How a financial services group lifted manager confidence from 74% to 96%
A financial services group in Southern Africa raised average manager confidence from 74% to 96% with World Class Manager®, the CPD-accredited management development programme. The result comes from 9,712 matched start and end ratings from 691 managers between 2024 and 2026, and 99% of those managers ended their modules more confident than they began.
The challenge: what financial services managers said at the start
Managers in a large financial services group lead teams through regulation, change and constant customer contact. When they joined, managers described their three greatest challenges in their own words. The most common were motivating and engaging the team (28%), difficult conversations (24%) and performance management (24%), coded from 647 managers’ answers.
What the organisation did
Between 2024 and 2026, 795 managers took part in World Class Manager®, the CPD-accredited management development programme from the Global Growth Institute. Managers worked through online modules, answered reflection questions in their own words and committed to actions with their own teams. Start and end ratings could be matched for 24 modules.
Manager confidence, start to end of each module
Results: manager confidence rose from 74% to 96%
Average confidence rose by 22 points, from 74% at the start of each module to 96% at the end. Across all World Class Manager® managers the rise is 23 points (71% to 94%). 99% of managers in this organisation ended their modules more confident than they began. The biggest gains came in these modules:
| Module | Start | End | Rise (points) | Matched ratings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Difficult Conversations | 61% | 93% | +32 | 427 |
| Optimising Your Time | 64% | 95% | +31 | 459 |
| Great Goal Setting | 69% | 97% | +28 | 609 |
What financial services managers said about the impact
In their own words, from the programme’s reflection and review questions. Verbatim and unedited, original spelling kept, shortened only where marked.
I am more present. I reflect more and try get more feedback from the team. I talk less and listen more. I support more especially when implementing a change. I have also started delegating more, trusting my employees more…
Listening to understand, rather than respond, has helped reduce resistance from team members.
Allowing the team to take ownership has boosted the team confidence and blocking time for team reconciliation during month-end has helped reduce last-minute pressure.
My Team is more vocal, and they engage with each other. They know that I have my trust in them.
Yes, my team has mentioned that I’ve become more approachable and open to feedback. They’ve noted an improvement in my ability to delegate and communicate expectations clearly.
How the results were measured
At the start of each module, every manager rated themselves on the module’s core skill. At the end of the module, they rated their confidence again. Both ratings are shown as a percentage of the top of the scale (1 to 5, or 1 to 10), matched for the same manager and module, and averaged across 9,712 matched pairs from 691 managers. Challenges are coded from managers’ own words. All figures are self-reported: they show how managers rate themselves, not business outcomes. The organisation is anonymised and shown by sector and region only.
Frequently asked questions
Does management training improve manager confidence in financial services?
In this financial services organisation it did. Average manager confidence rose from 74% at the start of each World Class Manager® module to 96% at the end, across 9,712 matched ratings from 691 managers (2024 to 2026). 99% of those managers ended their modules more confident than they began.
Which management skills improved most?
The largest rises were in Difficult Conversations (61% to 93%); Optimising Your Time (64% to 95%); Great Goal Setting (69% to 97%).
What challenges did managers in financial services face?
In their own words at the start of the programme, managers most often named motivating and engaging the team (28%), difficult conversations (24%) and performance management (24%) as their greatest challenges.
How is the confidence score measured?
At the start of each module, every manager rates themselves on the module’s core skill. At the end of the module, they rate their confidence again. Both ratings are turned into a percentage of the top of the scale, matched for the same manager and module, and averaged. The score is self-reported: it shows how managers rate themselves, not business outcomes.
Are these results typical?
Yes. Across all 177 organisations in the matched data (28,460 ratings from 3,397 managers), average confidence rose from 71% to 94%. Every one of the 35 organisations with 15 or more managers in the matched data saw a rise, of between 16 and 34 points.
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