“Don’t get overwhelmed, take it with both hands and run with it.”
A management level qualification can look daunting, but once you look at things piece by piece and go through them with the facilitator, things get easier.
“At the start, I was quite overwhelmed really. I thought ‘what have I got myself into?’. I think we put our own barriers in place, thinking the computer work was going to be really tough, but as soon as Andrew helped us break it down, and in terms that we understood, we saw that we’d been putting our own barriers up and it was so much easier.”
For Wayne, the course changed his leadership approach: “You don’t just have to lead one way. Before the course my style was the taskmaster – now I understand people, and if I have to explain something in more depth, or can let them just go and do it themselves. Learning about others was key for me because I thought the way it was done was the only way you could do it.”
This change was noticed by others: “Now I’ve been calmer at work, I’ve had people talking about it. I’ve had feedback from managers and people I work with that I’m easier to get along with if there’s something going on. You gotta have a hard stance but be nice about it. You are still the leader, so you have to deal with those situations but in ways that people understand.”
The facilitator support was a big factor: “The face to face classes were key, if I had to do most of those modules just on the computer I don’t think I would have been able to finish it, so those sessions made it so much easier.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I’d say talk to someone, your manager or facilitator. Don’t get yourself stuck in a rut with it, jump in, commit to it. When you come out the end of it it’s a good feeling, you’ve achieved something, and you’ve bettered yourself. If you get the chance, take it with both hands and run with it.”