From Manager to Leader: The Breakthrough Course
Leadership Training For Managers Course
How do you transform managers into leaders who inspire, innovate, and retain top talent?
In Japan’s talent-scarce environment, companies can’t afford managers who only manage. Recruiting is harder than ever, but the bigger challenge is retention: people don’t leave companies — they leave managers. Unless managers build the communication and leadership skills to nurture their people, valuable staff will walk — and they will be expensive and difficult to replace.
Course Dates
Please refer to the schedule below for date and registration information.
Course Details
The From Manager to Leader: The Breakthrough Course helps managers make the leap into true leadership. Based on Dale Carnegie’s globally proven leadership curriculum, this program equips participants with the Five Drivers of Leadership Success and the 8-Step Performance Change Pathway that sustains lasting growth.
Why This Course Works
Q: Why can’t managers just manage anymore?
A: In today’s fast-changing environment — and especially in Japan’s labor-short market — management alone is an unaffordable luxury. Companies need leaders who don’t just allocate tasks but inspire people to perform, grow, and stay.
Q: Why is retention such a critical issue now?
A: Recruiting used to be about candidates selling themselves to companies. Today, leaders must sell the company to candidates. And once they’re hired, retaining them depends on whether managers know how to motivate, communicate, and coach. Without these skills, staff leave — and replacing them is both costly and slow.
But here’s the question every executive must ask: can your managers actually sell your company effectively to candidates?
If they can’t, you’re already losing the war for talent — because the best people will go where leaders inspire them from day one.
Q: What makes this program unique?
A: Participants discover and apply the Five Drivers of Leadership Success:
- Self-Direction and Vision
- People Skills and Trust
- Process Skills (Planning & Innovation)
- Communication and Influence
- Accountability and Coaching
Q: How do you make sure the learning sticks?
A: The Forgetting Curve shows that people forget:
- 50% in the first hour
- 70% within one day
- 90% within one week
That’s why this course uses the 8-Step Performance Change Pathway, combining in-class training with 28 weeks of reinforcement and 30- and 60-day live online follow-ups.
Q: How do participants learn?
A: Unlike lecture-style management training, this course is highly interactive. Participants practice planning, coaching, delegating, and decision-making through role-plays, group work, and peer feedback.
Training Objectives
- Know how our experiences, principles, and values form our leadership style, and the impact of that style on the organization’s people, environment and culture
- Respect people’s potential capabilities, and build a relationship of trust and respect
- Understand the process and method of innovation, planning, definition of business targets, effective use of time, delegation, analyzing issues, decision making, etc.
- Learn to lead through effective Q&A and attentive listening: Lead one-on-one, small groups, and conflict-resolving meetings
- Appropriately evaluate performance of expected results, create visions, plan effectively, and learn to empower subordinates
How it will help you
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Define and communicate a personal leadership vision
- Inspire and motivate people by recognizing potential and building trust
- Apply the innovation process to solve problems and drive improvement
- Plan effectively and align organizational goals with individual performance
- Delegate responsibility and accountability to develop team members
- Apply a coaching model to elevate the performance of others
- Strengthen decision-making under pressure and handle stress productively
- Evaluate performance in a way that motivates, not discourages
Suitable for
- Managers who want to step up and become leaders
- Executives seeking to maximize team motivation and performance
- Organizations that want to develop a pipeline of true leaders, not just managers
Proof That It Works
- Voice of Customer (VOC): 89.6/100 (two-year average)
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): +53.3 (two-year average)
👉 For context: NPS is measured on a scale from –100 to +100. Many training providers score between +30 and +50. At +53.3, this program consistently outperforms the industry standard — especially in Japan, where participants tend to score conservatively.
This isn’t just about building leadership skills. It’s about protecting your investment in people. Retention starts with leadership, and this program equips managers with the tools to keep talent motivated, loyal, and performing.
