Home / Non-Accredited / Leadership & Management / Taking Charge as a Leader: Closing the Gap Between Specialist and Manager (3 days)
Quick Look Course Summary:Taking Charge as a Leader: Closing the Gap Between Specialist and Manager (3 days)
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Length: 3 day(s)
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Price (at your venue): 1 Person R 14,997 EX VAT 3 Person R 11,205 EX VAT 10 Person R 8,120 EX VAT
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Certification Type:Non-Accredited
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Locations & Venues: Off-site or in-house. We train in all major city centres throughout South Africa.
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Taking Charge as a Leader: Closing the Gap Between Specialist and Manager (3 days)
Technical specialists who now lead people make the shift from expert to leader, with a leadership approach that fits their team and their organisation.
Organisations promote their best engineers, analysts, artisans and professionals into management because they are good at the work. Then the work changes. The new manager is now responsible for people, not only outputs, and the habits that made them a strong specialist – doing it themselves, always having the answer, living in the technical detail – start to get in the way. This three-day leadership skills course helps them close that gap.
Day one separates leading from managing and looks at what the move from specialist to leader asks of a person: the qualities people look for in a leader and the roles a leader has to play. Day two works through the main leadership theories – trait, behavioural, situational, servant and transformational – and turns each one into techniques delegates can use with individuals and with the team. Day three is about application: shaping a personal leadership approach that fits the team and the organisation, improving how the group works together, and checking whether the approach is working.
Delegates work on their own leadership situations throughout, through self-assessments, case studies and practice conversations, and leave with a personal 90-day leadership plan.
Watch a short introduction
Why this course
For your organisation
- Technical experts who lead their teams instead of doing the team's work
- Fewer failed promotions from specialist roles into management
- Better group dynamics and delivery in technical and project teams
- Leaders who adjust their approach to the person and the situation
For your delegates
- A clear understanding of how leading differs from managing
- Honest insight into your own leadership strengths and gaps
- Practical techniques for leading individuals and teams
- A personal leadership approach you can explain to your team
- A plan for your first or next 90 days as a leader
What delegates will be able to do
- Explain what leadership is and how it differs from management, using workplace examples
- Identify the qualities and roles people expect of a leader and rate themselves against them
- Describe the main leadership theories and what each one means in practice
- Recognise when a team leader needs to manage and when they need to lead
- Use leadership techniques with individual team members and with the team as a whole
- Improve group dynamics so that the team reaches its objectives
- Build a personal leadership approach that suits both their people and the organisation
- Judge the effect of their leadership and change course where needed
Who should attend
Engineers, technicians, artisans, IT specialists, finance and legal professionals, scientists and other technical experts who have been promoted, or are about to be, into a supervisory, team leader or junior management role. It also suits team leaders and junior managers who manage a team but have never had formal leadership development.
Course outline
Day 1 – From specialist to leader
The specialist's dilemma
- Why strong specialists struggle in their first leadership role
- What changes when your output becomes the team's output
- Letting go of the technical work without losing credibility
- Self-assessment: how much of your week is still specialist work
Leadership and management
- Accepted definitions of leadership
- What managers do and what leaders do
- Workplace examples where each is needed
- When a team leader must manage and when they must lead
- Exercise: sorting real situations from your own team
Qualities of a leader
- Empathy, objectivity and transparency
- Accountability, responsibility, honesty and integrity
- Assertiveness and consistency
- Lessons from present-day and historical leaders, including South African examples
- Rating yourself and asking others for feedback
Roles of a leader
- Setting direction and sharing a vision
- Encouraging new ideas and innovation
- Motivating yourself and others
- Creating synergy between people with different expertise
- Building an environment where people develop
Day 2 – Leadership theories and techniques
Trait and behavioural approaches
- What trait theory got right and what it missed
- Task-focused versus people-focused leadership behaviour
- Autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire styles
- Recognising your default style
Situational leadership
- Reading how ready each team member is for a given task
- Directing, coaching, supporting and delegating
- Matching style to the person and the task
- Practice: choosing a style for real scenarios
Servant and transformational leadership
- Leading by serving the needs of the team
- Inspiring change through vision and personal example
- Individual consideration and intellectual challenge
- When each approach fits and when it does not
Leading individuals
- Leading experts who know more than you about their field
- Leading former peers
- Motivating different personalities
- One-on-one conversations that build trust
Leading the team
- Group dynamics and the stages of team development
- The roles people take on in a team
- Handling dominant, silent and resistant team members
- Case study: a technical team that will not work together
Day 3 – Applying and evaluating your leadership
Shaping your leadership approach
- Your team's needs, your organisation's requirements and your own strengths
- Adapting to culture, language, diversity and generations in the South African workplace
- Writing your personal leadership statement
Leadership techniques that lift group performance
- Agreeing team objectives and ways of working
- Making decisions with the team
- Building trust and dealing with conflict early
- Recognition and keeping momentum
Evaluating the impact of your leadership
- Signs that your leadership is working
- Asking for feedback from the team and your own manager
- Changing your approach when it is not working
- Learning from leadership mistakes
Practice and personal leadership plan
- Practice scenarios with observer feedback
- Your first or next 90 days as a leader
- Choosing a feedback partner back at work
- Course review and close
How it is delivered
Three days, 08:30-16:00. In person at your offices anywhere in South Africa, at a BOTI venue, or live online. One delegate or a group of up to 20; scenarios tailored to your technical environment on request. Workbook, self-assessments and a personal leadership plan included. We deliver it at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and anywhere else in South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online for teams in different places.
What our clients say
“All training sessions were well-coordinated, professionally delivered, and aligned with our scheduling requirements. We were particularly impressed by the high standard of facilitation and the depth of expertise demonstrated throughout the programmes.”
“The facilitator was excellent and took time to ensure that the employee understood the content and was able to apply the learning in order to develop the portfolio of evidence.”
“The training went well, and judging by the feedback from the evaluation forms we received, we were impressed by the knowledge of the facilitator and the quality of training overall.”
Frequently asked questions
Can you run this course at our offices?
Yes. We train at client premises anywhere in South Africa, including plants, sites and technical offices. We can also host it at a BOTI venue or run it live online.
How many people can attend?
From one delegate to a group of about 20. The price per delegate drops as the group grows – see the price table, or ask us for a quote.
Is it accredited?
No. This is a non-accredited short course and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance.
How is this different from Supervisory Skills for Team Leaders?
Supervisory Skills is a two-day course on the mechanics of running a team: standards, delegation, motivation and performance conversations. This three-day course is about the leadership shift itself – leadership theory, styles and building your own approach as a specialist turned leader. Many new team leaders benefit from both.
Can it be tailored to our engineers or IT team?
Yes. Tell us about the team and two or three real leadership situations, and the facilitator builds them into the case studies and practice scenarios.
Can you run this course in Johannesburg, Cape Town or Durban?
Yes. We train on site at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and across South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online so a team spread over several offices can attend together.
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Monday to Friday, 08:00–17:00. After hours, we reply on the next working day – or call 011 882 8853.