New manager training your managers run themselves
Six peer-learning sessions for newly promoted managers, built on discussion guides by Henry Mintzberg, Marshall Goldsmith and Marilyn Laiken. No external instructor — which is what makes it affordable to run for every new manager, not just a chosen few.
What is new manager training?
New manager training is structured development for people who have just moved from doing the work to leading the people who do it. It covers the handful of things that break first in that transition: delegating instead of doing, holding people accountable without damaging the relationship, running a team through disagreement, and giving feedback that changes behaviour.
Most first-time managers are promoted because they were excellent at the job they are now supposed to stop doing. Gartner research, summarised by Wharton, found roughly 60% of new managers underperform in their first two years. The gap is rarely knowledge — ask a new manager what good delegation looks like and they will describe it accurately. They still will not do it, because knowing and doing are different problems and only one of them is solved by being told.
New managers learn this job from other managers wrestling with the same problems at the same time. A room with an instructor at the front is the one arrangement in which that cannot happen.
What actually happens in a 90-minute session
The discussion is the learning. The guidebook is the facilitator.
Nobody prepares. Participants get the guidebook beforehand and are welcome to look through it, but the session is built so people can sit down cold — which is why it survives a busy month instead of being postponed.
Four to six managers read a passage of the guide together, reflect on it individually against their own situation, then discuss it as peers. No instructor, nobody presents. The guidebook carries the structure, so the facilitator keeps time rather than teaching.
Every session ends in commitments — each manager leaves with at least one concrete action. Next month the group opens by checking in on how those went. That check-in is what makes this a program rather than six interesting conversations.
The six-session curriculum
Built for first-time managers and frontline supervisors. Each session is one discussion guide, written by the person below.
Managing Conflict in Teams
Marilyn LaikenTeams do not become effective on their own, and the first barrier is the conflict that appears when people work together. Managers leave with a way to handle the disagreement they are currently avoiding.
Dealing with Delegation
David CreelmanThe classic first-time failure: micromanaging, or dumping and disappearing. Managers identify their own barrier to letting go and practise entrusting work with proper follow-up.
Accountability: It’s a Tricky World
David CreelmanHolding people to account without becoming the person nobody tells the truth to. Managers work through where accountability actually breaks down on their own team.
High-Performing Teams
What separates a group that shares a reporting line from a team that performs — and which of those a manager is currently running.
FeedFORWARD Instead of Feedback
Marshall GoldsmithGoldsmith’s alternative to the conversation everyone dreads: focus on what the person can do next rather than relitigating what they did last. Managers tend to use this one the same week.
Decision Making: It’s Not What You Think
Henry MintzbergHow decisions really get made — rarely the tidy analytical sequence — and where a manager’s own judgement is strongest and weakest.
Want a different mix? These six are the recommended path, but the library runs to more than 100 topics and many organisations build their own sequence. Browse the full topic library or the other learning paths.
Who facilitates — and why it isn’t an instructor
Your own people do, and there are two models. Either way we certify facilitators through train-the-trainer — two sessions, about five hours — included with the larger programs.
L&D-Led
Your HR or L&D team sets the schedule, picks the topics and guides the groups. No subject-matter expertise required — the guidebook provides the content. Best where you have dedicated L&D staff who want hands-on control.
Manager-as-Facilitator
Managers run sessions for their own teams after a short workshop — no prior facilitation experience needed. This is how organisations scale leadership development without growing L&D headcount.
Two honest failure modes. If the facilitator has no standing with the group — too junior, or seen as HR checking a box — the conversation stays polite and nothing surfaces. And if sessions are allowed to slip when the quarter gets busy, the group loses continuity and the commitments stop meaning anything. Both are fixable, but both are real.
What it costs
Beyond that, pricing is by tier and we quote against your numbers. An annual licence covers the whole topic library — not just these six sessions — so the same programme can carry your mid-level managers afterwards.
Instructor-led new-manager courses from the large providers typically run between $2,400 and $5,900 per seat for a two- or three-day programme, which is why they tend to be reserved for high-potentials. Because your own people facilitate, the economics here work the other way round: the cost per manager falls as the group grows, which is what makes it realistic to train every new manager rather than a shortlist.
Organisations already doing this
Gildan, one of the world’s largest apparel manufacturers with more than 50,000 employees, runs CoachingOurselves for new and mid-level managers.
Intelerad, a Montreal leader in radiology imaging, used the approach to build agility and collaboration as the organisation grew. The method itself was co-founded by Henry Mintzberg and Phil LeNir.
How long should it be, and what happens after
Six sessions over six months — nine hours in total — is deliberately less classroom time than a two-day course, spread across half a year. The learning happens in the gaps: a manager commits to a delegation conversation in session two and reports back in session three, in front of peers who will ask how it went.
Afterwards, groups usually keep meeting — the licence covers the whole library. Many organisations then use cascading deployment: year-one participants become year-two facilitators, so the program grows without constant L&D involvement. Some clients have sustained that cascade for more than 15 years. It also explains where this sits in the 70:20:10 model — most budget goes to the 10%, formal training; this lives in the 20% and makes the 70% more intentional. It is not a replacement for training. It is what makes training stick.
Common questions
What should be included in new manager training?
The transition problems, not general leadership theory: delegation, accountability, conflict, feedback, team development and decision-making — the six sessions above.
Do we need a professional trainer?
No, and no subject-matter expertise either — the guidebook provides the content. Train-the-trainer certification is two sessions, about five hours.
Can it run virtually?
Yes — in person, virtual or hybrid. Distributed teams are one of the most common reasons organisations choose this format.
How is this different from e-learning?
E-learning transmits content to an individual. This produces a conversation between managers about their own live situations, and a commitment each has to report back on. More on that comparison.
What size should the group be?
Four to six. Small enough that everyone speaks and nobody can sit back.
What does it cost?
Programs start at $5,000 a year for up to 10 managers, and the cost per manager falls as the program grows. We quote against your headcount.
Is it available in other languages?
Yes — topics are available in 14+ languages, including English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Chinese.
Who is it not for?
It is the wrong fit if you need individual executive coaching, compliance training with completion certificates, or a single one-off workshop with no follow-through.
See a session before you decide
The fastest way to judge this is to sit in one. We run open demonstration sessions where you take part as a participant — a real topic, a real group, 60 minutes.