Every once in a while, I get the unique blog opportunity to interview myself. What an honor. 😆 Here's a behind-the-scenes look at building my manager training program, launching in January 2025! Despite being told numerous times that the market was too saturated for a new manager training program, you believed in its potential and decided to proceed anyway. Why take this path?
I know there are some excellent products and services out there—they just didn't address many of the pain points I've seen as a people leader and trainer.
For instance, I'd heard many times that managers didn't want to give more than an hour a week to live sessions. Many leaders I work with can describe a horror story of getting cooped up in a conference room with unbearable slide decks. I knew the world needed a more flexible solution, and I wanted to challenge myself to think beyond the slide deck. As a leadership trainer, I've also noticed a fatal flaw in a lot of manager training programs. From my experience, managers can typically learn well-defined tools and frameworks with no problem. However, if asked whether or not they actually use them, the answer is often "no." I don't believe in rushing past that.
I could give someone the best tool in the world for preparing feedback, but if they believe they're going to damage a relationship—or they don't have the authority to say what "right" looks like—it makes very little difference.
I wanted a program that held intentional space for surfacing and restructuring self-limiting beliefs as well as fostering peer connection. I also wanted leaders to feel truly valued by their employers, so I prioritized giving them something efficient and visually interesting.
What was the hardest part of creating manager training? Without a doubt, the production (and post-production) of the self-paced training videos! Coming into shooting, I had just completed several months of media training, including using descriptive gestures, bringing my energy up higher in the frame, etc. However, when I went to shoot the video content, I realized my movements were casting strange shadows. So, I had to dial down my gestures and rely more on my voice—and the animations—to tell the stories. It was an odd delivery challenge for me! The setup and editing also involved a lot of technical complexities. Shoutout to my boyfriend and my cousin Alex for constantly troubleshooting. 💗 How did you frame your program? Certain core skills are just "must-haves" in the world of leadership training—giving and receiving feedback, for example. I also have expertise in performance improvement, and I wanted to share the best of my knowledge and skill set. But I've got to pause here and give a huge thanks to Chelsea Conrad of Proactive Happiness, who very generously shared her former manager training framework as inspiration. It became an important foundation and helped round out what I'd hoped to cover. (If she ever releases it again, I can vouch it's an incredible offering!) Who else inspired you?
This might sound odd, but as an '80s baby, the "talking heads" I was exposed to growing up were Mr. Rogers and Pee-wee Herman! Before I started writing, I returned to children's television. I noted their delivery techniques, set design, show pace, etc., and I reflected on what seemed to work well in each show. While they're very different people, Fred Rogers and Paul Reubens both have a way of making you feel like you belong, and I knew I wanted that vibe in the videos. It was that feeling of safety with Mr. Rogers—and then, of course, the sensory feast that was Pee-wee's Playhouse.
How do the leader interviews you conducted fit into this?
In the course, there's a week about transitioning your mindset from individual contributor to leader. When I wrote my script for the videos, it just sort of fell flat. Having produced a show two years ago that blended circus and documentary, I saw first-hand how powerful it can be to tell real people's stories. So, I decided to assemble a group of leaders who were game to directly share their own experiences. The concept of "leadership mindset" pops up in all sorts of ways to me, so I wanted to include lots of different perspectives, from ship captains to professional athletes. One of the highlights of making this has been collecting these stories. I love learning from others!
Manager training launches in January 2025! E-mail Support@jessefavre.com to join the waitlist!
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