New manager training 101: Skills and strategies for building great leaders
- Last Updated : June 10, 2025
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- 6 Min Read

When research shows that 74% of employees believe that their managers need reskilling or upskilling training, why wait until your employees are struggling under inadequate leadership? Why not set your managers up for success right from the moment they're promoted?
In this blog post, we'll show you how to help your newly appointed managers drive real change to your organization's growth and success.
What is "new manager training"?
New manager training is a comprehensive and structured program that's created to improve the knowledge and skills of people who are just starting in leadership positions. It enhances the skills first-time managers need to lead and helps them navigate their new roles. The main purpose of training new managers is to help them make informed decisions and contribute to the organization's goals successfully.
Why do we need to train new managers?
From fostering collaboration to achieving team goals, a manager's role is crucial for the development and success of their team. Training first-time managers will give them the edge to perform their role more efficiently.
To develop essential skills
A manager's leadership skills can make or break a team's culture and reputation. They should focus on improving essential skills—such as conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, and communication—to create a positive work environment. Sharpening these skills is the first step to being a good leader, and only good leaders have the power to motivate and influence their team.
To boost employee retention
A major challenge for new managers is to retain their employees and do whatever they can to prevent them from quitting. Training new managers cultivates the skills and techniques to boost employee engagement, cater to the specific needs of individual team members, and increase productivity within the entire team. Good managers make their employees feel valued and inspire loyalty in return, which boosts employee retention for the entire organization.
To align with organizational goals
The move from being an individual contributor to being a strong leader requires a huge mindset shift from new managers. From goal setting for individual members and creating targets for the entire team to understanding and aligning with the company's goals, the onus for achieving the team's goals falls on the manager. Placing this huge burden on managers without training them is like building a new house without blueprints.
To stay legally compliant
New managers need a solid understanding of employment laws and regulations to avoid potential legal pitfalls. Providing them with proper training ensures that they remain compliant and equips them to lead their teams through organizational changes with clarity and confidence.
Common challenges faced by first-time managers
There are many implicit challenges that employees face when they accept managerial roles. We'll look at a few of these now.
Dealing with different kinds of employees
In most scenarios, managers are expected to reach employees from different generations and varied life experiences as soon as they take up the position. Diversity in races, genders, and cultures makes it difficult for managers to follow a standard approach for the entire team.
Diversity and inclusion training, corporate social responsibility (CSR) training, and global leadership training can guide first-time managers dealing with diverse groups.
Handling conflict within the team
Conflict can be expected when there's a collaboration between different individuals, but it doesn't have to be inevitable. Managers are responsible for creating a positive work culture and maintaining harmony on the team without letting personal biases and prejudices rear their ugly heads. New managers may struggle to cater to all sides when they're suddenly tasked with this responsibility.
Enhancing new managers' communication, critical thinking, and decision-making skills will go a long way in conflict management.
Retaining employees who are "quiet quitting"
Quiet quitting is a common practice where employees do the bare minimum to keep their jobs, and they're the most likely to quit in the near future. Retaining these employees puts the manager in a difficult position because the employees are so disengaged with their work. Managers have to re-engage these employees by matching their personal goals to workplace objectives.
Test and train new managers on their skills to give feedback, appreciate employee contributions, be a team player, and make work engaging to prevent huge numbers of quiet-quitting employees in your organization.
Displaying authority while building trust
New managers often find themselves stuck between displaying their authority and building trust within the team. This is even more challenging if the manager used to be in the same position as the team members they now lead.
Transparent communication between team members, maintaining professional boundaries, and being receptive to employees' needs go a long way for creating a strong connection with the team. Providing training to new managers improves their skills and proficiencies, which in turn builds a happy and productive team.
New manager training: 6 essential skills to consider
New manager training is key to your organization's success because their behavior reflects the entire team's performance. Here are six essential skills that everyone should cultivate when they step into a managerial role.
Leadership styles and strategies
Because there's no universal approach to leadership, it's essential for new managers to be aware of different leadership styles and strategies. With training, managers can tailor their leadership strategies to fit their team's dynamics—while making the transition to their new role a lot less overwhelming.
Effective communication within the team
Communication is a key skill that's required for everyone in the corporate world, but especially for those in a position of authority. Communication training is crucial for managers to improve skills like delivering instructions, giving constructive feedback, and ensuring that the entire team is working toward mutual goals. Managers are also required to practice active listening so that their employees feel heard and validated.
Crisis management
The level of involvement in a crisis will differ drastically once a person takes up a managerial role. Train your new managers on how to remain calm in the face of chaos, how to make strategic decisions, and how to handle the situation smoothly. Prepare them with the necessary tools and skills to handle the worst-case scenario your organization will have to go through.
Conflict resolution
Conflicts are an inevitable part of being in the workplace, making conflict resolution one of the top skills new managers need to have. Train your managers using real-life examples and practical solutions, and equip them with the necessary tools to address the disagreement, mediate between parties, and ensure that team harmony is maintained.
Efficient delegation
Delegation is an important skill for new managers to learn because it builds a foundation of trust with the employees. Educate your first-time managers about the importance of trusting their team with responsibilities and holding their employees accountable. Inform your managers on how to oversee tasks' progress and offer their team the right resources.
Constructive feedback
It would be ideal if first-time managers developed the skill of offering constructive feedback without demotivating their team members. Train your managers to deliver actionable, sustainable feedback regularly and point out the different ways to achieve it. New managers must speak in such a way that the tone, style, and content of their feedback evoke positive emotions within the team.
Key components of a new manager's training program
In this section, we'll break down how to set your new managers up for success in just four critical steps.
1. Determine the content
Start by making a note of the skills you want your new managers to be proficient in and build your training materials around them. Identify other aspects of your content, like real-life examples, leadership theories, organizational policies, labor laws, and so on. Structure different types of lessons that can be created around these topics.
2. Focus on employee engagement
A crucial step to keep in mind after determining the content is to make it enticing and exciting for learners. Include multimedia, video lessons, interesting modules, and SCORM packages for a fun, positive learning experience. Keep your focus on employee engagement when uploading content into your SCORM-compatible LMS to make learning worth your new managers' time.
3. Incentivize training completion
One of the major struggles that organizations face is low adoption rates for manager training programs. On top of creating engaging programs, you should provide a variety of training incentives to show your appreciation for their learning efforts. From personalized completion certificates to multiple customized badges, offer all of the incentive options that your LMS provides to encourage continuous learning.
4. Look for in-depth reporting tools
Your job doesn't just end with figuring out your training programs; the main part begins when you enter the world of analytics. Choose an LMS with a wide range of reporting tools—from individual performance to overall progress—to get a full picture of your training's impact. Check if your programs are hitting their mark and restructure future courses accordingly.
Conclusion
Great leaders don't just appear out of thin air; they're set up for success with powerful training and effective mentoring systems. Create dedicated training programs for your new managers with an LMS like Zoho Learn and look at the real change that it can bring about in your organization. Be the trendsetter in your industry by standing on the shoulders of empowered and capable leaders that you've helped cultivate.
- Kirthana V
A true believer of "The pen is mightier than the sword", Kirthana is a literature lover turned content writer.
With a background in Economics and English, she hopes to bring her analytical and creative side together to deliver authentic pieces of work.