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The Management Advantage | Develop
Managers' Support Club - Practical Advice, Greater Confidence and Support When You Need It.
Being a manager can sometimes feel like you're expected to have all the answers.
One day you're dealing with an employee's performance. The next you're handling a disagreement, managing competing priorities or trying to motivate a team under pressure.
And often there isn't anyone available to ask for advice.
Our Managers' Support Club is being developed to give managers ongoing practical support, helpful management tools and a regular opportunity to discuss real workplace challenges.
Whether you're a first-time manager, an experienced supervisor or a business owner looking for affordable management development, the Club is designed to help.
Proposed Pilot Price: £79 Per Manager Per Month
Monthly live online management clinics, practical resources and workplace challenges.
We're currently inviting expressions of interest for our proposed founding pilot.
Register Your Interest Try the Free Leadership Gap ScorecardRegistering your interest does not commit you to paying or joining.
The challenge of managing people
Managers spend much of their working lives helping other people. But who helps them?
You're expected to make decisions, give feedback, resolve disagreements, manage performance and keep your team motivated.
Some days everything runs smoothly. On others, even experienced managers can find themselves wondering what they should do next.
These challenges aren't necessarily a sign of poor management.
Managing people is a skill. Like any other skill, it improves with practice, feedback and support.
The Managers' Support Club is designed to make ongoing management development more accessible, practical and affordable.
More than training
A good management training course can introduce valuable skills, build understanding and give managers fresh ideas.
But what happens three weeks later when a difficult employee situation arises or a new challenge appears?
You might remember some of the theory, but applying it to a real person and a real workplace isn't always easy.
That's where continuing development can be valuable.
Our proposed Managers' Support Club would provide regular opportunities to explore workplace challenges, learn practical management approaches, ask questions and try new behaviours.
The aim isn't to fill managers' diaries with more training.
It's to help them become more effective in the work they're already doing.
The membership explained
The Managers' Support Club is a proposed monthly online management development membership for UK supervisors, team leaders and managers.
It's designed around one simple idea: managers should have somewhere to continue developing their skills and exploring management problems without needing to attend another full training day.
Rather than a long formal course, members would take part in a live online management clinic each month.
Each session would explore an important management topic, provide practical advice and give participants the opportunity to discuss questions relevant to their work.
Members would also receive selected management tools and a workplace challenge to help put what they've learned into practice.
One topic. One useful management tool. One practical challenge. Every month.
The Club is intended to complement the management training and support businesses already provide, not replace their line managers, HR team or internal procedures.
Proposed pilot membership
The proposed pilot package is designed to provide regular, relevant development at a manageable monthly cost.
One 60-minute live online group management clinic every month.
Explore a practical topic, discuss management challenges and consider approaches you can use at work.
Receive selected templates, worksheets, checklists and conversation guides.
Useful tools designed to help you manage people more effectively.
Explore a different management skill each month, such as delegation, communication, feedback or accountability.
Members can submit questions in advance for consideration during group clinics.
Sensitive or confidential workplace situations should be anonymised.
Each month includes one manageable activity to complete at work.
For example, holding a better one-to-one meeting or improving delegation.
Access to selected resources from previous monthly topics, subject to the final pilot membership arrangements.
Develop your own collection of practical management tools.
The founding pilot is being developed for managers who want regular, practical online support.
Final membership arrangements, session dates, access terms, group size and payment conditions will be confirmed before enrolment opens.
No payment is required to register your interest.
A practical monthly experience
The proposed clinics are designed to be interactive, useful and focused on real management situations.
Explore a common challenge and why it matters.
Introduce a useful management tool, method or technique.
Discuss relevant anonymised management situations and possible responses.
Identify how the new approach could be used in your own workplace.
Choose one specific action to take before the next clinic.
Sessions would be facilitated by Adrian Close, drawing on practical management experience and established development tools.
The aim is to leave each session with at least one useful idea you can apply.
