Best Leadership Training Programs in the Philippines in 2025 (Reviewed)
You’re probably an HR practitioner, event organizer, and in-house learning and development officer looking for ways to improve your people through leadership courses.
Let me give you five of the best leadership training programs in the Philippines, some of which I’ve personally attended (Venchito speaking), and you can attest to the level of content and insights you’ll get from them.
I’ve shared my best insights and what I think the leadership program is for.
Best Leadership Training Programs in the Philippines
1. Modern-Day Leadership Training Program By Rainmakers
I know it’s weird to take this on top of the list of leadership training programs in the Philippines. But I highly believe in our own leadership training course.
Some of our recent clients include companies such as Ordermo.ph, Ibarra Events and Catering, Cocolife, Lingaro, Emmronn, Maroon Studios and SM Leisure Resorts. These brands hired me (Venchito) to conduct a comprehensive leadership training program for their leaders at different levels in their organizations.
Modern-Day Leadership Training program is designed for managers, supervisors, soon-to-be-promoted leaders, and executives to upgrade their skills and attitude in learning their people.
With the new workforce (Gen Zs), this leadership program aims to give you upgraded and relevant information on the challenges leaders face today, including multi-generational communication issues.
By focusing on these five pillars (see image below), we can help you develop the right leadership style centered on values that can guide your team toward getting results for your company or organization.
These five pillars include:
- Modeling – Lead by Example
- Connecting – Lead by Heart
- Visioneering – Lead with Direction
- Empowering – Lead in Trust
- Modeling – Lead through Collaboration
Previous clients who requested this topic from Venchito include:
What makes the Modern-Day Leadership Program different?
1. It is centered on values.
Other leadership programs may be focused on developing skills, which is greatly important in today’s changing business landscape. However, I still believe in building the proper foundation of character for leaders.
If leaders operate on their personal values, aligning them hopefully with the values of their organization, they can be more effective in handling people in such a way that they do more than what is required of them.
They cater to the needs of their people instead of only trying to satisfy their desires and needs.
2. It contains relevant information.
I loved books, but some of the leadership books may not be relevant to today’s leadership culture. Leadership trainers must continually upgrade their materials to be more relevant in how organizations develop their leaders.
With the rise of technology and automation, how can leaders adapt to employees’ ever-changing needs and changing business landscape?
You can see the relevance factor in corporate training materials when the Filipino corporate trainer provides real-life examples and case studies in the workplace. All these give insights that training participants can take home to their workplaces.
3. It guides participants to develop leadership habits.
Modern-Day Leadership Program gives you a framework for the habits you have to build as leaders and tools and strategies you can utilize in different leadership situations.
When you’re still starting as a leader and have been leading people for a while, there are specific leadership theories and principles you must adapt to that situation.
Habits will help you teach discipline in your leadership life. That said, with our leadership training program, you can experience how to build healthy habits to support your everyday leadership role.
Bring Modern-Day Leadership Program To Your Company
Invite Venchito Tampon and his team to conduct a Modern-Day Leadership Training program so you can upgrade the leadership skills of your employees and executives. Contact us to set an initial meeting and get a free quotation.
2. Level Up Leadership by Francis Kong
Considered the top-ranked speaker, trainer, and business consultant, Francis Kong’s best-selling training program has helped thousands of leaders from different organizations across different industries.
I (Venchito) personally attended his Level Up Leadership in 2019, and I would say I’m a recipient of the valuable lessons and insights from Mr. Francis Kong himself.
What I liked about Level Up Leadership?
- Leadership methodologies from different generations. Mr. Francis Kong will show you how leadership has evolved over 50 years from how Baby Boomers used leadership as a tool to manage their business to where it is today, working with the Generation Z workforce.
- It is centered on values. Though Mr. Kong will show you the exemplary leadership skills to pursue, including how to ask relevant questions and engage your people, you won’t miss topics about values and character development.
- The subject “servant leadership” is included in the program. As far as I remember, it is one of the last topics he discussed that shared how Jesus led his 12 disciples – which is the most impactful part of the program.
- Relevant case studies and group discussions. Mr. Francis wants his audience to engage with one another, which means group activities where sharing and discussion are highly encouraged. I loved this part because you’ll have plenty of time to network with like-minded individuals and learn how they apply leadership in their respective industries.
Who does Level Up Leadership cater to?
Intermediate to advanced-level leaders, i.e., executives, deans of schools and colleges, government officials, and high-level directors and managers. Most topics are advanced and well thought out towards a high-level knowledge. That said, the program is still excellent and applicable for newbie leaders.
3. Moving into Management by Boris Joaquin
This is another leadership training I attended in 2019.
Boris Joaquin is one of the premier leadership corporate trainers in the country. Having been sought by the top 1000 corporations and SME leaders, Boris knew how to conduct leadership training that could best serve his audience.
What I liked about Moving into Management?
- Easy to understand principles of management and leadership, i.e., the fundamental differences between management and leadership.
- Group activities to help you understand better yourself as leaders and how to apply specific topics to everyday living.
- Plenty of time to network with other corporate leaders.
