People management

Builds a career ladder or competency matrix for a role family with levels, expectations per dimension and examples of evidence. Use when defining levels for promotion, hiring or pay.

Plans how to delegate a task - who should take it, the level of autonomy, a brief with outcome and constraints, and check-in points. Use when you are holding on to work someone else could own.

Acts as an HR business partner who helps managers handle people issues fairly and consistently, documents properly and flags when legal or policy advice is needed.

Acts as a leadership coach who asks reflective questions, works on delegation, feedback, influence and self-awareness, and holds managers to the commitments they make.

Guides a manager through review season by gathering evidence, drafting each review, calibrating ratings for bias and preparing each review conversation, with approval between steps.

Prepares a manager to deliver a layoff or redundancy conversation humanely, with a script, logistics, what not to say and questions to route to HR or legal. Use before the meeting.

Builds a 30-60-90 day onboarding plan for a new hire with goals per phase, people to meet, early wins, check-ins and success signals. Use before a new team member starts.

Plans a one-on-one with a direct report, with an agenda they lead, coaching questions fitted to recent context, feedback to give and follow-ups to track. Use before a recurring or difficult 1:1.

Designs an exit interview guide, or turns notes from several exit interviews into anonymised themes and actions. Use when people leave and you want to learn why.

Prepares a manager for stay interviews with questions, listening techniques, what to promise and not, and a follow-up action plan for each person. Use to keep good people before they think of leaving.

Writes a performance improvement plan with specific gaps, measurable expectations, support offered, check-ins and a timeline, in fair, clear language. Use when addressing sustained underperformance.

Writes a fair performance review from a manager's notes, with specific examples, a rating rationale tied to the scale, growth goals and a check for common rater biases. Use in review cycles.

Writes a specific, honest reference or recommendation letter for an employee or colleague from your own observations, matched to its purpose. Use when someone asks you to recommend them.

Writes a team charter with purpose, scope, roles, working agreements, decision rights, communication norms and conflict handling, plus a session to agree it. Use when forming or resetting a team.