to begin. This programme is free to access for NHS staff; more information can be found here https://www.leadershipacademy.nhs.uk/programmes/the-edward-jenner-programme/
People Performance Management Toolkit: Managing people, and specifically their performance in role, tends to be the commonest cause of anxiety for line managers. NHS Employers have released this updated toolkit in August 2024 to offer a resource that reflects current strategic workforce documents. This should not be used as a replacement for any internal organisational policies; your own organisations HR team should be the point of contact for specific advice and guidance around managing ongoing performance issues. https://www.nhsemployers.org/toolkits/people-performance-management-toolkit
Quality Improvement: Q Community is hosted by the Health Foundation as a forum to connect those working to lead improvements across health and care. A range of Blog posts and articles can be accessed via the website, but a wider range of resources and collaborative opportunities are available to members. Membership is free, and open to those with knowledge and experience of using different approaches and methodologies to improve the quality of health and care. More information about Q, and how to join the community, can be found here https://q.health.org.uk/join-q/