New Manager Skills Toolkit

Created by Chris Croft, an internationally respected management trainer, author, and speaker who has helped more than 250,000 people develop their professional skills, this course gives you practical strategies for dealing with a bad boss. You'll learn how to recognise challenging management behaviours, understand what's driving them, and respond effectively without letting a difficult boss derail your confidence, wellbeing, or career. A toxic manager can affect motivation, performance, workplace relationships, and career development. But difficult management doesn't always look the same. Some managers micromanage, some are controlling or overly critical, while others use passive-aggressive behaviour, blame, favouritism, unrealistic expectations, poor communication, or workplace bullying. Learning how to identify these patterns is the first step towards dealing with them. In this course, Chris Croft explores a wide range of bad boss and difficult manager behaviours, using practical examples and real-world workplace scenarios. You'll learn how to handle micromanagement, controlling managers, blame cultures, difficult personalities, conflict, poor communication, favouritism, and other forms of toxic workplace behaviour. You'll also discover practical approaches to managing up, influencing difficult managers, setting boundaries, protecting your wellbeing, and maintaining your performance. The course also looks at what to do when a difficult boss refuses to change. You'll learn how to approach workplace conflict, when and how to escalate problems, and how to decide whether it is better to stay and manage the situation or consider moving on. Whether you're currently dealing with a toxic boss, bad manager, difficult manager, or challenging workplace relationship, or simply want to be prepared for future challenges, this course provides practical tools and strategies to help you navigate difficult people at work with greater confidence and professionalism.

Created by Chris Croft, an internationally respected management trainer, author, and speaker who has helped more than 250,000 people develop their professional skills, this course will help you master all aspects of leadership. You'll learn the difference between leadership and management, explore the characteristics of successful leaders, and discover how different leadership styles can be applied in real-world situations. The course also covers motivation, delegation, communication, performance management, team development, and building trust within teams. Great leadership is one of the most valuable skills in business, yet many people are promoted into leadership roles with little or no training. This practical course provides clear, proven techniques that will help you lead teams more effectively, build stronger relationships, and achieve better results. Designed for both new and experienced leaders, the course focuses on practical tools rather than complicated theories. Each lesson provides straightforward ideas that can be applied immediately in the workplace, helping you improve confidence, influence, and effectiveness as a leader. Whether you manage a small team, lead projects, supervise colleagues, or aspire to move into leadership, this course will help you develop the skills needed to get the best from people and create a positive, productive working environment.

Chris Croft is an international speaker, widely published author, and highly experienced business trainer who has spent over 20 years teaching practical leadership and communication skills to companies around the world. Known for his engaging, humorous, and highly practical teaching style, Chris has helped hundreds of thousands of professionals improve their effectiveness at work. How much of your week is spent in meetings? And how many of those meetings are genuinely useful? Meetings can be one of the most effective ways to share information, solve problems, and make decisions. Unfortunately, they can also be one of the biggest drains on time and productivity when they're poorly planned or badly managed. In this course, you'll learn how to make meetings shorter, more focused, and far more effective. We'll explore when a meeting is actually necessary, who really needs to attend, and how to create clear agendas that keep discussions on track and lead to useful outcomes. You'll discover practical techniques for both meeting leaders and participants, including how to encourage participation, manage difficult behaviours, keep conversations focused, and ensure decisions are actually turned into actions. We'll also look at remote and hybrid meetings, recurring meetings, and what to do when you're invited to a meeting that probably shouldn't exist. The focus throughout is on practical, common-sense ideas that you can apply immediately. Whether you run meetings, attend meetings, or both, you'll leave with a toolkit of techniques to help make your meetings more productive, more engaging, and much less frustrating. After all, meetings should help people get work done - not stop them from doing it.