- Fun and light environment. You would find yourself having fun while learning at the same time.
- Excellent workbook I can take home and get more insights from.
Who does Moving into Management cater to?
Moving into Management program is catered to rank-and-file employees or any position soon-to-be organization leaders. It is a preparatory training to help them understand what management and leadership is all about.
I believe this program isn’t for advanced-level leaders. However, some of the principles still apply to executives and directors in the company.
4. Step Back Leadership by Lloyd Luna
I haven’t attended any Step Back leadership program of Lloyd Luna. Yet, based on the videos and stories he posted, I can attest that his leadership program has truly helped many leaders in different organizations.
What I liked about Step Back Leadership
- Step Back Leadership is rooted in how ancient leaders lead their people and conduct succession planning programs.
- Local context. You would find the difference between how local leaders and Western counterparts lead their organizations. There is a significant difference; you would understand the principles behind how we are wired to be led.
- Simple to understand. You can have this leadership program for every level of employee – rank-and-file, managers, supervisors, and executives.
5. John Maxwell Leadership Trainings
Certified John Maxwell Trainers, including Ardy Abello, Anthony Pangilinan, and Mondo Castro, also brought Western leadership programs here.
Needless to say, Dr. John Maxwell is considered the world’s leadership expert who has written hundreds of books on leadership and success.
This is a testament to his global impact and the value and quality of his leadership programs.
What I liked about John Maxwell’s Leadership Training:
- Timeless principles. John Maxwell is pretty good at creating laws for every topic, including communication, leadership, and success. These laws are evergreen and can be applied to every context, industry, organization, country, and age.
- Simplicity. You don’t have to be highly educated to understand his principles. Maxwell is pretty good at simplifying things and making it easy for you to apply in everyday life.
- Inspirational. Most Maxwell training programs and books have an element of inspiration in them. Even just reading his books, you’ll feel a sense of inspiration to take action and level up your leadership game.
Key Takeaways
That’s it. Those are leadership training programs in the Philippines, some I’ve personally attended and reviewed, so you know what to expect in the corporate training.
If you’re looking for a corporate trainer to level up your leaders, contact us for a free quote on our Modern-Day Leadership Program.
What Kind Of Training Would You Provide To New Sales Managers?
If one set of employees has been overlooked for corporate training, it’s the team of sales managers.
One of the main reasons is that VPs and Senior Executives think these sales managers already have the competencies they need to succeed. Truthfully, like any employee, they need to ramp up their skills over time.
In this guide, I’ll share what kind of training you would provide new sales managers and share some of my personal insights as a corporate trainer and resource speaker.
Transitioning into a sales management role requires an arsenal of skills, from leading a team to managing processes and inspiring your sales agents to continuously invest in themselves so they can produce the company's desired output.
You may be confused about which one to start with, but below is a solid list of sales training programs you should start using to train your sales managers.
What Kind Of Training Would You Provide To New Sales Managers?
1. Consultative Selling
Gone are the days when you sold products one-time off, like a transactional type of selling when you went to groceries, malls, or brick-and-mortar shops.
New sales managers should understand that selling is more than just closing deals; it is purely solving customers’ problems. The better you solve, the higher the chances of achieving their sales goals.
I have an entire guide on consultative selling and B2B sales - so be sure to check it out.
Essentially, consultative selling involves understanding and assessing clients’ needs so that you can solve their problems with customized solutions from your offer.
It’s that simple. If sales managers can start selling the right way by wearing a consultant hat, they’ll be better able to attract qualified clients—people who need help and truly want to solve their problems.
Here’s a good idea to start training your team. Practice role-playing scenarios where managers must assess clients’ needs and recommend solutions. You can do so with a facilitator or an outsourced corporate training provider. Let Rainamakers help you if you want to be done right.
2. Negotiation Skills
Another training need for sales managers is negotiation skills.
In our experience as corporate trainers, we’ve seen this lacking with sales managers despite their years of experience in the industry. They’ve been doing the same thing repeatedly, expecting results, but they don’t see much to be satisfied with the outcome.
Train your sales managers to identify common ground and find win-win solutions for both parties (the client and you/your company as the solution provider).
They must know how to answer or handle objections and address clients’ concerns without compromising value. By using these sales techniques, your sales managers will be more equipped to close deals themselves instead of delegating these tasks without prior knowledge to their sales agents.
Remember: they can only share what they already have with their team. If they don’t have the skills they need, they can’t share them with others.
One exercise activity you can have with sales managers is stimulating high-stakes negotiations, during which they can work on their negotiation skills and evaluate strategies for reaching agreements.
You need an external perspective who knows how negotiations work. If you need negotiation skills training, contact our team, and we will provide it.
3. Effective Communication
Sales require the ability to communicate the results that you want your clients to get. This includes not only demonstrating features and benefits—which most salespeople focus on—but also strongly communicating your brand with finesse.
Effective communication training is essential for sales managers to ensure the team understands goals, targets, and strategies. This way, they can align their team toward having the same vision, mission, and action plans, better addressing issues and challenges, and ultimately getting to where they want to be at the end of the year.
