What do frontline managers need from a leadership programme?

Frontline managers need practical training in core leadership skills such as communication, performance management, giving feedback, and leading teams. The focus should be on building confidence and applying these skills in day-to-day situations, not just understanding theory.

Why do frontline managers struggle when stepping into leadership?

Frontline managers have the biggest impact on employee experience, performance, and engagement. Without the right support, many struggle when stepping into leadership, which can quickly affect team outcomes and retention. Most are promoted for performance but unprepared for the people leadership responsibilities that come with the role.

What does a Hemsley Fraser frontline leadership programme include?

Our frontline programmes are built as structured, blended experiences that support learning over time, not one-off events. A typical programme includes interactive sessions spaced over time to build key skills, digital content and guided activities that reinforce learning between sessions, structured peer learning opportunities, and reflection tools that build self-awareness and ownership of development.

Can the frontline leadership programme be customised for our organisation?

Yes. You can use our proven programme structure as a starting point, or work with us to build a fully customised solution aligned to your organisation's culture, challenges, and priorities. Both options are built around our Excite, Engage, Embed, Evolve methodology and designed to drive lasting behaviour change.

Middle manager programmes

Squeezed from every side. Supported by almost no one.

Your middle managers translate strategy into action, hold culture together, and absorb pressure from above, below, and across. Yet only 48% say they're satisfied in their jobs (SHRM) — and most were never developed for the role, just promoted into it.

Hemsley Fraser's middle management programmes equip managers of managers with the mindset, skillset, and toolset to lead several teams — not just line manage at scale. Blended delivery, built on our Excite, Engage, Embed, Evolve methodology, designed for behaviour change that sticks.

From a Brandon Hall Gold-winning leadership programme with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, to a seven-country global leadership programme with CHC Helicopters — we know what it takes to develop the leaders in the middle.

Included in our programmes

Download our leadership brochure

The trickiest position in your organisation.

Becoming a great manager of managers is not simply doing the same things for several teams instead of one — that's the road to stress, failure, and overwhelm. It's a genuine leadership transition: new ways of thinking, a shift in priorities, and demands coming from every direction at once — down to several teams, up to senior leaders, across to peers, and out to stakeholders.

We have a strong point of view on what great middle management looks like — built on decades of leadership development and real programme delivery across industries. But we never start with our framework. We start with your challenge, your people, and your world, and build around that.

Middle managers are the heart of your company. Without the ability of middle managers to connect and integrate people and tasks, an organization can cease to function effectively. (McKinsey, 2023)

Ready to get started?

Download our leadership brochure

25 workshops. 3 languages.
13 countries. 3 months.

We partnered with Hemsley to develop a global frontline leadership programme for our leaders across seven regions. Our goal was to create a consistent learning experience so that all CHC leaders would share the same approach, mindset, and development journey.

Global Talent Development Manager, CHC Helicopters

Start with proven best practice - or build something around your organisation

Our middle management programmes follow the Excite, Engage, Embed, Evolve methodology - designed to drive lasting behaviour change, not one-off knowledge transfer. Every element is built around what participants will do differently as a leader, not just what they'll know.

A typical programme includes:

Expert-led workshops

Interactive sessions, spaced over time, to introduce key skills and practise them in a safe, supported environment.

Online learning & reflection

Digital content and guided activities that reinforce learning and keep momentum between sessions.

Peer learning groups

Structured opportunities for managers to share challenges, learn from each other, and embed new behaviours.

Self-assessment & journals

Tools that encourage reflection, build self-awareness, and create ownership of individual development.

We don't start with content. We start with behaviour.

All managers lead and all leaders manage. The most important capabilities are consistent across levels - but how a manager of managers practises them is what changes. Our CONNECT framework captures the true essence of the role, and how it differs from 'manager of people' and 'senior manager'.

Read our insight paper

Connectedness across teams and with peers is a key predictor of success. The best foster contention (not conflict), diverse perspectives, and shared best practice.

Download our brochure

Not sure what a middle manager programme should look like?

Our leadership brochure walks you through the 10 capabilities that underpin every great front-line leader — and shows you how we build programmes around them.

Middle management FAQs

A manager of managers is a leader whose remit spans several teams — related or diverse. They're responsible not just for their own team's performance, but for enabling other managers to lead well. It's one of the trickiest leadership transitions, requiring a shift in mindset, skillset, and toolset.

Can’t find the course or asset you are looking for?

Squeezed from every side. Supported by almost no one.

The trickiest position in your organisation.

25 workshops. 3 languages.
13 countries. 3 months.