Identifying manager’s training needs: method and tools
The question rarely comes up at the right time. A manager struggles to engage their team, resignations pile up in their department, targets are missed: the organisation reacts, having identified no training need beforehand.
Yet management remains one of the strongest drivers of engagement and team performance. Research into failed hires shows that 89% of them stem from a behavioural mismatch rather than a lack of technical skills. The same principle often applies when an employee steps into a management role: behaviours such as decision-making, communication and handling change make the difference, far more than job expertise.
Identifying managers’ training needs before tensions surface allows HR to act preventively rather than repair the damage afterwards. This means moving beyond gut feeling and relying on a structured method that combines observation in the field, feedback and an assessment of management potential.
Warning signs your HR team should not ignore
Taken in isolation, some signs seem harmless. Put together, they point to a management training need that should not wait for the annual review:
- Unusually high turnover within the same manager’s team
- Recurring feedback from team members on the same issues (not listening, unclear decisions, lack of recognition)
- Difficulty delegating or, conversely, the team gradually disengaging
- Strong individual results that do not translate into team performance
- Communication under pressure that creates more confusion than clarity
- A leadership style that does not adapt to different profiles or situations
These signs are often spotted too late, once the team climate has already deteriorated. The challenge is to detect them early, using a method that does not rely solely on the line manager’s intuition.
A four-step method for identifying management training needs
Pinpointing a manager’s training needs requires cross-checking several sources of information rather than relying on a single opinion. The following four-step method applies equally to an individual manager and to an entire management line.
- Gather Insights from the Field
Short interviews with the manager and their team members help form initial hypotheses: where does the manager feel least comfortable? What do team members observe day to day? This stage is qualitative; it guides the rest of the diagnosis rather than concluding it.
- Cross-Check with 360° Feedback
A 360° feedback campaign widens the lens: it compares the manager’s self-assessment with how they are perceived by their peers, senior management and team. Gaps in perception, often revealing, point to specific areas for development rather than a general judgement on management style.
- Assess Management Potential with a Scientifically Validated Assessment
Interviews and feedback provide context, but they remain prone to perception bias. A psychometric assessment designed for management roles completes the diagnosis with reliable behavioural data.
The CTPI-R, for example, analyses 19 personality factors across 7 leadership styles. It shows how a manager makes decisions, communicates under pressure, delegates or manages change, and positions these behaviours against a role profile. This level of precision helps distinguish a one-off training need (a competency to strengthen) from a deeper misalignment between the manager’s profile and the requirements of the role.
- Prioritise and Formalise a Management Development Plan
The final step brings together field observations, 360° feedback results and the assessment analysis to build a personalised management development plan, with measurable objectives and a follow-up schedule. This formalisation is what turns a diagnosis into concrete action.
From diagnosis to development
Once needs have been identified, each one calls for the right format. Not every gap is closed by a classroom course:
- A specific competency to strengthen (delegating, giving feedback, handling difficult conversations) lends itself to targeted training, delivered internally or externally.
- Behavioural adjustments rooted in personality (managing stress, adapting one’s style to different profiles) often respond better to individual coaching, using the CTPI-R report as a starting point.
- Newly promoted managers benefit from mentoring by an experienced peer during their first months in the role.
- When the assessment reveals a deeper misalignment between profile and role, training alone will not close the gap: the discussion then turns to the scope of the role, the support provided or a different career path.
Progress then needs to be measured. Repeating the 360° feedback six to twelve months later and comparing it with the initial results shows whether the plan has produced visible change in day-to-day behaviour, and where it needs adjusting.
Key Predict’s consulting team can support HR teams at this stage, helping them interpret CTPI-R and 360° feedback results and translate them into clear development priorities.
Rely on Data Rather than Intuition
Identifying managers’ training needs is not a one-off exercise reserved for the annual review cycle. It is an ongoing process, and one that gains from reliable behavioural data rather than managerial intuition or internal word of mouth alone.
By combining insights from the field, 360° feedback and a psychometric assessment such as the CTPI-R, HR teams gain a complete diagnosis on which to build targeted management development plans, and a sound basis for choosing the formats that will turn that diagnosis into lasting competencies.