Effective communication also helps them train themselves to provide construction feedback to their sales agents. One word makes a difference. If they miss out on providing guidance, they won’t see any improvement in sales results. That’s why having a strong communication skill set for sales managers can bring their team to the next level.
A good practice for this is conducting team meetings where managers can practice presenting objectives and delivering feedback. It is best to create an environment where it is good to learn, unlearn, and relearn new things—set some rules before doing the exercise.
If you need help, contact Rainmakers for effective communication training for your sales managers.
4. Virtual Engagement
In a hybrid world, virtual engagement is indispensable. Many salespeople now have systems for virtual engagement, as they can reach more sales prospects while having less stress to physically meet them (given the hassle of traffic we have here in the Philippines).
Managers must learn how to lead virtual meetings and use tools like Zoom, MS Teams, or Slack for effective remote communication. Thanks to 2020 happenings, Filipinos were pushed to learn technologies in the comfort of their homes to better market and sell their products or services.
Another upside of learning to engage in virtual activities is the ability to build rapport virtually through personalized approaches. Learning how to look at the camera every time you speak and using non-verbal languages to better communicate your message is a plus skill any salesperson, including sales managers, should practice and master.
One good workshop idea for this training area is hosting a mock virtual meeting where sales managers refine their online communication techniques. It is best to use the product or service you’re offering itself as an example.
5. Lead Generation (Prospecting)
New sales managers should know how to identify and nurture potential clients. If they just hand this critical component of selling to their sales agents, they won’t have a chance to improve processes for their sales teams.
Key skills in lead generation must include building a prospecting pipeline, which means learning how to use CRM systems to organize leads (there are many web tools - one, in particular, is Hubspot).
Another skill is lead qualification, which is learning to identify high-potential prospects among leads you collect or gather. From there, you should train your managers with follow-up strategies to maintain consistent communication without overwhelming prospects.
These can help your sales managers develop the mastery needed to attract a large number of prospects to their sales pipeline.
Real-World Task: Assign managers to create a lead generation plan targeting specific demographics or industries. In our sales training, we have an ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) worksheet activity asking our participants to create their ICP based on their preferred product or product category.
6. Sales Management and Leadership
Of course, given that we’re talking about sales managers, they should excel at sales management and leadership. They should have the mindset of both a leader and manager and transition from individual contributors to ones worthy of influencing others.
Sales management includes inspiring the team through appreciation, recognition, and goal setting. It also includes performance monitoring and training salespeople to identify KPIs to measure individual and team success.
Another key area is conflict resolution, which equips them to mediate disputes within the team (as they arise).
One perfect activity for sales management and leadership is role-play scenarios in which managers address underperformance or team conflicts. Although this activity may be too serious to conduct, it would really help them deal with it in actual work.
7. Personality Development Using the DISC Framework
Knowing your personality type helps you understand and accept your strengths and weaknesses. You can adapt to different situations by gaining strengths from other personality types and using them to your own advantage.
You can use the DISC framework to help your sales managers recognize the personality types of their team members and clients. This will also enhance their selling ability, as they will know how to adjust communication and sales strategies based on personality traits.
Hire a certified DISC facilitator to conduct DISC assessment training with your team and provide personalized coaching for better practical application.
Sales Managers Can Always Go To The Next Level
Beyond position, sales managers can invest time and resources to improve their skills and lead their sales associates in achieving results. With specific areas of sales training for managers listed above, they’ll be better equipped to overcome challenges in selling and create sustainable growth for their teams.
Strategic Thinking and Intuitive Thinking
Strategic thinking and intuitive thinking are two essential cognitive skills any leader must possess and master in problem-solving, decision-making, and leadership.
While they operate on opposite ends of the spectrum, understanding them to leverage their strengths can lead to better outcomes in your professional line of work.
In this guide, we’ll explore the differences between strategic thinking and intuitive thinking, the factors that shape them, and actionable tips to improve both. Let’s begin.
The Difference Between Strategic Thinking and Intuitive Thinking
Strategic thinking is a structured and systematic approach to analyzing complex situations, considering long-term goals, and planning the most effective path to achieve them.
Conversely, intuitive thinking is an instinctive, gut-felling approach to decision-making. It is spontaneous and relies on experience, emotions, and immediate recognition of patterns without extensive analysis.
Two famous experts describe strategic thinking and intuitive thinking. Dr. Jeanne Liedtka, a University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business professor, describes strategic thinking as discovering key insights that shape your future choices and actions.
In his book Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize-winning psychologist, describes intuitive thinking as "fast thinking” that is automatic and effortless.
Key Characteristics of Strategic Thinking:
- Analytical and methodical
- Involves careful planning and forecasting
- Focuses on long-term goals
- Considers risks, opportunities, and external factors
Key Characteristics of Intuitive Thinking:
- Spontaneous and quick
- Relies on experience and past patterns
- Emotion-driven
- Lacks formal analysis
Factors That Shape Strategic and Intuitive Thinking
Many factors shape one’s strategic and intuitive thinking. Over time, these skills are developed as people mature and their environment nurtures them. A few vital factors that influence both of these thinking models include:
A. Experience and Expertise
Experience is one of the most significant factors shaping intuitive thinking. On the other hand, exposure shapes strategic thinking when exposed to complex problem-solving situations and deliberate practice.