Curriculum
| 3-days (7 hours per day) | 7-weeks (3.5 hours per session) | |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Week 1 | Session 1: Developing leadership (Personal) • Understand the leadership and management “drivers of success” • Focus on your experience of leadership and create your leadership values • Create a vision of personal leadership Achieve organisational results • Overcome the challenges to successfully fulfilling organisational/personal goals • Deepen understanding of time management • Identify the motivation level of your subordinates • Understand the “inner view” method |
| Week 2 | Session 2: Innovation process • Be able to flexibly change your management style according to various situations • Create an environment that facilitates your team to provide innovative ideas • Understand the innovation process for resolving issues and making improvements Planning process • Present your vision clearly, in a specific, easy-to-understand manner • Clarify the steps to implement your vision • Implement a specific target to actualise your vision through communication |
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| Week 3 | Session 3: Performance evaluation • Understanding what success looks like • Write down business achievement estimations • Clarify key skills, knowledge, and competency required in work performance • Integrate business targets with daily activities and measurable results Evaluation system and coaching • Implement a performance review that others would “RAVE” about • Explain the self-growth cycle and how it relates to growth • Implement the steps of coaching process and improve the business results of others |
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| Day 2 | Week 4 | Session 4: Analysing issues and decision making • Learn the three ways of decision-making to see into the key issues • Use a method that resolves difficult issues • Be able to implement the “principles to overcome stress” in decision-making and resolving issues Discover potential capabilities of subordinates • Check the workplace environment and identify the motivation levels of current members • Specify factors that raise motivation and execute • Use the principle of strengthening relationships and build an effective relationship • Create a positive environment |
| Week 5 | Session 5: Delegation process • Delegate work and accountability to develop team members • Plan and prepare a meeting to “sell” the delegation • Show a performance evaluation standard to clarify follow-up and accountability • Understand the cycle of delegation Addressing mistakes • Use the relationship approach to effectively address mistakes • Accurately identify issues and situations, manage personnel or team competency, and appropriately manage human resources |
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| Week 6 | Session 6: Communication that leads others • Create feedback opportunities to energize interactive communication • Enhance skills of effective questioning and listening to strengthen relationships with subordinates • Think of types and impact of communication More effective meetings • Formulate leadership principles to raise awareness of meeting attendees • Find ways to get cooperation and positive results in meetings • Understand the guidelines of running meetings before, during, and after the meeting |
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| Day 3 | Week 7 | Session 7: Presentation of results • Use the innovation process to sell changes to your organization • Show competency to actualise your ideas to an implementation plan Commit to continuous growth • Evaluate personal results of this training • Present evidence of your achievements through this course • Set a measurable goal for future leadership development |
Session Details: 8-Step Performance Change Pathway
This course uses our proven 8-Step pathway to ensure learning sticks:
1. Pre-Work (videos, podcasts, thought leadership articles)
2. Performance Coaching for Managers Workshop (optional)
3. Kick-off Session (1 hour online), pre-training survey, accountability partner assignment
4. Main Program
5. 28-week self-paced learning program with weekly video/audio content, reinforced by Carnegie Academy AI Edition
6. Deep Learning 1 (2 hours online, 30 days post-program)
7. Deep Learning 2 (2 hours online, 60 days post-program)
8. Graduate-only Ongoing Education (seasonal, 2 hours)
How Does Dale Carnegie Make Sustainment Work in Practice?
- OnDemand Learning: 140 leadership-focused training videos.
- Carnegie Academy AI Edition: Access to Dale Carnegie’s global knowledge base — 113 years worldwide, 62 years in Japan.
- Spring & Autumn Ongoing Education: Seasonal programs to continue growth.
- Books for Deeper Learning:
- Japan Leadership Mastery (現代版 人を動かすリーダー) — the only leadership book designed specifically for Japan. Written by Dr. Greg Story, it combines Dale Carnegie’s global best practices with over 40 years of hard-earned leadership experience in Japan. No competitor offers this unique combination of global and local insight.
- Free Podcasts & Shows:
- The Leadership Japan Series
- Japan’s Top Business Interviews
- The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show
- Japan Business Mastery Show
- 日本語: ビジネス達人の教え, ビジネスプロTV
Japan Leadership Mastery: Your Complete Leadership Toolkit
Leading in Japan is different.
Over my 32 years of leading in Japan, I have made so many mistakes. We learn from our mistakes though, don’t we? In this book, I have combined that hard-earned, real-world experience with the frameworks from the Dale Carnegie leadership curriculum. This is a very practical “how to” guide for foreigners leading in Japan. Don’t be like me when I first started out and try and work it out by yourself. Speed the process right up by applying the lessons I learned over decades of building and leading teams.
Make this book your guide to leadership success in Japan.
Frequently Asked Questions for Leadership Training For Managers
Q: Is this course just theory?
A: No. Every session is hands-on. Participants practice real leadership behaviors — coaching, delegating, planning, problem-solving — that can be applied immediately at work.
Q: Is this for experienced managers only?
A: It’s designed for managers at all levels who want to step up and lead. Whether you’re a new manager or a seasoned executive, the principles scale with your role.
Q: What if I can’t attend all sessions?
A: The course is structured for busy managers. Plus, the OnDemand library and Carnegie Academy AI Edition allow you to catch up and reinforce learning anytime.