First-Time Manager Training: From Individual Contributor to Team Leader – London, 16–20 Aug 2027

Programme overview

Technical depth: Practitioner · Practical mode: Role-play

Introduction

Most organisations promote their strongest individual performers into management and then expect them to succeed without preparation. The result is new managers who keep doing the work themselves, avoid difficult conversations and leave their teams without clear direction, at a cost to both performance and retention. This Core Concept programme prepares first-time managers to make the shift from doing to leading, using recognised models for delegation, feedback, coaching and team development. Participants rehearse the conversations the role demands and leave with a First 90-Day Management Plan for the team they lead.

Course Objectives

• Redefine personal priorities, time allocation and work values for a first-line management role using the Leadership Pipeline model
• Set clear team goals, roles and expectations using SMART objectives and a RACI matrix
• Delegate work and adapt leadership style to each team member's competence and commitment using the Situational Leadership model
• Hold constructive feedback and coaching conversations using the SBI and GROW models
• Address underperformance, conflict and wellbeing concerns early through structured conversations and clear escalation routes
• Build a First 90-Day Management Plan that the participant's own line manager can review and support

Target Audience

• Newly appointed managers leading a team for the first time
• Team leaders and supervisors moving into formal line management responsibility
• Technical specialists promoted to manage former peers
• Project coordinators taking on direct reports for the first time
• Managers in their first year in post who have had no formal management development

Course Outline

Day 1: From Individual Contributor to Manager

• Leadership Pipeline: The First Passage from Managing Self to Managing Others
• Time Allocation and Work Values Shift Audit
• Managing Former Peers: Boundary and Credibility Reset
• Watkins STARS Model for Diagnosing the Team Situation
• Johari Window Self-Awareness Review

Day 2: Core Models of Team Leadership

• Situational Leadership Model: Matching Style to Development Level
• Tuckman's Stages of Team Development
• Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team
• Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory of Motivation
• ISO 10018 Guidance on People Engagement and Competence

Day 3: Everyday Management Practice

• SMART Team Objectives and Expectation Setting
• RACI Matrix for Roles and Responsibilities
• Delegation Using the Eisenhower Matrix and Delegation Levels
• One-to-One Meeting Structure and Template
• Team Meeting Agenda and Action Log Design

Day 4: Difficult Conversations, Performance and Wellbeing

• SBI Feedback Model for Constructive and Corrective Feedback
• GROW Coaching Model for Development Conversations
• Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Modes in Team Disputes
• Performance Improvement Plan Structure and Documentation
• ISO 45003 Guidance on Psychosocial Risk and Team Wellbeing

Day 5: Role-Play Practice and the 90-Day Plan

• Role-Play: Setting Expectations with a Former Peer
• Role-Play: Corrective Feedback on Missed Deadlines
• Role-Play: Coaching a Capable but Disengaged Team Member
• First 90-Day Management Plan Drafting
• Peer Feedback Circle and Plan Presentation

Skills You Will Gain

• Work Delegation
• Team Goal Setting
• Adaptive Leadership Style
• Feedback Delivery
• Performance Coaching
• Conflict Resolution
• Underperformance Management
• Team Meeting Facilitation

Why Attend This Course

• Return to work with a First 90-Day Management Plan for the team you now lead, already reviewed by peers
• Hold the conversations new managers tend to postpone, having rehearsed them with feedback
• Stop doing the team's work yourself and spend your time on the activities that make the team effective
• Learn from new managers in other sectors and countries who are making the same transition

Conclusion

The move from specialist to manager is one of the hardest steps in a working life, because the skills that earned the promotion are not the ones the new role rewards. This programme moves from the shift in priorities and values, through the core models of team leadership, to delegation, feedback, conflict and underperformance. The final day rehearses the conversations that matter most and produces a First 90-Day Management Plan, giving each participant a clear and structured start in the role.