As a trainer and speaker, I’ve seen this happen in my career. The more I step into the next level of challenges, training new groups of professionals, the more it develops my strategic thinking. Seeing through the lens of their needs and challenges, aligning it with the programs I was tasked to deliver.
Exposure to different levels of environment, audiences, and challenges is necessary to practice our strategic thinking skills more.
For leaders and managers like me, strategic thinking gets its honing phase when we make decisions for the team. As teams become more complex as they go through the different levels of team development—which I shared in my team training guide—you’ll find yourself applying strategic thinking skills in handling teams at their different stages—managing conflicts to allocating resources to increase work performance.
B. Cognitive Style
Cognitive style refers to an individual’s preferred way of processing information. People with an analytical cognitive style tend to favor strategic thinking, while those with a holistic cognitive style are more inclined to use intuitive thinking.
C. Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
Emotional intelligence plays a critical role in both strategic and intuitive thinking. People with high EQ are better at sensing emotions, which helps improve their intuitive thinking. Conversely, emotional intelligence aids strategic thinking by allowing individuals to assess situations objectively and control impulsive reactions.
I’ve seen leaders with high EQ who realistically assess situations not based on how they feel but on what they think is right. Emotional intelligence translates to better decision-making and problem-solving skills based on facts and data, not just gut feelings.
D. Environment and Context
Based on context, the environment can dictate which thinking style is more effective. High-pressure situations with limited time for analysis often favor intuitive thinking, while complex scenarios requiring a detailed plan benefit from strategic thinking.
I observed this during our corporate training sessions: the moment we change the vibe or environment style of the training, it enables them to change their thinking style, which translates to better behavior and skill enhancement.
How to Improve Strategic Thinking and Intuitive Thinking
Given that strategic thinking and intuition are critical cognitive skills that require deliberate practice, self-awareness, and proper utilization of the right tools. Here’s how to improve both skills:
1. Engage in Long-Term Planning Exercises
Be involved in as many strategic thinking or planning exercises as possible. Whether you’re an employee participating in a strategic planning exercise for managers and directors or running your own business strategies and scenario analysis, all these exercises can help strengthen your ability to think systematically.
2. Practice Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is the foundation of strategic thinking. Consider different root cause analysis tools, such as “5 Whys” techniques, “RCA,” “Fishbone Diagram,” and 5Ms of Management frameworks—all these have their own advantages that can help you get to the root cause of the problem.
3. Use Strategic Frameworks
If you’re engaging heavily in strategic planning, strategic management, and critical thinking exercises to find opportunities, both internal and external, in your organization, familiarize yourself with strategic frameworks. These include SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), PESTLE Analysis (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental), or the Balanced Scorecard to guide your strategic thinking.
Utilizing strategic frameworks is best because it helps you improve your strategic thinking skills, along with other colleagues, during thinking exercises.
4. Seek Diverse Perspectives
Strategic thinkers broaden their viewpoints by engaging with people from different industries, contexts, cultures, or backgrounds. This kind of exposure to diverse perspectives provides fresh insights and helps anticipate challenges from various angles.
There are many trainings that help teams instill collaboration and diversity. Here in the Philippines, we have diversity and inclusion training and team collaboration training, both of which include exercises on gaining diverse perspectives from others.
5. Reflect on Past Experiences
Reflect regularly on your past decisions and experiences to identify patterns, construct new lessons, and develop yourself both personally and professionally. This habit strengthens your ability to draw on intuition when faced with similar situations in the future.
6. Trust Your Gut Feelings
Intuition is often underrated by many. While it’s true that you cannot base all your decisions on gut feelings alone. If the situation has low-risk and isn’t major enough that it will dictate the trajectory in one area of your life, it is best to refine your intuitive thinking based on intuition. You’ll then find yourself improving your confidence in your instincts.
7. Develop Mindfulness Practices
Another way to get the most out of your thinking exercises is through mindfulness meditation. It can enhance intuitive thinking by improving awareness of thoughts and emotions.
A study published in Psychological Science found that mindfulness practices increase the ability to recognize intuitive insights.
8. Embrace New Experiences
Expose yourself to new situations and challenges to increase the range, depth, and width of your experiences stored in your memory. This diversity provides more reference points that can help you make better decisions in the future.
Balancing Strategic and Intuitive Thinking
While strategic and intuitive thinking have distinct differences, they are not mutually exclusive.
The most influential decision-makers leverage both skills, depending on the situation. A Harvard Business Review study suggests that blending strategic and intuitive thinking leads to better outcomes, especially in dynamic environments.
Cultivate the right balance between strategic and intuitive thinking to ensure a well-rounded approach, which will allow you to navigate challenges confidently and clearly.
