Elevate Your Management Team: Building People Leadership For IT And Software Development
You want all of your managers to be great, but they either lack the skills or are focused on the wrong things.
You want your team to be key to your organization’s success, but your managers aren’t building strong working relationships across departments.
Your managers are smart people, but you keep getting pulled into decisions that you expect them to handle. They struggle to hit the right balance between technical expertise and effective people leadership.
The reality? Most of your managers were promoted for their technical excellence, not their people leadership capabilities. And generic management training fails to address the unique challenges they face in your technical environment.
Managing in IT and Software: Connecting People, Behaviors, and Results
It’s an in-house, cohort-based learning program that includes multiple layers of management – including you, your front-line managers and tech leads, and everyone in between. Learning together helps you develop a common language around managing software and IT people. This shared approach creates alignment that produces results across your organization.
This isn’t theoretical management fluff or recycled leadership clichés. It’s practical, results-focused training that addresses the real challenges your managers face every day.
Managers Matter to IT and Software Success
What You Gain When Your Management Team Learns Together
Reduce the volume of day-to-day issues escalated to senior leaders by helping managers sort what to own, what to influence, and what to escalate.
Increase follow-through on priorities by improving how managers set expectations, raise concerns, and clarify actionable next steps in conversations.
Improve how managers work with others outside your department, improving coordination and reducing friction across teams.
Increase your team’s capacity to navigate and drive organizational shifts, helping managers to clarify evolving expectations and address reactions—for themselves and their teams.
Equip managers to ask for feedback on how they’re showing up, enabling them to adjust their approach and improve working relationships with their teams and peers.
Enable managers to clearly communicate what support they need from senior leadership, so you can intervene where it matters most.
If They’re Not Practicing, They’re Not Learning
Our training approach ensures your managers don’t just understand concepts—they actually practice them in training and apply them in their daily work. There’s no waiting for the “right moment” to use these skills—your managers will identify opportunities to apply them in their very next conversation, meeting, or decision point. The training includes structured follow-up activities that reinforce learning and help managers track their progress as they integrate these practices into their daily responsibilities.
By participating in this training, you’re clearly signaling to your team that these skills aren’t optional—they’re essential components of how you expect management to function within your department.
Many executives tell us that the most valuable outcome isn’t just individual improvement, but the collective enhancement in how their management team operates together—creating a more cohesive, effective leadership culture throughout the organization.
Why Trust Allison and Paul
This course is taught by Allison Pollard and Paul Tevis, experienced coaches and trainers who specialize in helping technical leaders develop the management skills needed to succeed in software organizations.
We’ve both worked in environments where managers were expected to figure things out with little support, even as the stakes kept rising. Our firsthand experience includes working with management teams across various technology sectors, from startups to enterprise organizations. We design training that addresses the actual pain points technical managers face daily.
Our straightforward, no-nonsense style resonates with both executives and managers who appreciate practical tools over theoretical frameworks. Participants consistently highlight how we create an engaging learning environment that acknowledges the realities of managing in technology organizations while providing actionable techniques that can be applied immediately.
By choosing this training, you’re partnering with instructors who understand your world, speak your language, and deliver value from the very first interaction.
Program Details
Prep call with senior leadership beforehand
To clarify the results you want to get from training and the role you will be playing in the class
Four half-day interactive live sessions
Either in-person at your location or virtual via Zoom and Miro
Check-in session with participants
Thirty days after completion to reinforce learning and address emerging challenges
Follow-up call with you
To assess the impact of the training
Program Structure
Use Authority Effectively
Most technical managers either hide from their authority or wield it like a hammer. Neither approach works. This module targets this fundamental challenge head-on.
We explore the unique aspects of being a manager in software and IT. Managers in these environments must focus on both the work being done and the people doing it – at the same time. This module helps managers build an understanding of when and how to use their authority — helping them sort what to own, what to influence, and what to escalate.
Set Clear Expectations and Foster Strong Relationships
Effective managers know that performance is driven by behavior — and that behavior can change.
Some managers think they’re being clear about what they need from their people, while in reality, they’re being frustratingly vague and hand-wavy. Others believe they’re just “putting ideas out there” – ideas that their people interpret as orders. In this module, managers practice navigating these and other communication challenges. This helps develop the skills to uncover how work is being done, set explicit behavioral expectations, and strengthen relationships that sustain performance under pressure.
Build Networks of Mutual Support
Cross-team and cross-functional work is where many initiatives succeed — or fail.
Strong cross-functional collaboration doesn’t happen by accident. In this module, managers learn strategies to build productive working relationships outside their immediate team, manage up effectively, and navigate organizational change. We explore ways to influence without authority to improve both project outcomes and employee engagement.
Operationalize Sustainable Management
Most technical managers spend their days firefighting, then wonder why they never have time for “strategic work.” This doesn’t just drain energy—it caps your organization’s potential.
In this module, managers learn everyday uses of the skills from earlier in the course that develop their direct reports and themselves. By shifting from firefighting to fire prevention, managers are able to focus on the work only they can do. They also learn to distinguish between organizational constraints they should work around versus those worth challenging, enabling them to focus senior leaders’ attention only on problems that truly matter.
Check-In Session (30 days later)
One month after the live sessions, managers participate in a check-in session to review progress, troubleshoot real-world challenges, and refine their approaches. This ensures the training is translated into lasting behavior change and ongoing impact for your organization.
Ready To Elevate Your Management Team?
Why Do I Need to Attend? Can't My Managers Just Learn These Skills Without Me?
Manager training is more effective when executives don’t just sponsor it—they participate in it.
Your managers take their cues from you. You set the tone for what good management looks like, how decisions are made, and what behaviors are not tolerated. If you’re not in the room, you’re leaving those expectations open to interpretation.
Being in the training also lets you clarify how you want your management team to manage up to you. As part of this process, you’ll learn how to better support them to do the things you need — creating more productive partnerships throughout your organization.
When managers see you actively engaged in these discussions, they understand these skills are essential components of their jobs, not just nice-to-have additions. Your presence signals this isn’t “just a class”—it’s a shift in how your managers lead, collaborate, and deliver results.
Lead the Way Forward
When you invest in their development, you’re not just supporting your managers—you’re equipping yourself to lead a more resilient organization.
Ready to start?
Frequently Asked Questions
How much time will our managers need to commit beyond the training sessions?
Can this training be customized for our specific industry or challenges?
Is this appropriate for new managers as well as experienced ones?
How many people from our organization should attend?
What makes this training different from other management programs?
Our specialized focus on the unique challenges of managing in technical environments sets us apart. Rather than generic leadership advice, we help your managers master the specific skills they need to lead technical professionals effectively.