New managers need to communicate clearly in moments they can't script: a difficult question from a team member, a challenge in a meeting, a request from their own boss for an update right now. Training that focuses on those unplanned moments is often a better starting point than a presentation course, because it covers the conversations new managers have every day.
What communication skills do new managers need?
The step into management changes who you talk to and how often. You're giving updates upwards, setting direction for your team, answering questions you'd previously have passed to someone else, and handling disagreements you used to watch from the side.
Most of this happens live. You rarely get a week to prepare. So the core skills are practical ones: getting to the point quickly, explaining a decision so people understand the reason behind it, answering a question you didn't expect, and staying calm when someone pushes back.
Why do new managers find communication hard?
Often because what made them good at their previous job works against them now. A strong specialist knows a lot of detail, and the instinct is to share it. As a manager, the job is usually to pick the one or two things that matter and say them clearly.
There's also more at stake. A vague answer from a team member is a minor problem. A vague answer from the manager can leave a whole team unsure what to do. And new managers know people are watching how they handle themselves, which adds pressure to every reply.
What should communication skills training for new managers cover?
Look for training that deals with real, unplanned situations rather than polished delivery alone. In practice, that means helping new managers to:
- Organise their thoughts quickly when a question comes out of nowhere.
- Lead with the main point and keep supporting detail short.
- Handle challenge or disagreement without getting defensive.
- Brief their own manager clearly and concisely.
- Practise on situations from their own job, not generic case studies.
The last point is the one most often missing. Role-plays about fictional companies have their place, but people find it far easier to apply what they've learned when they've practised on the meeting they've got next Tuesday.
Think on Your Feet® is designed around these needs. It focuses on clarity, brevity and impact, and teaches structured techniques that help people organise their thinking and answer clearly with zero preparation. Delegates practise using their own real work scenarios.
"Very well structured, clear. Gave practical advice and techniques that can actually come in useful (gave a good toolkit)." Emily-Jane, Public research funding body
Should new managers train as a group or individually?
Both work, for different reasons. Sending one or two new managers to a public workshop is a simple way to get started, and mixing with people from other organisations brings fresh perspectives.
If you're promoting several people at once, or building a leadership programme, training them together has clear advantages. They learn a shared approach and a shared language, and they can hold each other to it afterwards. The practice scenarios also come from your organisation's own meetings, customers and pressures.
How do you make the training stick?
Give people a chance to use it straight away. Ask new managers to try one technique in their next team meeting or update, then talk about how it went. Their own manager can help by noticing when an answer is clear and concise, and saying so.
The aim is for the structures to become habits. That takes repetition under real conditions, which is why the method is simple: learn the techniques, practise them, then use them under pressure.
For cohorts of new managers, we offer in-house Think on Your Feet® programmes for organisations and teams, with practice built around the situations your people actually face.