Grittiest Managers Training ever!
That is what comes to my mind when UPISSI invites me as a Resource Person to their flagship training program. I observed that only the grittiest of supervisors, managers, entrepreneurs and executives take the Managers Course (MC). Those who want to trust the process will find it daunting, but satisfying. Only those who believe that they can and they must, take the ultimate challenge, and graduate from the MC.
Let me describe the grit of the MC:
First, it’s the 21 Saturdays of training. That’s every weekend of the next 6 months of your life. To commit to that is already proof of mental fortitude and faith-filled passion. The kind of managers serious organizations need and badly want. That’s why even if it was designed for the SME, corporations, big brands, government agencies, and NGOs across industries send themselves and their employees to the MC.
Second, the course. It is a path like no other. It is an arduous journey. Highs and lows, valleys and mountaintops, sea and wilderness, and beautiful fields. A fight for life and limb, sleep, schedule, and sanity and then working with others. It is like riding the MRT or LRT in your best suit, on the way to the office, on a rush hour, and then back home. As we say in Filipino, “Pumasok kang pasahero, lumabas kang mandirigma!” (You enter a passenger, you come out a warrior!) It. Is. Epic!
The breadth of the MC covers all 4 key and critical functional areas of the organization — Marketing, Operations, Human Resources, and Finance. And more. It is the most comprehensive of all management courses in the Philippines, that’s why it is called the mini-MBA. The depth of the MC gives 3 full Saturdays per functional area, delivered by different experts in the fields. There will be lectures, workshops, games, cases, discussions, tests, demonstrations, the whole gamut of adult learning. Diverse perspectives, management tools, frameworks and approaches are offered like grand buffets in week-long Philippine fiestas. Trainees learn strategies, planning, and framework development to tactical discourse, operational design, and step-by-step execution.
Third, the pacing. But as not to overwhelm, we take one Saturday at a time. The MC is designed like an 18 hole golf course played with friends or an 8 course meal served in parts and eaten with depth of appreciation and graceful conversations.
Finally, the IOSA. Unlike MBAs or Executive Programs that intellectualize the final output, the MC challenges its participants with the gritty reality of business. Trainees– in groups of 5 to 6–are given small enterprises and fledgling entrepreneurs to visit 3 to 4 times, interview, observe, empathize with and then as culminating requirement offer the most realistic recommendations to correct, align or grow the business. The IOSA (Integrated Organizational Survey and Assessment) visits, group meetings, and presentations to an expert panel – is, according to participants, more gripping than their pitches to clients, partners or their own management.
How do I know all this? I took the Managers Course. And I have taught in it since 20+ years back. This year, I was blessed to do the Introduction and then the Integrative Modules, and it was a joy to see the trainees transform from students who came for the ride to confident managers, ready to take their companies to a new level and their lives to a new season.
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Marco is a strategy conversations consultant, trainer and workshop facilitator with a global independent practice. He has more than 2 decades of experience in the areas of Sales, Marketing, Communications, Strategic Planning and Industry Development. These notable organizations are in his work portfolio: The World Bank, WARC-Ascential, UNDP, APEC, ADB, Hyundai Asia, NLEX, DBP, USAID, JICA, OMFLiterature, De La Salle, SalesForce, Zendesk, DOT, DTI, DA, DOST and the University of the Philippines.
Marco is also engaged by NGOs and private companies in strategy conversations and workshops.
As a trainer, Marco is actively engaged in programs for start-ups, entrepreneurs, managers, executives, and consultants most notably with the University of the Philippines Institute for Small Scale Industries (UP ISSI), since 2002. He is a speaker, coach, evaluator, and content developer for Digital Marketing, Strategic Marketing, Strategic Planning, The Managers Course, Management Audit and Advance Leadership and Management.