Build a Management Training Program

Once we hit the scale up phase at Pardot, we made the decision that we wanted to promote managers from within, whenever possible. This meant we had a number of first-time managers, and a need for a management training program. Next, we built a simple management training program that was part book club and part peer discussion.

Here’s how the program worked:

• Weekly hour-long meeting of managers (we had two groups so that no manager’s manager was in the same group)
• Reviewed a different book chapter each week. Some book ideas:
  • The Four Disciplines of Execution
  • The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business
  • Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t (Rockefeller Habits 2.0)
  • Traction – Get a Grip on Your Business
  • Drive – The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
• Discussed one manager training topic each week

The real value was building a culture of experience sharing with a focus on becoming better managers. Entrepreneurs would do well to start a management training program when they experience rapid growth.

What else? What are some more thoughts on building a management training program?