Manager development for new managers never taught to manage.

Manager development is the ongoing work of preparing people to lead teams: giving feedback, delegating, running 1:1s, handling conflict, and making decisions under pressure. It differs from one-time manager training in duration and format. A training event transfers information in a day or two. Development builds capability over months, with practice and support in the situations managers actually face.

It depends on the gap you are closing. Training providers such as CCL, FranklinCovey, DDI, Dale Carnegie, and Harvard Business Impact teach a curriculum through workshops or digital courses, and fit when managers need shared knowledge quickly. Coaching programs such as Boon, BetterUp, CoachHub, and Torch build skills through ongoing coaching on real situations, and fit when the gap is behavior. Boon Grow combines six months of 1:1 coaching with optional peer group coaching and measures competencies before and after. For a side-by-side comparison of nine programs, see our guide to the best manager development programs.

For most new managers, coaching changes more, and the two work best together: training gives a group the same basics quickly, and coaching is where each manager applies them. A course covers generic scenarios on a fixed date. A coach works with your manager on the situation in front of them: the underperformer conversation this week, the first performance review, the former peer who now reports to them. Sessions recur, so development compounds instead of fading after the workshop. At Boon, every manager is matched with a dedicated coach and the engagement is measured pre/post against defined competencies.

The core audience is new and rising managers: strong individual contributors stepping into their first team, and early-tenure managers who never got real support. Companies also use Boon for experienced managers taking on bigger scope. Programs are cohort-friendly, so you can support a promotion class together while each manager works 1:1 with their own coach.

Every engagement is anchored to a competency framework, yours if you have one, ours if you do not. Managers assess against it at the start and end of the program, and your People team sees participation and competency movement in aggregate dashboards. Session content stays confidential between manager and coach.

Measure in three layers. Early signals in the first three months: attendance, participant satisfaction, and progress on goals. Behavior change at six to twelve months: competency scores before and after, and changes direct reports can see. Business outcomes after twelve months: retention and engagement on the teams of developed managers, and promotion readiness. Boon reports a 23% average competency improvement across six-month Grow programs.

Boon Grow includes three touchpoints with each participant's manager: kickoff, midpoint, and close. They keep coaching goals aligned with what the manager expects on the job and make behavior change visible beyond the coaching relationship.

Yes. Boon handles nudges, session prep, and follow-through in Slack and Microsoft Teams, so coaching shows up where people already work. Between sessions, participants get a summary of goals and action items, resources suggested for their focus areas, and AI roleplay practice tied to coaching goals. Employees can also use Boon inside AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT to prepare for sessions and rehearse conversations.

Boon prices manager development by contract, either a flat fee per participant or pay for the sessions that get used, on annual terms with no multi-year contract. Both make a manager cohort easy to budget and easy to compare against the cost of a two-day workshop. We share numbers on the first call.

Most organizations launch their first cohort within a week. Enrollment templates, communications, and coach matching are handled by Boon, so your People team does not need to build a program from scratch.