The Heart of Engagement : Leadership Development, Management Education, Retreat Facilitation & Executive Coaching : Mike Cook : AMJ Group

AMJ Group provides catalytic services to the leadership teams and owners of small and medium size businesses. The AMJ Group approach begins with seeing any business enterprise as a social system with an economic purpose. We work first from a recognition that any business performance issue reflected in financial outcomes has its origins in social/interpersonal foundations Always with a focus on the quality of working relationships and team effectiveness, AMJ Group services generally fall in one of the following three areas:

• Leadership and Management Development
• Interpersonal Relationship Coaching
• Performance Improvement
• Managers’ Collaborative Program (MCP™)

Managers’ Collaborative Program (MCP™); An Intentional Developmental Community

The practice of managing designed for sustained performance with a focus on the future conducted in an environment of commitment to mutual success.

Background

For at least the past two decades there has been a great deal of attention and allocation of resources aimed at reducing the number of mid-level managers in businesses in this country. This attention and the associated resources are well intended yet often misguided. The mid-level manager remains the source of performance in virtually all organizations and their development is critical to the overall needs of the larger organization.

The experience in most organizations is that the greatest number of mid-level managers will remain mid-level managers over the period of their careers. This is not a function of the pyramidal structure of most management hierarchies as much as the misunderstood truth that this is their point of optimum organizational contribution. This fact is something to be appreciated as it points to the unique developmental needs of managers in the middle of an organization and is reflective of another known and underleveraged truth; people in organizations will gravitate towards the tasks and responsibilities where they can be most successful and satisfied.

Distinct from senior levels of management, the middle manager operates much of the time “in the moment” with responsibilities that have immediate and often conflicting deliverables. In many instances the issues they face cannot be put off without incurring undesirable consequences. The ability of people in these positions to work successfully in the face of often continuous ambiguity makes them uniquely suited to their roles.

The Intended Market: Ideal Member

MCP™ will be designed to accommodate the interests and issues of mid-level managers who have been in their role a minimum of 6-24 months and who are currently viewed as successful as measured by the results in their accountability. or having the potential for success as viewed by their managers. This is not a rehab or “fix em” type program

Purpose

The purpose of MCP™ will be to provide mid-level managers a peer community to engage with on a regular basis, designed to be committed to the sustained success of each and every member.

These intentionally designed communities will provide mid-level managers with an opportunity

• to regularly come together
• in a mutually supportive environment
• to engage in developmental education
• with the intention to promote sustained performance within their accountability and the enterprise as a whole.
• to reinforce their choice to seek and attain mid-level managing positions as a legitimate and appreciated career destination.

Participation in this community does not guarantee success. It does guarantee that any manager who chooses this association will defeat the sense of isolation and limited vision that often reduce the likelihood of successful outcomes. .

The essential message at the heart of this community will be that;

“We are all in this together and to the extent that we support and allow ourselves to be supported we will benefit and be of benefit.”

Structure and Curriculum

The basic community structure will be founded on a cross functional ‘Collaborative' of ideally and no more than nine managers. (The number nine allows for small group work, three groups of three.)

• Each ‘Collaborative’ will meet once a month on a regularly schedule date and time for roughly 4 hours. One half of each meeting will be devoted to curriculum study. The other half will be devoted to group attention devoted to individual members’ business issues.
• Each ‘Collaborative’ member will be assigned to a small group of three and each of these small groups will meet additionally for two hours at a date and time of their own choosing.
• The basic MCP™ curriculum is designed to be completed over a three year period. There are six modules to the curriculum, each six months in duration.
• Upon completion of the basic curriculum managers will be offered the opportunity to re-enroll and experience the curriculum with a new set of group dynamics or move ahead into a mentors program where they will further develop as facilitators of other MCP™ groups.