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Description

Managing Managers: Delegating Oversight, Coaching and Arbitrating Priorities

Leading teams you no longer run yourself, through managers who each have their own way of working

  • 2 days — 14 h
  • In-person or virtual
  • Foundation
  • Up to 6 participants

Moving up to manage managers changes the nature of the work. You no longer act on the activity itself but on the people steering it. The temptation is strong to take back control of a file, to bypass a manager in order to move faster or, conversely, to let a team drift when you no longer see how it operates. Information reaches you filtered, and the gaps between managers become visible to everyone.

These two days address indirect leadership: what is delegated to the manager and what is retained, the individual coaching of managers, leading a team of managers and arbitrating between their competing requests. Participants work on their own management team.

Learning objectives

  • Distinguish what belongs to the front-line manager and what belongs to your own level
  • Delegate the running of a team while setting clear control points
  • Support a struggling manager without doing the work in their place
  • Lead a team of managers and handle their competing requests
  • Circulate information between levels without bypassing the managers

What makes this programme different

Each participant analyses the current split of roles with their own managers
Conversations with a struggling manager are role-played and then reviewed by the group
A working rhythm for leading the management team is built during the session

Programme

1Shifting your level of intervention

What is delegated and what is retained

  • Review of tasks taken back from managers and the reasons given
  • Allocation of decisions between the two levels
  • Impact of bypassing on the authority of the front-line manager
  • Indicators to monitor without reverting to direct control

2Supporting each manager

Individual follow-up

  • Running a one-to-one review with a manager
  • Assessing managerial practice beyond the department's results
  • Supporting a manager who hesitates to make decisions
  • Handling a manager whose methods are causing problems

3Leading the management team

A collective of managers

  • Building a collective from managers with different remits
  • Rhythm and content of management team meetings
  • Addressing differences in practice between managers
  • Sharing difficult situations between peers

4Arbitrating and circulating information

Priorities and relays

  • Arbitrating between competing requests from several managers
  • Explaining a decision that goes against one of them
  • Relaying an executive decision through the managers
  • Channelling field information upwards without bypassing levels

Who is it for

Managers who lead other managers · heads of service or department taking on this responsibility.

Prerequisites

Currently leading managers or about to take responsibility for a team of managers.

Dates & locations

36 scheduled dates between November 2026 and December 2027. Seats are confirmed in the order enquiries are received.

November 2026

December 2026

January 2027

February 2027

March 2027

April 2027

May 2027

June 2027

September 2027

October 2027

November 2027

December 2027

None of these dates suit you? We open additional sessions on request, and any programme can be run privately for your team.

Practical details

Before the programme
Online positioning questionnaire. Your development objectives are shared with the trainer, who tailors the practical case studies to your context.
Teaching methods
Theoretical input, workshops and practical case studies. Digital course materials and method sheets provided.
Assessment
Multiple-choice tests and role-play exercises. Assessment of learning at the start and end of the programme, with immediate and 60-day follow-up evaluations.
After the programme
One year of access to the e-learning platform. Self-assessment of the skills acquired and a 30-day follow-up session with your trainer.
How to register
Registration online or on the basis of a quotation.
Lead time
11 working days after confirmation of registration.
Accessibility
Accessible to people of determination. Contact our accessibility coordinator to design a suitable solution: contact@mpf-academy.ae
Start dates
Rolling intake: in addition to the scheduled sessions, this programme can start on request.