Leadership & Management
The First Time Manager
This five-day programme supports professionals moving into their first management role. Participants build skills in expectation setting, work planning and delegation, feedback and difficult conversations, and managing relationships and pressure.
Introduction
The First Time Manager Training Course supports professionals who have just moved from doing the work to leading the people who do it. Participants work through the shift in identity, the new expectations placed on them, and the practical routines that make a first management role workable. The programme covers delegation, feedback, difficult conversations, and time management in one sequence. As a result, learners gain confidence and a clear standard to follow. Furthermore, the course strengthens communication, judgement, and the self-awareness that prevents common first-year mistakes.
The First Time Manager Course Objectives
- Understand the shift from individual contributor to manager.
- Define the manager's responsibilities to the team, the business, and customers.
- Set expectations and standards that a new team can follow.
- Plan work and manage time with urgency-importance analysis and the Eisenhower matrix.
- Delegate using the five levels of delegation with clear accountability.
- Assign tasks with outcomes, authority, and support using RACI charts.
- Give feedback with the SBI (Situation-Behaviour-Impact) model.
- Coach team members using the GROW model.
- Hold difficult conversations about performance and conduct.
- Manage relationships with former peers and manage upwards effectively.
Course Methodology
- Interactive sessions built on first-time manager situations.
- Workshops on delegation, feedback, and time management practice.
- Group exercises on difficult conversations and peer relationships.
- Hands-on practice with SMART goals, RACI charts, and one-to-one routines.
- Simulation of a team dispute and an underperformance conversation.
- Facilitator coaching and peer review on personal management plans.
Who Should Take This Course
- Newly appointed managers and team leaders.
- Professionals promoted into their first supervisory role.
- Technical specialists now leading a team.
- Team leaders without formal management training.
- Coordinators and officers taking on team responsibility.
- High-potential staff preparing for a management role.
The First Time Manager Course Outlines
The Shift from Doing to Managing
- • What changes when you become a manager.
- • Identity, mindset, and the pressure to keep doing the work.
- • Supervision, management, and leadership compared.
- • Responsibilities to the team, the business, and customers.
- • Managing time with urgency-importance analysis and the Eisenhower matrix.
- • Common first-year mistakes and how to avoid them.
- • Case discussion: a new manager who kept doing everything alone.
Setting Expectations and Planning Work
- • Setting expectations and standards of work.
- • Communication discipline and instructions that land.
- • Setting goals with SMART criteria.
- • Planning work and priorities for a small team.
- • One-to-one routines and check-in habits.
- • Building credibility with a former peer group.
- • Workshop: planning a team week with clear ownership.
Delegation and Getting Work Done Through Others
- • Why new managers struggle to delegate.
- • The five levels of delegation and choosing the right one.
- • Delegating with outcomes, authority, and support.
- • Accountability with RACI charts and clear decision rights.
- • Monitoring progress without micromanaging.
- • Handling mistakes and building team capability.
- • Exercise: delegating a task and following it through.
Feedback, Coaching, and Difficult Conversations
- • Giving feedback with the SBI (Situation-Behaviour-Impact) model.
- • Coaching with the GROW model.
- • Recognition, motivation, and building team morale.
- • Preparing for a difficult conversation and opening it.
- • Managing underperformance with structured improvement plans.
- • Conflict between team members and the Thomas-Kilmann conflict modes.
- • Simulation: a conversation about underperformance.
Relationships, Pressure, and Managing Upwards
- • Managing relationships with former peers.
- • Managing upwards and representing your team.
- • Handling pressure, scrutiny, and personal triggers.
- • Time management for managers: meetings, email, and priorities.
- • Escalation, decision limits, and asking for help early.
- • Personal management development planning.
- • Capstone: presenting a first-90-days management plan.
Conclusion
By successfully completing The First Time Manager, participants will gain a practical command of expectation setting, delegation, feedback, and difficult conversations. They will acquire skills in work planning, coaching, conflict handling, and managing relationships upwards and across their team. Gentex Training Center designs the programme to help new managers lead with confidence from their first day.
FAQs
— What is the "The First Time Manager" course about?
It supports professionals who have just moved from doing the work to leading the people who do it. The course spans the shift from contributor to manager, expectation setting and work planning, delegation, feedback and difficult conversations, and managing relationships and pressure.
— What are the key benefits of the "The First Time Manager" course?
You gain confidence and a clear standard to follow in your first management role. The course reduces the urge to do everything yourself, improves delegation and planning, makes feedback and difficult conversations easier to hold, and helps you build credibility with a team that knew you as a peer.
— What skills will I gain from the "The First Time Manager" course?
You will develop four core skills: the managerial mindset and expectation setting, work planning and delegation, feedback, coaching, and difficult conversations, and relationship and pressure management including managing upwards.
— What tools, methods, or standards are covered in the "The First Time Manager" course?
The course covers urgency-importance analysis and the Eisenhower matrix, SMART criteria, the five levels of delegation, RACI charts, one-to-one and check-in routines, the SBI (Situation-Behaviour-Impact) feedback model, the GROW coaching model, structured improvement plans, the Thomas-Kilmann conflict modes, and escalation and decision limit practice.
— How is the "The First Time Manager" course applied in real-world practice?
Participants apply it to real work such as planning a team week with clear ownership, delegating a task and following it through, holding a conversation about underperformance, and setting priorities across meetings and email. The same methods support first-90-days planning and upward communication.
Contact our team and let us help you find the right option.
