Getting to Grips with People Management in Publishing: Course review
As many of us know, management can be one of the trickiest elements of the workplace to get right, especially for the first-time manager. I’m currently a publications coordinator, managing the journals of a learned society, and working towards making the next move in my career. When I was thinking about my professional development plans for the year, the Publishing Training Centre’s ‘Getting to Grips with People Management in Publishing’ course looked to be an ideal fit with my goals.
Many of the ideas introduced during the course will be immediately useful for me, as my role includes managing large teams of volunteers. Looking into the theories of different personality types (with the reminder that you can be an introvert and an effective manager), the ways in which people work, and the varied roles team members play, gave me tools to work with colleagues in the future. These ideas were backed up with practical advice and possible actions to apply in your workplace. Covering a wide range of topics from financial reports to holding appraisals, the two-day course immersed attendees in the essentials of a management role.
The course tutors, Clare Grist-Taylor and Nancy Roberts, were generous with their insights into how to be a good manager and clearly had a wealth of experience in a variety of publishing environments. The small size of the group worked well, as we could all speak up and ask questions at any time, not to mention the opportunity to meet people from other areas of publishing. For me, being based outside of the main publishing hubs means chances to network face-to-face are somewhat limited, and I gained a good insight into the challenges that colleagues face in their differing roles – so thank you to all who were a part of the course.
I wholeheartedly recommend the course for anyone who is considering a role including management in some form as the next step in their career.
Sophie Jaques attended Getting to Grips with People Management in Publishing in October 2018
Connect with Sophie on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-jaques-8b784655 or on Twitter @SVCJaques