– by Noluthando Makhaza
In a world where organisations strive to improve their work environments and managers continually aspire to advance their management capabilities, skills training plays a pivotal role in ensuring the satisfaction of customers, employees, management and all relevant key stakeholders. UEL recently hosted a group of managers for the Emerging Managers Programme (EMP), in-house training in Secunda, Mpumalanga. This 3-day programme was specifically designed for two different groups of supervisors in the waste management speciality. During the first 2 days of the programme, the groups were spilt according to their management levels, and were then merged on the last day in order to create synergy within the two groups that work together within their organisation.
The programme was co-facilitated by our knowledgeable UKZN academics – Dr Ruddi Kimmie, Nigel Chiweshe and Rob Goldman. The three-day curriculum covered pertinent modules such as Fundamentals of management; Business communication; Project management; Introduction to finance; People management; and Leadership development. Sharing his experience on facilitating this group, Dr Ruddi Kimmie, stated:
“Based on the pre-course briefing that Extended Learning provided, my facilitation sessions were designed according to a blended learning model. This allowed for an excellent didactic, reflective and peer-assisted learning process with the primary objective being to find convergence between theoretical solutions and work-life challenges.
The delegates responded well to the sessions. Both groups were eager to understand the changing nature of work dynamics due to societal complexities and to acquire the requisite supervision skills. I found the delegates constructively critical with regards to the challenges that they faced on a daily basis and forthcoming with ideas. It’s always heartening when companies support the development of their staff and I hope that they will reap the benefits into the future.”
The purpose of this programme was to take delegates through the fundamentals of management, addressing competencies required for effective management and covering everything from the functional competencies required of a manager, to the more process orientated people management. With such optimistic feedback, we believe that the objectives of the programme were met and delegates will now lead with more proficiency than before.
For more info on our EMP and 2019 dates, please click here.