Benefits of Strategic Management
In today’s VUCA and BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-Linear, and Incomprehensible) environments, strategic management has emerged as a critical skill and function for organizations striving for long-term success.
Founded on the five management functions (and the five Ms of management), strategic management hinges on a systematic approach to planning, decision-making, resource allocation, and the ability of every team and business to navigate challenges and capitalize on opportunities focused on their core vision.
All of these are critical to sustaining the growth of any organization.
In this guide, we will explore the key benefits of strategic management and my own takeaway as CEO of three companies: an SEO agency, a coffee shop franchising company, and a corporate training company.
The benefits of strategic management are broadly categorized into financial and non-financial, both of which are indispensable for sustaining a company’s success.
1. Financial Benefits of Strategic Management
A. Improved Profitability and Revenue Growth
One of the primary financial benefits of strategic management is its positive impact on profitability. Companies with well-defined strategic plans are better equipped to identify and capitalize on revenue-generating opportunities.
Directors and managers ensure that they pinpoint necessary opportunities (becoming purposeful and opportunistic) as part of their directing in management. This proactive approach to market trends and consumer demands leads to consistent revenue growth, mainly when proper execution occurs.
One study published in the Strategic Management Journal found that companies engaged in strategic planning experienced a 12% higher profitability than those that didn’t.
Strategic management helps businesses set financial goals, monitor performance, and execute against those goals while implementing corrective measures, if necessary, when deviations occur—all these ensure sustained profitability.
Apple Inc. has consistently used strategic management to innovate and enter new markets, now driving higher profitability year over year. They maintained high net income growth from $48 billion in 2018 to over $55 billion in 2020.
B. Efficient Resource Allocation
Strategic management allows organizations to optimize resources by identifying the most profitable ventures and prioritizing investments accordingly. In leadership training, we teach that we must utilize and maximize five resources daily. Failure to do so will result in disorder and inefficiency.
These five resources include:
- Treasure (Money)
- Attention
- Energy
- Time
- Talent
Efficient resource allocation helps minimize waste and ensures that capital, human talent, and all allocated resources toward initiatives can achieve the highest potential for returns.
According to a report by McKinsey & Company, firms that implemented strategic management practices achieved a 25% increase in resource productivity, leading to significant cost savings and improved financial performance.
It is through leaders starting to see things from a top-down perspective —we call this “big-picture thinking” or “strategic thinking”—that the team must focus on, whether it is a high-return project or daily task. Companies must avoid unnecessary expenditures to free up resources for other critical business areas.
Procter & Gamble (P&G) strategically focuses on high-growth categories like beauty and personal care, allowing it to allocate resources more effectively. It has focused on a market where it knows it can, which has resulted in improving its operating margins and steady financial growth, as reported in its annual financial statements.
C. Enhanced Risk Management
Strategic management involves identifying potential risks and developing plans to mitigate them. This proactive approach helps businesses avoid costly financial setbacks and ensures that they can withstand market fluctuations. According to a PwC survey, 73% of CEOs actively engaged in strategic risk management reported fewer financial losses than those who did not.
Risk management constitutes solid training for mid-line managers and directors. It is a critical skill in today’s rapidly changing market, as each organization and individual faces different types of risks in leading their teams.
For instance, we managed to take calculated risks when we opened our coffee shop in Bulacan and our franchise in Lower Bicutan. Given the product-market fit, we saw every pattern and readability in operations to ensure it would catch a good market share once we launched our products.
Another example is companies like Zoom, which, with strategic risk management plans in place, were able to quickly adapt to the surge in demand for virtual communication tools. As a result, Zoom’s revenue increased by over 300% in 2020, demonstrating how strategic planning can lead to significant financial gains even during uncertain times.
D. Improved Financial Planning and Budgeting
Strategic management enables businesses to create more accurate financial projections and budgets by aligning them with long-term goals. This alignment ensures that economic resources are allocated to support strategic objectives, leading to better financial outcomes.
A recent study by Deloitte revealed that organizations with strategic management frameworks experienced a 15% increase in financial planning accuracy, leading to more efficient budgeting and cost control.
Financial planning is directly related to strategic goals. Businesses can avoid overspending by focusing on critical projects that require significant available funds.
2. Non-Financial Benefits
Beyond monetary gains, strategic management offers a plethora of non-financial advantages that any leader can overlook without thinking. These benefits contribute to the organization’s overall success, sustainability, and competitiveness.
A. Clear Organizational Direction and Vision
Having a clear sense of direction and vision is part of the directing stage of the PLOC framework in management, which determines the destination of any organization. Strengthening strategic management initiatives ensures that all stakeholders understand the organization’s goals and the action steps needed to achieve them.
According to research conducted by Bain & Company, 90% of high-performing organizations attribute their success to having a clear strategic vision that guides their specific actions and decisions. This sense of purpose assists them in aligning efforts and ensures that every department and employee works toward the same goals.
For instance, Tesla, Inc. has a clear vision to “accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” This strategic focus enables them to develop more products and marketing strategies while inspiring employees and stakeholders to contribute to the same vision within the electric vehicle market.