Introduction
The First Time Manager Training Course supports professionals who have just moved from doing the work to leading the people who do it. Participants work through the shift in identity, the new expectations placed on them, and the practical routines that make a first management role workable. The programme covers delegation, feedback, difficult conversations, and time management in one sequence. As a result, learners gain confidence and a clear standard to follow. Furthermore, the course strengthens communication, judgement, and the self-awareness that prevents common first-year mistakes.
The First Time Manager Course Objectives
- Understand the shift from individual contributor to manager.
- Define the manager's responsibilities to the team, the business, and customers.
- Set expectations and standards that a new team can follow.
- Plan work and manage time with urgency-importance analysis and the Eisenhower matrix.
- Delegate using the five levels of delegation with clear accountability.
- Assign tasks with outcomes, authority, and support using RACI charts.
- Give feedback with the SBI (Situation-Behaviour-Impact) model.
- Coach team members using the GROW model.
- Hold difficult conversations about performance and conduct.
- Manage relationships with former peers and manage upwards effectively.
Course Methodology
- Interactive sessions built on first-time manager situations.
- Workshops on delegation, feedback, and time management practice.
- Group exercises on difficult conversations and peer relationships.
- Hands-on practice with SMART goals, RACI charts, and one-to-one routines.
- Simulation of a team dispute and an underperformance conversation.
- Facilitator coaching and peer review on personal management plans.
Who Should Take This Course
- Newly appointed managers and team leaders.
- Professionals promoted into their first supervisory role.
- Technical specialists now leading a team.
- Team leaders without formal management training.
- Coordinators and officers taking on team responsibility.
- High-potential staff preparing for a management role.
The First Time Manager Course Outlines
The Shift from Doing to Managing
- • What changes when you become a manager.
- • Identity, mindset, and the pressure to keep doing the work.
- • Supervision, management, and leadership compared.
- • Responsibilities to the team, the business, and customers.
- • Managing time with urgency-importance analysis and the Eisenhower matrix.
- • Common first-year mistakes and how to avoid them.
- • Case discussion: a new manager who kept doing everything alone.
Setting Expectations and Planning Work
- • Setting expectations and standards of work.
- • Communication discipline and instructions that land.
- • Setting goals with SMART criteria.
- • Planning work and priorities for a small team.
- • One-to-one routines and check-in habits.
- • Building credibility with a former peer group.
- • Workshop: planning a team week with clear ownership.
Delegation and Getting Work Done Through Others
- • Why new managers struggle to delegate.
- • The five levels of delegation and choosing the right one.
- • Delegating with outcomes, authority, and support.
- • Accountability with RACI charts and clear decision rights.
- • Monitoring progress without micromanaging.
- • Handling mistakes and building team capability.
- • Exercise: delegating a task and following it through.
Feedback, Coaching, and Difficult Conversations
- • Giving feedback with the SBI (Situation-Behaviour-Impact) model.
- • Coaching with the GROW model.
- • Recognition, motivation, and building team morale.
- • Preparing for a difficult conversation and opening it.
- • Managing underperformance with structured improvement plans.
- • Conflict between team members and the Thomas-Kilmann conflict modes.
- • Simulation: a conversation about underperformance.
Relationships, Pressure, and Managing Upwards
- • Managing relationships with former peers.
- • Managing upwards and representing your team.
- • Handling pressure, scrutiny, and personal triggers.
- • Time management for managers: meetings, email, and priorities.
- • Escalation, decision limits, and asking for help early.
- • Personal management development planning.
- • Capstone: presenting a first-90-days management plan.
Conclusion
By successfully completing The First Time Manager, participants will gain a practical command of expectation setting, delegation, feedback, and difficult conversations. They will acquire skills in work planning, coaching, conflict handling, and managing relationships upwards and across their team. Gentex Training Center designs the programme to help new managers lead with confidence from their first day.
FAQs
— What is the "The First Time Manager" course about?
It supports professionals who have just moved from doing the work to leading the people who do it. The course spans the shift from contributor to manager, expectation setting and work planning, delegation, feedback and difficult conversations, and managing relationships and pressure.
— What are the key benefits of the "The First Time Manager" course?
You gain confidence and a clear standard to follow in your first management role. The course reduces the urge to do everything yourself, improves delegation and planning, makes feedback and difficult conversations easier to hold, and helps you build credibility with a team that knew you as a peer.
— What skills will I gain from the "The First Time Manager" course?
You will develop four core skills: the managerial mindset and expectation setting, work planning and delegation, feedback, coaching, and difficult conversations, and relationship and pressure management including managing upwards.
— What tools, methods, or standards are covered in the "The First Time Manager" course?
The course covers urgency-importance analysis and the Eisenhower matrix, SMART criteria, the five levels of delegation, RACI charts, one-to-one and check-in routines, the SBI (Situation-Behaviour-Impact) feedback model, the GROW coaching model, structured improvement plans, the Thomas-Kilmann conflict modes, and escalation and decision limit practice.
— How is the "The First Time Manager" course applied in real-world practice?
Participants apply it to real work such as planning a team week with clear ownership, delegating a task and following it through, holding a conversation about underperformance, and setting priorities across meetings and email. The same methods support first-90-days planning and upward communication.
Partners in Learning
Our Partners in Learning include leading companies and organizations that trust Gentex Training Center for high-quality training courses and professional development programs. Together, we deliver impactful training programs that support skills growth, leadership development, and organizational excellence.
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