People Manager Development: How to Transfer Skills Beyond the Classroom
People managers have a hard job.
They have to set goals, manage resources, support real humans who are not always easy to support, and keep everything moving on time and within budget so the organization can meet its goals.
That’s why I invited Kamaria Scott, an I/O psychologist focused on people manager development and enablement, to join me on this episode of Learning for Good.
She’s sharing how you can improve the health of your organization by investing in your people managers.
Key Points:
00:58 The role of a people manager
04:18 Kamaria Scott’s background and career journey
11:04 Defining people manager development and enablement
15:24 Challenges nonprofits face with their people managers
19:51 Solutions for effective nonprofit people manager support
23:42 Evidence-based leadership
28:21 The first step to investing in your nonprofit’s people leaders
Why Invest in People Managers?
Nonprofit managers play a huge role in employee engagement, retention, and organizational success.
People managers can:
Build stronger, more engaged teams.
Drive better decision-making and innovation.
Reduce burnout and turnover.
And a Gartner study cited leader and manager development as the #1 priority for HR leaders in 2025.
But training our people managers won’t help if we don’t also enable them to do their jobs better.
The Difference Between People Manager Development and Enablement
Most organizations focus on development—teaching managers new skills—but enablement is what allows them to put those skills into action. Without it, managers get stuck in old habits or face systemic barriers that prevent them from leading effectively.
Key differences:
Development = Training, coaching, and upskilling managers.
Enablement = Removing roadblocks, creating clarity, and giving managers the tools & authority to act.
Enablement is what allows people managers to use their new skills outside the classroom.
How to Help People Managers Implement New Skills after a Training Program
Kamaria outlines three critical ways nonprofits can set managers up for success:
Define What “Good” Looks Like:
Many organizations expect managers to lead well but fail to define what good leadership actually looks like.
We should provide clear competencies, expectations, and success metrics so managers understand what’s expected.
Remove Barriers to Leading Effectively:
Managers can’t drive change if they’re buried in administrative work, have unclear expectations, or lack authority.
We need to assess what’s holding them back and give them the decision-making power and resources to lead confidently.
Create a Culture of Continuous Support:
Manager training shouldn’t be a one-and-done event—it should be reinforced through coaching, peer learning, and leadership engagement.
Senior leaders must actively support and model people-first leadership to make it part of the culture.
As L&D, we have to be able to not just develop their skills, but empower them to do their work effectively, even with their day-to-day constraints of time and resources.
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