Topics that matter
The proposed monthly topics will focus on situations managers face regularly.
Help employees take ownership without doing everything yourself.
Address concerns earlier and communicate professionally.
Set clear expectations and follow through on agreed actions.
Build confidence when moving from team member to manager.
Help employees improve without constantly telling them what to do.
Reduce misunderstandings and communicate clearly with different people.
Address performance problems fairly and consistently.
Manage competing demands and reduce unnecessary firefighting.
Help employees understand and adapt to new expectations.
These are proposed topics. The final pilot programme will be confirmed before launch.
Applying what you learn
Imagine you're managing an experienced employee who regularly challenges new ways of working.
They know their job, take pride in their experience and believe the methods they've used for years are the best approach.
You want to respect their experience but also need them to support change.
Rather than simply telling you to be more assertive, a monthly clinic could explore how to approach the conversation constructively.
Prepare and hold a conversation that recognises the employee's experience, explains why the change matters and agrees clear expectations for moving forward.
Use a practical conversation planner to prepare your message and follow up on the agreed actions.
The following month, you can reflect on what worked, what you learned and what you might do differently.
That's the difference between simply learning about management and actively developing as a manager.
This is an illustrative scenario, not a claim about a real Club member.
What we're working towards
The purpose of the Club isn't to give managers more information. It's to help them become more effective and confident at work.
Feel better prepared to handle common management challenges.
Communicate expectations, give feedback and address concerns earlier.
Help employees develop responsibility and greater independence.
Explore options and make more considered decisions.
Follow through on expectations and agreed actions.
Build useful habits rather than relying on occasional training.
Managers' development depends on participation, practice and the support available in their workplace.
The Club is designed to support improvement, not guarantee a particular business result.
Support your management team
Many businesses promote technically capable employees into management roles because they're good at their jobs.
But being good at a technical role and being confident managing people are different skills.
Without ongoing development, new managers may rely on trial and error, copy the management styles they experienced or avoid situations they don't feel prepared to handle.
The Managers' Support Club offers employers a way to provide regular development without repeatedly taking managers away from the workplace for full-day courses.
For businesses with several managers, the Club could provide a practical foundation for ongoing management development.
For organisations needing private, business-specific management meetings, our Business Performance Partnership is likely to be more appropriate.
Who can benefit?
If you've recently been promoted, the Club could help you develop essential management skills, gain confidence and explore common first-time management problems.
If you're responsible for organising work, setting standards and supporting employees, the Club can help you strengthen everyday people-management skills.
Even experienced managers face unfamiliar situations. The Club provides opportunities to refresh your thinking, discuss challenges and consider different approaches.
For technically experienced supervisors who have moved into leading people, the Club offers development in delegation, communication, accountability and feedback.
For managers working with customer-facing teams, the Club can help improve communication, expectations, employee support and handling difficult situations.
If you want an affordable way to develop managers without commissioning regular individual courses, the Club provides a proposed monthly membership option.
Help shape the founding pilot
We want the Club to be genuinely useful, relevant and practical for the managers who join.
That's why we're proposing an initial pilot membership rather than launching a large, fixed programme without feedback.
Our intention is to begin with a manageable group of managers, explore the challenges they face and refine the monthly experience.
The founding pilot will help establish the most valuable topics, resources and session format.
You'll be able to review the final dates, membership arrangements and costs before deciding whether to join.
Practical management experience
Management development should be practical, relevant and based on an understanding of what managers actually experience at work.
I'm Adrian Close, Director of Learning at Ultimate Leadership Training.
I've spent much of my career managing people, developing managers and being accountable for operational performance.
I've directly managed teams of up to 60 employees and held wider operational responsibilities involving approximately 1,000 people.
I've dealt with difficult conversations, performance issues, tight budgets, changing expectations and the challenges of developing employees.
