Rising to the Next Level - Aug 2025

Date

• Monday 11 & Tuesday 12 August 2025 (bookings close at 12noon Thursday 7 August 2025 unless sold out prior)
  

Rising to the Next Level: Middle Manager's Leaders Transition

Leading from the middle is not about a position; it is about meeting the demands from above while providing resources to and meeting the needs of those below.

As a middle manager it is time to lead by working through others. For many, it’s a pivotal turning point in their leadership journey as the skills they need now are not a rehash of what they have done before, but rather a letting go of some of the things that they have built their reputation on and engendering these capabilities in others.

Rising to the next level is a mid-level manager’s course designed to help the leader move from being a specialist or functional leader to being a strategic leader who achieves things through others.

This two-day course will weave critical mid-level leadership competencies together into a practical, move the dial integration of discovery, design, and delivery back at work.

Key topics will include:

• Understanding the unique demands of middle management and what it takes to rise to the next level
• Getting sorted on what is important and what is consuming (but not helping the boat go faster)
• Systems thinking for goal setting and programme planning
• Crafting a compelling story about the group’s direction of travel
  • Explaining Your Why in a way that resonates and is authentic
  • Crafting a plan on a page that others can buy-into
• Building talent in your team through empowerment that goes beyond delegation
• Harnessing personal strengths for leadership growth and impact
• Bridging the strategic knowing / doing gap
• Crafting a plan on a page that can be shared with others back at work

What to expect: 

Rising to the Next Level involves two development days plus a bit of pre-post-work. Day one will focus on the tools of developing a strategic mindset, and day two will involve developing a strategic overview for the business you are a part of that can be shared with your team.

The format of this programme is self-directed but interactive. We learn most when we are planning to share with others. The outcome of the course will be a short presentation on your strategic direction of travel, your vision for the teams you lead and a compelling invitation to others to join you in implementing a plan that is built on strength, experience, and intelligent experimentation.

Course Facilitator

Professor of Practice Dr Michelle Shields, MS Organisational Development; PhD Psychology, is a strengths-based HRD/OD practitioner.  As principal consultant with Fulcrum Associates Ltd., she uses strengths-based approaches to help teams with strategy formation and culture change.  She is an international partner of the Zenger Folkman Extraordinary Leadership practice employing strengths-based development for leveraging leadership at all levels.  She has over thirty-years’ experience as a practitioner in New Zealand and the US, is the founder of Culture First Canterbury, and is a Chartered Member of the Human Resource Institute of New Zealand.

This course is $2100pp including GST and Humanitix booking fees.
Course fees include catering (all dietary requirements catered for) and booking fees.