We covered how to create vision statements in our Visioneering module in our team training and management training programs.
B. Improved Decision-Making
Strategic management provides a structured framework for decision-making by analyzing internal and external factors that impact the business. This systematic approach ensures that decisions are made based on data, market trends, organizational changes, and capabilities, reducing the risks of costly mistakes.
A study conducted by Harvard Business Review found that organizations with strategic management processes are 60% more likely to make decisions that lead to positive outcomes. Different strategic management initiatives, such as data analytics, scenario planning, and forecasting, can further result in informed and effective choices.
Johnson & Johnson, a global leader in healthcare, employs strategic management to make informed decisions regarding product development and market expansion. They use data-driven insights to launch new products that align with market demands.
C. Adaptability and Resilience
Without adaptability, you can’t contribute to your organization's success. Strategic management equips organizations with the tools to anticipate changes and respond to any market disruption so they can adjust their strategies accordingly.
A report by the Boston Consulting Group found that organizations with robust strategic management practices are 50% more likely to adapt to market changes, ensuring long-term sustainability.
Netflix is a prime example of adaptability through strategic management. Initially a DVD rental service, Netflix anticipated the shift toward digital streaming and strategically pivoted its business model. This adaptability approach has positioned Netflix as a market leader in the streaming industry, with over 200 million subscribers worldwide.
D. Enhanced Employee Engagement and Motivation
Involving employees in the strategic planning process fosters a sense of ownership and commitment, leading to increased engagement and productivity. Employees who understand their role in achieving the organization's goals are more likely to be motivated and perform at their best.
A Gallup study found that organizations with high employee engagement experience 21% higher productivity and 22% greater profitability than those with low engagement. Strategic management helps create a culture where employees feel valued and connected to the company's mission, which in turn drives better performance.
Example: Google employs strategic management practices that encourage employee involvement in decision-making, leading to high levels of engagement and innovation. This approach has contributed to Google’s reputation as one of the best places to work while driving its success as a global tech giant.
E. Strengthened Organizational Culture and Values
Strategic management helps to establish a strong organizational culture by aligning the company’s values, beliefs, and behaviors with its strategic objectives. A strong culture fosters unity, collaboration, and a shared sense of purpose, vital for achieving long-term success.
Research from the Journal of Organizational Behavior indicates that companies with a well-defined culture aligned with their strategy outperform their competitors by up to 30%.
One of the best examples is Southwest Airlines' strategic management approach, which emphasizes employee empowerment and customer service. This culture has led to high employee satisfaction, low turnover rates, and a loyal customer base, making it one of the most profitable airlines in the industry.
Incorporating strategic management is not just an option but necessary for organizations aiming to thrive in today's dynamic and competitive business landscape.
Directing in Management: Key Elements and Importance for Success
Directing falls under the leading component of the PLOC framework of management. In this management function, a manager or supervisor is focused on guiding, inspiring, and leading employees towards achieving both their individual goals and organizational goals.
Directing bridges the planning and execution phases. It ensures that all strategies are transformed into concrete actions through continuous guidance, feedback, and combined efforts in motivation and inspiration.
The lack of it as a component in managing processes will lead to plans remaining flat on paper and needing fulfillment in results.
Importance of Directing
Directing is essential for several reasons, including:
Implements The Vision
Directing provides more concrete steps to the vision. When the founders and/or management team have set the organization's vision and mission, directing helps break down plans into manageable actions. Vision, therefore, becomes a reality for the organization.
Enhances Motivation and Morale
When team morale is high, it inspires employees to achieve peak performance in their work, increasing productivity and organizational growth. Conversely, when team morale is low, the drive to perform at its best is not visible.
Through their directing functions, managers establish clear communication channels by increasing the frequency of communication and ensuring that information flows freely between different levels of the organization.
Ensures Coordination
Directing brings together the efforts of all employees, aligning their individual objections with the company’s overall goals. This type of alignment ensures a smooth transition and operations for projects to be completed by teams.
Key Elements in Directing
Directing may seem like a sole component, but it has various parts underneath. Let’s review some of the key elements of directing.
Supervision
Supervisors are called such because they are responsible for maintaining accountability. This involves closely monitoring employee performance and guiding them through their tasks.
Adequate supervision enables employees to remain on track and align their current actions with the organizational goals.
Supervisors must provide clarity and support to ensure tasks are understood, well-planned, and executed correctly. Feedback giving becomes an essential element for team training, as it helps employees improve their individual
Supervision also covers accountability, as it maintains oversight by giving leaders a bigger picture of what’s happening on their teams. Leaders must know how to foster a disciplined yet healthy work environment that addresses pressing issues and challenges their subordinates face.
Identifying areas where employees need to grow is part of the core of supervision. Leaders here become mentors as they help their direct reports meet their daily job demands. Continuous use of appropriate learning and intervention, such as corporate training programs and leadership development, unleashes the mentorship potential of managers and supervisors.
All these we teach in our basic supervisory training.
Motivation
Motivation is pivotal in driving employee performance and aligning with management's direction. Motivating one of the five pillars of management (5 M’s of Management)—manpower—lays the foundation for sound business operations.
