The manager's toolkit
Feedback, absence, fair process and team purpose.
A half day on the manager's toolkit: critical conversations, absence and capability, fair performance management, conduct and grievance under the Acas Code, and giving your team purpose and shape.
- Level
- Explore
- Learning time
- 4 hours 30 minutes
- Where
- Managing well
- Price
- £129
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion, or Certificate of Completion and Assessment with a short assessment
Overview and Outcomes.
Who It's For
New and developing managers in housing, health, councils and the voluntary sector
Overview
The second half of the Immerse Stepping up covers the people management basics that keep everyone safe. It opens with critical conversations, replacing the feedback sandwich with Situation, Behaviour, Impact, alongside Radical Candor and the Thomas-Kilmann conflict modes. It then works through health, absence and capability, including East Lindsey District Council versus Daubney, managing performance fairly with the illustrative case of Gareth, conduct and discipline under the Acas Code with the Burchell test and Higgs versus Farmor's School, and grievances, drawing on Respect and Resolution in NHS Wales. It finishes on team purpose and charters, from Hackman and Apollo 13, and roles and size from Belbin to Amazon's two-pizza teams.
Aims
The purpose is to give managers the confidence to handle absence, conduct, grievance and underperformance fairly and on the record, and to hold the conversations that come with them, while giving their team a clear purpose, sensible roles and a shape that builds lasting trust.
In summary, you will be able to:
- Use Situation, Behaviour, Impact and the Thomas-Kilmann modes to hold feedback and conflict conversations that are clear, fair and respectful.
- Apply the Acas Code, the Burchell test and lessons from Daubney to manage absence, capability, conduct and grievances through a fair process.
- Design a team charter and structure that give your team a clear purpose, the right mix of roles and a workable size.
What you'll develop
Across this Explore, you will develop the ability to:
- Give specific, caring and direct feedback using Situation, Behaviour, Impact and Radical Candor, and explain why the feedback sandwich undermines both criticism and praise.
- Explain how Statutory Sick Pay and fit notes work since April 2026 and use a fit note to open a planning conversation.
- Distinguish capability from conduct and explain why naming the reason first determines the right procedure.
- Plan a fair disciplinary process in line with the Acas Code, from investigation and the right to be accompanied through to decision and appeal.
- Plan the handling of a grievance in line with the Acas Code, from early listening to a reasoned decision and appeal.
- Explain Hackman's compelling direction and why it should specify ends rather than means.
- Describe Belbin's nine team roles and explain why they suit conversation rather than selection.
- Use the Coaching Habit questions, especially 'And what else?', to find the real issue before offering any advice.
Built from 7 modules.
4 hours 30 minutes of learning.
- 01Critical Conversations: Feedback, Coaching and ConflictManagement49 min
- 02Health, Absence and CapabilityPeople Management and Employment Law39 min
- 03Managing Performance FairlyPeople Management and Employment Law37 min
- 04Conduct and Discipline: The Acas Code in PracticePeople Management and Employment Law40 min
- 05Grievances, Bullying and Workplace ConflictPeople Management and Employment Law40 min
- 06Purpose, Goals and Team ChartersTeam Development38 min
- 07Roles, Composition and SizeTeam Development37 min