Management Development Program

The Management Development Program provides a rigorous schedule that explores all aspects of international education management. Each of the seven modules below approaches the field from another angle and gives IE managers fresh perspectives on their work.

First Day

Module 1: Seeing Your Program in the Larger Context
Even while they attend to the daily operations of their offices, effective managers must pay attention to the “big picture.” Their offices and programs are always affected by developments outside their own purview. In this module, you will:

• Conduct an “environmental scan” of your IE program and identify the key opportunities and threats presented by the world outside your program.
• Learn a systematic approach you and your staff can use to anticipate environmental changes that will affect your program.

Module 2: Managing in an IE Office
Managing is about getting work done through others. In this module, you will explore the essentials of performance management—setting goals, giving ongoing feedback, and monitoring performance. You will:

• Learn six "management principles."
• Learn and apply a performance-management model to your program and staff.
• Learn how to use the primary tools of performance management—goal-setting and feedback—to address performance problems.
• Identify strategies for managing your troublesome employees and your star employees.

Module 3: Managing Change
Whether change is thrust upon them or they initiate it themselves, managers need to know how changes—at least some of them—can be managed. In this module, you will:

• Learn and apply a comprehensive change management model.
• Use the model to explain a past or ongoing change process.

Second Day

Module 3 Continues
Module 4: Your Managerial Style, the Needs of Your Staff, and Organization Culture
Every manager has a preferred style for dealing with staff. Some managers are more flexible than others in adapting their style to different situations. And a manager’s style can be more or less in tune with the surrounding institutional culture. In this module, you will:

• Learn a systematic way of understanding leadership-style differences.
• Look closely at your own leadership style.
• Identify the needs of your staff and the fit between their needs and your preferred style.
• Assess how well your managerial style fits your institution’s culture.

Module 5: Political Skills
Effective managers understand the politics of their organizations and know how to use “positive politics” to gain resources for their programs. In this module, you will:

• Develop a better understanding of your organization’s politics.
• Inventory your own political skills and identify areas for improvement.
• Conduct a systematic stakeholder analysis related to a situation you face in your own organization.

Third Day

Module 6: Gaining Support for Your Program
Managers are always in need of more support for their programs—more money, people, space, equipment, technology, and/or other people’s cooperation. This module will help you gain support for your program by:

• Improving your relationship with your boss.
• Getting the help you need from people who do not report to you.
• Enhancing your network of supporters.
• Identifying and capitalizing on opportunities to exercise influence.

Module 7: Sustaining Yourself as a Manager
Everyone faces stress on the job. Managers in international education face particular stresses. This module will help you:

• Focus on your own sources of job stress.
• Realize the importance of taking care of yourself.
• Identify ways you can address your own stress-related problems.

Subject to Change