People aren’t just the best assets - they are the inputs for every other Ms of management - money, machines, materials, and methods, putting all these together in
Motivation involves looking at both intrinsic and extrinsic “motivators” of people in giving their best efforts for the company. Here are the top science-based motivational techniques:
- Recognitions and rewards - whether through monetary incentives or verbal acknowledgment of efforts, can significantly boost morale and productivity.
- Determining One’s Personality Styles - in our DISC personality training, we let our participants assess themselves based on the four unique personalities: Dominant, Influential, Steady, and Corrective. All these have significant strengths and weaknesses that every professional manifests at work. Knowing the personality styles of your direct reports can help you motivate them based on what makes them tick.
- Creating a Positive Work Environment—This may involve promoting psychological safety among your teams, where you empower others to share their pressing concerns, ideas, and challenges so you can address them as a leader. A consultative leader who asks questions is more likely to become proactive in solving problems within their scope of influence.
- Aligning Personal Goals with Organizational Goals—Employees become effective when they clearly see a connection between work and their personal aspirations. As more organizations are leading towards holistic growth for their employees, tapping this motivator or alignment of work with their personal life elevates their performance and how they bring value to the organization.
- Leadership
The leadership component within directing is about influencing, guiding, and inspiring employees to achieve organizational objectives. It may be similar to motivation, but it deals with influencing others through various methods.
In our leadership training, we teach the three Hs of Leadership: Heart, Hand, and Head. Every manager or supervisor must develop and grow in these three areas of leadership. They must grow in their head—intellect, knowledge, and know-how of their people. They should acquire skills (“Hands”) and master them as they lead their people. Lastly, they must lead from the Heart—integrity.
All these encompass a strong, characterized, competent leader any direct report would want to follow their ways.
Here are more useful resources I’ve written in the past to help you grow in leadership:
- How to Be a Passionate Leader
- How to Be a Good Leader
- Leadership in Virtual Teams
- Leadership and Employee Engagement
To dig deeper, let me share with you actionable tips to grow in your leadership based on my over a decade of experience leading people and organizations:
- Know your vision. Vision brings you into places you never thought possible as you take action to make it a reality. Communicate this vision to your teams so you can achieve objectives.
- Adjust your leadership style based on your people’s motivation and behaviors.
- Recognize your emotions and develop your emotional intelligence. Increase awareness of your feelings and emotions, as well as be sensitive to others’ emotions—all these will guide you in interactions.
Communication
Effective communication is central to directing. Every workday, you communicate messages and tasks to your colleagues and direct reports, so developing strong communication skills ensures you’re bringing your team to the vision.
Here are some useful tips to improve communication:
- Be true to yourself to enhance intrapersonal communication. Authenticity unleashes the power and truth in yourself, helping build more trust with your team members.
- Communicate clearly and transparently. Clear communication helps prevent misunderstandings and ensures your direct reports know precisely what is expected.
- Foster an environment where employees feel comfortable providing feedback and concerns, as I mentioned earlier about psychological safety.
- Be consistent in your messaging. This will help align your team members' efforts toward one goal: expecting the ideal output.
- Increase the frequency of meetings and one-on-one sessions with your direct reports, especially for virtual teams, as you need to emphasize as a leader the key messages and goals of the company.
Coordination
Coordination refers to aligning and integrating the efforts of individuals and departments to achieve common organizational goals. This is where the need to allocate resources effectively for smoother operations.
Here are some valuable tips to better coordinate with your team members:
- Avoid redundancies in processes. Determine minor details that overlap in tasks and roles so you can ensure resources are used efficiently and promptly.
- Integrate the efforts of different departments by conducting regular, sequential meetings to align all action plans set during strategic planning and goal-setting activities.
- Facilitate smooth interactions and transitions when changes are happening in the organization.
- Learn to manage change internally from top management down to frontline employees. See every possible result of change and communicate them across your teams.
The Essential Role of Directing in Organizational Success
Directing is a core management function that bridges the gap between planning and execution.
By integrating supervision, leadership, motivation, communication, and coordination, managers and supervisors can ensure that organizational goals are translated into vacation plans.
If you want to conduct training programs in your organization on management, succession planning, business development, communication, and culture building, contact us, and we’ll schedule a training needs analysis session with your learning and development team.
POLC Framework in Management: Planning, Organizing, Leading, Controlling
POLC framework is a long-held effective management framework that has evolved over time. Companies, especially those in the L&D department, practice it to develop their current and succeeding leaders.
While it’s been popular for decades in the talent development industry, many beginning trainers, speakers, consultants, and company leaders still struggle to grasp its true importance.
Today, we’ll examine the fundamentals of the POLC framework and how you and your leaders can apply them to effectively lead your team to the next level of growth and significance.
Let’s get started.
POLC As A Framework
POLC stands for Planning, Organizing, Leading, and Controlling, and it is often attributed to the work of Henri Fayol, a French mining engineer and management theorist who is widely recognized for his contributions to modern management theories.
