“How can we improve the soft skills and people skills of our managers?”

What They Needed

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), widely recognised from cinema film ratings such as U, PG and 12, wanted to provide in-house soft skills development for its intermediate and line managers.

While technically strong, managers required support in improving their ability to lead through people rather than process. The organisation wanted the training to focus on:

• Communication skills, including listening, questioning and problem-solving
• Team briefing, coaching and supporting performance improvement
• Creating an open, trusting culture across teams
• Motivating and nurturing talent, rather than simply directing
• Encouraging participation and involvement in decision-making
• Developing strong working relationships across departments

The aim was to help managers better understand their leadership role and develop the interpersonal skills to engage, guide and influence their teams more effectively.

In short: How do we help technically focused managers develop practical people leadership skills they can apply immediately?

What We Did

MTD designed and delivered a series of two-day “Management Skills” workshops, tailored specifically to the BBFC management population.

The courses:

• Covered all focus areas including communication techniques, coaching, motivation, performance management, problem-solving and teamwork
• Used accelerated learning principles, practical exercises and real-life scenarios
• Included role play, management development questionnaires, team exercises and NLP techniques
• Incorporated emotional intelligence assessments, helping managers benchmark and increase their people-awareness
• Delivered additional supervisor-level training for other employee cohorts
• Focused deliberately on practical skill application, not theory — enabling managers to use what they learned immediately back in the workplace

Training reinforced that effective leadership within a technical environment depends on mindset, communication style and the ability to build trust.