Practical management blueprints you can implement straight away.
Each playbook is a toolkit, set out step by step, with the exact words to say, real cases and a one-page tool to take away.
Your first 90 days as a new manager (without turning into Michael Scott)
Someone watched you be brilliant at your job and gave you a team. Nobody mentioned that it’s a different job. Here’s a plain plan for the first 90 days, a cautionary tale from a paper company in Scranton, and a one-page checklist for your desk.
Can an introvert be a good manager? What Gareth Southgate gets right
Think of the person who talked first and longest in your last meeting. Were they right? We tend to mistake airtime for ability, which is bad news for quiet managers and for anyone choosing between them. Here’s what the evidence says, what a famously quiet football manager shows, and a one-page template to give your team.
Overwhelmed at work? Sort the problem into three piles
“Everything lands on me. Pay’s frozen, head office has changed the system again, my team’s stretched, and they look at me like I can fix it.” Here is a 15-minute exercise that sorts a manager’s worries into what to change, what to push on and what to stop fighting.
How to motivate your team when you can’t pay them more
“She’s lost her spark. I’ll mention the bonus.” Pay isn’t the only dial, and pulling the wrong one can make things worse. Here’s how to find which need is in the red, set goals that don’t backfire, and recognise people in a way they can use.
Psychological safety at work: what 12 Angry Men gets right about speaking up
Twelve men in a hot room, eleven of them ready to go home, and one who won’t just go along. It’s a surprisingly good film about why people stay quiet in a group and what gets them talking. Here’s what it teaches managers, what the research says, and a meeting habit that costs nothing.
How to manage an underperforming employee (before it goes to HR)
The most common wait-and-see in management is also the most costly: leaving someone to drift because they’re likeable. Here’s the order to check things in, the conversation to have this week, and when to bring in HR.
How to delegate without it all coming back to you
When delegation goes wrong, it usually gets blamed on the person. Look closer and it’s mostly the hand-over. Nobody said whether they were deciding or advising, nobody put the check-ins in the diary, and the work came back the wrong shape.
How to give feedback that actually changes what people do
In the best-known review of feedback research, more than a third of feedback made performance worse than no feedback at all. The common thread was feedback that pulled attention away from the task and onto the person. Here’s how to keep it on the work, with scripts you can use this week.
How to run a one-to-one that isn’t a status update
A good one-to-one is the one meeting in your week where the other person does most of the talking. Here’s a 30-minute shape that works, eight questions to steal, and what to do on the week you’re swamped.
Six more playbooks are on the way.
See what’s next below, or tell us what your managers are stuck on.
Suggest a topic →What’s in it for you
Playbooks you can use this week. Each one starts from a moment managers get stuck on, works through real cases, and says plainly what the research does and doesn’t show.
Tools to use today
Every playbook comes with a one-page PDF you can print or share. There is also a free assessment that shows where to start.
Your first 90 days, on one page
The week-by-week plan, the scripts and the ten checks, on a single sheet.
Get the free PDF →
How I work: a note for my team
Eight prompts that tell your team how you work, so they stop guessing.
Get the free PDF →
The meeting card: hear everyone before you decide
DRAW on one card: the five steps, the exact sentences and a review checklist.
Get the free PDF →What we’re writing next.
Each one comes from the moments managers tell us they get stuck on, written the same way: practical first, evidence checked.
- 01Managing Gen Z: what the evidence says, and what to do about it
- 02Two people in your team who can’t stand each other
- 03Hybrid working without the green-dot culture
- 04How to tell your team about a change you didn’t choose
- 05How to hire better with a structured interview
- 06Using AI in your team without losing the skills
Build your first elite team.
A 20-minute call about your managers and your goals. You’ll leave with a clear recommendation on where to start.