Henri laid the groundwork for the classical management theory, presenting 14 management principles (including the 5Ms of management) and introducing the four primary functions of management—we now know them as POLC.
Let’s dive into each of these management functions.
Planning: Setting Clear Objectives
Planning is the cornerstone of the POLC framework. In the initial phase, team leaders set clear objectives, develop strategies, and allocate resources to achieve individual and organizational goals.
One best practice when planning is having a good grasp of your organization’s MVV (Mission, Vision, and Values). Without these three organizational core elements, any leader would have difficulty aligning and adjusting their plans to impact the organization’s objectives.
Actionable Tips To Apply Planning as Managers:
- Consider planning as part of the manager’s job. Most do not include it as their weekly tasks, given it’s not explicitly included in their job roles and responsibilities. By letting it become part of your duties, you’ll manage processes and lead your team more effectively than before.
- Schedule plans in your calendar. As scheduled, you plan with your team (or whoever must be included in the planning sessions).
- If you’re at the top of management, revisit your mission and values and ensure you align the plans of your business units and departments to pursue your mission.
- Involve key stakeholders to ensure plans are comprehensive.
Planning should always be considered. The better you plan as a manager, the more you’ll be ahead of your competitors and become more relevant to the industry and community you’re engaging with.
Organizing: Executing Plans Effectively
Once plans are set, the next step is organizing and structuring resources as needed to execute them effectively.
Now, organizing involves assigning key roles and responsibilities, prioritizing major tasks from minor tasks, delegating authority, and coordinating all efforts across teams or departments you’re involved with.
Execution isn’t easy and may require abilities to manage tasks effectively.
Actionable Tips To Apply Organizing as Managers:
- Create a well-structured environment as supervisors, where staff members know what is expected of them.
- Foster collaboration in your culture to get feedback from people so you can improve specific processes and systems.
- Streamline processes and remove inefficiencies that only consume time and waste resources.
- Revisit your plans when things go wrong and your actions don’t align with what you want to accomplish as a team.
- Break down any big projects into meaningful, small tasks. Let small wins build momentum, inspire your team to improve, and accomplish more significant goals and objectives.
- Practice decision-making skills to become a great leader. In most situations, be ready to make major decisions on tasks and projects.
- Use project management tools to help organize resources, workflow, and team initiatives. By seeing it from a tool, you’ll be able to track every phase of your project.
Leading: Inspiring and Motivating
Leading is the heart of the POLC framework and one of the five functions of management, which involves inspiring and influencing teams to achieve extraordinary results.
Given that management requires people to work on processes, it is essential for managers to learn how to handle people to the best of their abilities.
Over a decade of entrepreneurial experience handling teams and being a consultant and trainer for many local companies in the Philippines, I’ve had the privilege of learning (and still developing) lists of actionable tips for anyone to improve as a leaders. Here are some tips you can adapt to your style:
- Build your credibility as a leader. Staff members want to follow someone who talks their talk. If you’re doing what you’re already telling or instructing them to do, you need a few words to get them into action. Otherwise, your example won’t easily inspire staff if your character doesn’t speak of your promises.
- Invest in your personal leadership by discovering your own leadership training objectives. The key is to aspire to be better leaders every day. As the world is changing so fast, so does the new generation of workforce we’re currently leading.
- Develop business acumen as leaders. Know the industry trends and changes and perhaps predict what's to come based on historical data and observation. You’ll become better managers if you can teach your team to adapt to the ever-changing needs of the market and the industry.
- Do not let your ego consume you; you need feedback from peers, superiors, and associates. This will increase your self-awareness of areas where you need to improve more—knowledge, skills, and attitude (core elements of competence).
- Improve emotional intelligence. As you manage your emotions, you’ll be more sensitive to the feelings of other people, which creates a warm and inclusive work environment for your teams.
- Be founded on your values. Demonstrate the values and behaviors you expect from others.
Controlling: Monitoring and Adjusting
The fourth pillar of the POlC framework is controlling. This is where monitoring and evaluating performance management comes in.
You’ll have better chances of achieving your goals by making necessary adjustments.
Effective control isn’t about the people you lead but about the work itself, as you need to identify potential issues or deviations from the plan early on.
Here are a couple of tactics you can apply as leaders in the controlling phase of management:
- Establish clear performance metrics - this is where you’ll measure performance as you achieve your goals.
- Implement corrective actions when necessary if you see any changes or are behind-the-scenes in projects.
- Keep a close eye on key performance indicators and regularly communicate them with your team.
- Use immediate feedback instead of waiting for the annual feedback so you can help your associates or staff members perform better at work by addressing their latest concerns and challenges.
- Utilize resources efficiently by continuously monitoring performance. The goal isn’t just to save resources, but to maximize them so you can achieve your goals.
Mastering POLC Framework Never Ends
Mastering the POLC framework is a continuous journey for leaders. The business landscape has changed, so leaders must constantly adapt and refine their approach to meet the changing demands of our time.
Embrace these four pillars of the POLC framework as one of your functions as managers to achieve your goals through performance management and inspire people through better collaboration and healthy work culture.