The Myers-Briggs Company Blog Central

Management Training and Management Development


How much more effectively would your organization run if all your managers were already excellent leaders when they first arrived in their position? Management training is an extremely powerful tool that’s often overlooked as a “nice to have” at smaller and midsized companies—instead of a requirement. Especially when thrown into the competition for limited resources, training and developing managers is often low on the list of priorities when executives have to focus on the bottom line.

In addition, many employees are promoted due to their skills or expertise in a specific field—a skill set that often fails to include many of the soft skills needed to be an effective manager. Later, when these managers turn out to be ineffective and have to be let go, the burden falls on the organization (often heavily on the HR department) to try to replace that manager—an often expensive task, as the cost of replacing a manager is higher than that of replacing an employee (sometimes as much as 200% more than a mid-level employee).

Management training is essential because:

  • The hierarchical structure of most organizations means that managers’ effectiveness (whether positive or negative) has a ripple effect down through the rest of the organization. Great managers will help build up employees, instilling confidence in their abilities and encouraging them to stretch and become the best possible version of themselves. Conversely, ineffective managers will have an even larger negative effect on all those employees they manage (directly and indirectly), in addition to their own lack of efficiency.
  • It’s an investment in your organization’s future. While investing in things like capital equipment have measurable ROI and a clear effect on the bottom line, ROI for management training is harder to quantify (but creates equally positive long-term outcomes). Investing in management development helps managers and the people they manage become more efficient, more engaged, and often more productive, and ultimately the positive effects of the training reverberate throughout your talent pipeline for years to come.
  • Conflict is inevitable—and management should know how to manage it. Managers are often the first line of defense in the delicate balance of employees’ interests, personalities, and priorities in the organization. But without any formal conflict management training, how are managers expected to mitigate conflicts that arise?
  • Managers are expected to set the example for those underneath them. Doesn’t it make sense to invest in this group so they can demonstrate the kind of maturity, self-awareness, and professionalism that their position of power should represent?

Management Development Tools from CPP

CPP offers many tools for management training and management development, though two assessments have been shown over their long tenure to be the most effective:

MBTI® – Used by 89 of the Fortune 100 companies, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) assessment has helped millions of people worldwide gain insights about themselves and how they interact with others—and improve how they communicate, learn, and work. It provides a powerful framework for building better relationships, driving positive change, harnessing innovation, and achieving excellence.

CPI™ – With normative samples of both managers and the general public, the California Psychological Inventory™ (CP) assessments are powerful tools for helping individuals improve their performance and enabling organizations to find and develop leaders for building organizational success. The CPI 434 and CPI 260® instruments help people gain a clearer picture of their personal and work-related characteristics, motivations, and thinking styles—as well as how they manage themselves and deal with others—and provide a view into their strengths and developmental opportunities.

Take a look at what some users of these assessments have to say about their own management development programs.

Myers-Briggs® Tool Increases Self-Awareness for Enterprise Financial Services Company
“The Myers-Briggs assessment and workshops have greatly helped individual new managers understand a little more about themselves, and how they lead. It’s also helped leadership teams better understand who they are and how they interact.”
—VP, training, large enterprise financial services company
http://www.techvalidate.com/product-research/cpp/facts/A1B-6A2-38C

VP of HR Finds Impact of MBTI® Assessment on Leadership Is Visible Almost Immediately
“When [the Myers-Briggs® personality assessment is] used as a professional development tool for leaders, the impact is visible almost immediately. Just the awareness is powerful.”
—Donna Draper, Vice President, HR, Ide Management Group
http://www.techvalidate.com/product-research/cpp/facts/A49-761-7E4

Agriculture Company Uses the MBTI® Step II™ to Produce High Performance Leadership Teams
“I use the Myers-Briggs Step II assessment in working with leadership teams who desire to become high performing or who are currently experiencing some sort of team dysfunction.”
—Manager, learning and development, large enterprise agriculture company
http://www.techvalidate.com/product-research/cpp/facts/80A-F68-F80

Educational Institution Improves Individual Leadership Effectiveness with MBTI®
An educational institution reported that they improved individuals’ leadership effectiveness and improved team efficiency with the Myers-Briggs® assessment published by CPP, Inc.
—Training manager, educational institution
http://www.techvalidate.com/product-research/cpp/facts/08E-CA1-9B8

Health Care Customer Improves Leadership Effectiveness with MBTI®
An S&P 500 health care company reported increased individual engagement, improved individuals’ leadership effectiveness, improved team efficiency, and solved many work/life balance challenges with the Myers-Briggs assessment published by CPP, Inc.
—Manager, organizational development, S&P 500 health care company
http://www.techvalidate.com/product-research/cpp/facts/96D-808-B2D

MBTI® Improves Leadership Effectiveness
70% of surveyed customers reported improvement in individuals’ leadership effectiveness with the Myers-Briggs assessment published by CPP, Inc.
—Survey of 60 users of CPP’s Myers-Briggs assessment
http://www.techvalidate.com/product-research/cpp/facts/226-BCA-70F

In a survey of CPI 260® customers, 66% of respondents said that the assessment helped improve their leadership’s effectiveness, and 79% said that it increased individuals’ self-awareness and self-understanding.
http://www.techvalidate.com/product-research/cpp/charts/25C-0BE-613

CPI 260® Sparks Phenomenal Growth for Leaders in Management Development Program
“We currently use CPI 260 for our Advanced Leadership Development program, and the impact has been huge. Being able to introduce a leader to herself or himself, and showing that leader how they are perceived by others, has sparked some phenomenal growth in individuals that play a large role in our overall success and direction as a company.”
—Paul Polheber, Manager, Learning and Development, Moorehead Communications
http://www.techvalidate.com/product-research/cpp/facts/C65-AB1-E7C

CPI 260® Helps Gov’t Leaders Be Honest About Their Level of Effectiveness
“Using the CPI 260 within our organization has motivated our leaders to look deep down and be honest with the level of effectiveness their leadership style imparts. Excellent tool for managers who are more focused on hard skills and outcomes, but display little regard to the journey traveled by their employees. A good wake up call!”
—Training manager, state and local government
http://www.techvalidate.com/product-research/cpp/facts/43F-13F-8C4

CPI 260® Manager Development Plans Reinforced Strengths of Individuals
“Current supervisors and managers were humbled, then started to reflect. First they were in denial and then realized that the CPI 260 revealed many things they had been struggling with for years. The individual development plans based on the CPI 260 assessment have very effectively reinforced their strengths and are turning their limitations into strengths.”
—Paul Ganalon, Leadership Development, Washington State Department of Transportation
http://www.techvalidate.com/product-research/cpp/facts/2DB-BD5-83E