Manual № 65 · Becoming a manager for the first time

TheFirstYear

The manual for becoming a manager for the first time.

Promoted on Friday, in charge on Monday, and nobody explained the rest.

12 modules — for the person who was promoted and is now responsible for other people

  1. 01The Day the Job Changed
  2. 02What Is Not Yours to Handle Alone
  3. 03The People Who Were Your Peers
  4. 04Authority You Did Not Ask For
  5. 05The One-to-One Worth Having
  6. 06Expectations Explicit Enough to Be Fair
  1. 07Delegation Is a Teaching Act
  2. 08Four Problems That Look Alike
  3. 09Feedback, Given and Received
  4. 10The Underperformer and the Documented Conversation
  5. 11Your Own Boss, and the Loneliness of the Job
  6. 12Writing the Second Year

Two editions

Themanual,orthemanualand the toolkit.

Standard edition

$39

The full program: all 12 modules, with the exercises, logs, and checklists that save as you go. Everything you need to do the work.

Elite edition · most complete

$69

Everything in Standard, plus The Toolkit, 14 techniques drawn from across the evidence base, each labeled with where it comes from and how good the evidence for it actually is, to use alongside this program rather than instead of it. With original diagrams throughout.

Start with Standard if you would rather. You can upgrade to Elite at any time for the $30 difference, and nothing you have written is lost. And once you own one manual, every other one is 20% off.

Inside The Toolkit

  1. 01Naming the Problem Before Fixing It
  2. 02The Goal That Actually Pulls
  3. 03Situation, Behavior, Impact
  4. 04Aim It at the Work, Not the Person
  5. 05Asking For It, and Doing Something With It
  6. 06The Levels of Handing Something Over
  7. 07Teaching a Task So You Never Do It Again
  1. 08Catching Them Getting It Right
  2. 09The Interview You Are Unqualified to Run
  3. 10The Conversation Where Arguing Makes It Worse
  4. 11The Meeting That Earns Its Hour
  5. 12Whether People Will Tell You Things
  6. 13The Two-Column Note
  7. 14Deciding Now What You Will Do Later

Educational content — not therapy, diagnosis, or treatment, and not a substitute for a clinician when one is needed. Every manual opens with a safety page. If you are thinking about suicide, call or text 988 now.