The first year decides the next ten.
An eight-week program for people in their first management role. Feedback, delegation, difficult conversations and prioritization — practised under pressure, not lectured from slides.
8 weeks
Program length
12–20
Participants per cohort
Weekly
2-hour live sessions
Peer pods
Between sessions
The problem
New managers do not fail at strategy. They fail at Tuesday.
The first management year is a series of small, high-consequence moments: the underperformer, the missed deadline, the colleague who is now a report. Most organizations leave that year to chance.
You will recognize this if
- →Your strongest ICs become your most anxious managers
- →Difficult conversations get postponed until HR is involved
- →New managers still do the work themselves instead of delegating
- →Attrition spikes on teams with a first-time leader
The process
How the work runs
Every engagement runs the EmpacITy Loop. It is why the change survives the last session.
- 01
Baseline
Short self and team assessment so each manager knows their starting point — and so we can prove movement later.
Week 1
- 02
Foundations
The manager's job, expectation setting, one-to-ones that are worth the hour, and delegation that actually releases capacity.
Weeks 1–3
- 03
Hard conversations
Feedback, underperformance and conflict — rehearsed in role-play and simulation with live coaching in the moment.
Weeks 4–6
- 04
Pressure
Prioritization, saying no upward, and leading through change. Peer pods run real cases between sessions.
Weeks 6–8
- 05
Measure
Repeat assessment, individual plan and a manager-of-manager briefing so the growth is supported after week eight.
Week 8
What you get
- ✓Pre/post self and team assessment per participant
- ✓Eight live sessions with rehearsal and live coaching
- ✓Conversation playbook: feedback, underperformance, workload, conflict
- ✓Peer pod structure with prompts for between-session practice
- ✓Individual 90-day plan agreed with their own manager
- ✓Cohort report for the sponsor with themes and risks
What changes
8
Weeks from anxious to competent, with practice built in
12–20
Managers per cohort, so everyone speaks every session
100%
Of sessions include live rehearsal, not just theory
Investment
No mystery pricing.
Indicative ranges so you can size a budget before you speak to us. Final scope is quoted after the diagnostic.
Single cohort
from $14,500
8 weeks, 12–20 new managers, assessment and reporting included.
Annual intake
from $46,000
Three cohorts a year so every newly promoted manager starts within a quarter.
Manager clinic
from $2,400/mo
Monthly group coaching for managers who have completed the program.
Give them the year back.
Start a cohort.
Tell us how many managers were promoted in the last twelve months, and we will tell you what a cohort would look like.
Book a discovery call