First-time Manager Program Wins International Business Award For Best New Product Of The Year

SAN DIEGO - Aug. 22, 2016 - PRLog -- The Ken Blanchard Companies^®, a global leader in management training, won a Silver Stevie^® Award in the 13^th Annual International Business Awards, the world's only international, all-encompassing business awards program.

The awards will be presented to winners at a gala awards banquet at the Rome Cavalieri Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Rome, Italy on 21 October. Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 200 executives worldwide who participated in the judging process from May through early August. A record number of more than 3,800 nominations were received in this year's International Business Awards program from organizations and individuals throughout the world.

The First-time Manager program was developed to train new managers on the mind-set and skill set that will get them off to a great start and give them the confidence they need to be a good boss. Based on the secrets of the #1 best-selling business book, The New One Minute Manager^®, by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, the program was named in the Best New Product or Service of the Year—Business-to-Business Services category.

"We know what an exciting but challenging transition it is to become a manager for the first time, and the pressure that managers face in general. People deserve to have good managers, and managers need good training to achieve that. First-time Manager is the program that can help managers get on the right track and we're honored to be recognized by the premier International Business Awards program," said Scott Blanchard, Principal, The Ken Blanchard Companies.

In the six-hour training course, managers learn the four essential skills to have effective conversations, put the skills into practice in four core conversations, and walk away with tools to help them become a great leader.

"Great Product/Service! The best managers will not only lead by example but [also] by getting into this workshop! Must be adapted worldwide by every company," one of the IBA judges commented. Others stated, "Managers' secret sauce, The Ken Blanchard Companies^® brings new managers an advantage," and "Quite innovative and thought-provoking application to a business problem. Some not-new managers could benefit from this training."

Learn more about the Essential Skills for the First-time Manager (http://www.kenblanchard.com/Products-Services/Leadership-...).

Download free ebook here (http://leadership.kenblanchard.com/first-time-manager-web).

About The Ken Blanchard Companies^®
The Ken Blanchard Companies is the global leader in management training. For more than 35 years, Blanchard^® has been creating the best managers in the world, training over 150,000 people per year. From the award-winning First-time Manager program—based on the time-tested secrets of the best-selling business book, The New One Minute Manager^®—to Situational Leadership^® II, the most widely taught leadership model in the world, Blanchard is the expert in management training across all levels of an organization and is the provider of choice by Fortune 500 companies as well as small to medium businesses, governments, and educational and nonprofit organizations.

About the Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the peoplebehind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com.

Media Contact
Vanessa Lacey, Marketing Communications
Vanessa.lacey@kenblanchard.com
1.760.233.3645
www.kenblanchard.com