Today, I work with businesses across manufacturing, engineering, hospitality and other industries to help managers become more effective and confident.
My approach is practical, straightforward and focused on what managers can actually do differently.
The Managers' Support Club is intended to make that practical experience more accessible to managers throughout the UK.
The Management Advantage
Not every business needs the same level of support.
Some need to identify what's holding managers back. Others want experienced help implementing improvements. And some need affordable, ongoing development for individual managers.
Discover
£495 one-off
An independent management review using the Leadership Gap Scorecard, focused discussions and a practical 90-day improvement plan.
Ideal for: Businesses wanting clarity about their biggest management improvement priorities.
Explore the Management MOTImprove
From £795/month
Private monthly management meetings, leadership support, workplace challenges, management tools and quarterly progress reviews.
Ideal for: Businesses wanting dedicated support for their management team and help implementing improvements.
Explore the Business PartnershipDevelop
£79/manager/mth
Proposed pilot membership with monthly online clinics, practical tools, management challenges and group discussion.
Ideal for: Individual managers and employers seeking affordable continuing management development.
Register Your InterestNeed to understand the problem? Begin with a Management Performance MOT.
Need dedicated help with implementation? Explore the Business Performance Partnership.
Need regular support for individual managers? Register your interest in the Managers' Support Club.
Each service can be used independently, and the right choice depends on your business needs.
Start with a free assessment
Before deciding what management support you need, it helps to understand where your strengths and development gaps might be.
Our free Leadership Gap Scorecard explores important management behaviours including communication, accountability, delegation, coaching, difficult conversations and leading change.
It's a useful starting point for managers and business owners considering future management development.
Take the Free Leadership Gap ScorecardYour questions answered
The Managers' Support Club is a proposed online management development membership for UK managers. The pilot is planned to include monthly live group clinics, practical management tools and workplace challenges.
The proposed pilot price is £79 per manager per month. Final prices, payment terms and membership arrangements will be confirmed before enrolment opens. VAT will apply if chargeable.
The service is currently being developed as a pilot. You can register your interest without making a payment or committing to membership. Launch dates and final arrangements will be communicated to interested participants when confirmed.
Yes. It is designed to be useful for new managers, supervisors, team leaders and experienced managers who want to develop their people-management skills.
Yes. Experienced managers can benefit from exploring new approaches, reviewing management habits and discussing unfamiliar challenges.
No. The proposed membership focuses on monthly group clinics and shared learning. It does not include private one-to-one coaching as a standard benefit. Individual support can be discussed separately.
Yes. Members will be encouraged to submit suitable management questions. Confidential employee details and identifying information should not be shared. The Club does not replace formal HR, legal or internal management procedures.
Yes. The proposed Club is intended for individual managers and businesses seeking ongoing development for their teams. Contact us to discuss your requirements and the pilot arrangements.
The Managers' Support Club is a shared online development membership for individual managers. The Business Performance Partnership provides private monthly support tailored to a particular business and its management team.
No. The Club can be joined independently when enrolment opens. The MOT is designed for businesses that want an independent management review and 90-day improvement plan.
The proposed pilot is a practical continuing development membership, not an accredited qualification programme. Its focus is on workplace skills and management practice.
The proposed resource arrangements are still being finalised. Any access to recordings, catch-up materials or previous clinics will be explained before membership opens.
Be part of the founding pilot
You don't need to have all the answers. But you can become more confident in finding them.
The Managers' Support Club is being developed to give UK managers practical guidance, useful tools and regular opportunities to improve.
Whether you're looking for support in your own management role or affordable development for your team, we'd welcome your interest.
Proposed Pilot Membership: £79 Per Manager Per Month
Register Your Interest by Email Contact AdrianNo payment or commitment required at this stage.
Or email: contact@adrianclose.com
Better Management. Better Performance. Better Business.
Please contact us to discuss any training requirements you have, we either deliver for you or sell you the course for your trainers to deliver to your team