The First-Time Manager's Handbook
Management · Nº 31
The First-Time Manager's Handbook
Your First 90 Days in Charge, without Steamrolling Your Team or Letting It Run You
You got promoted. Now your old coworkers are waiting to see who you've become.
24 tools, 13 ready-made templates, and one new manager followed from the week before she starts to her day-90 review, so you know what to do first, second, and not at all.
You get 24 tools to agree on the role with your boss, learn the area before you change it, build your new relationships, make your first changes, and close out day 90 with numbers. Plus the First 90 days spreadsheet, already filled in with the example.
A book explains the method. This handbook puts it to work: the tool, a worked example, and a spreadsheet with your numbers.
One-time payment of $29.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.
Last week you were the one everybody asked for help. Now you're the boss, and nobody told you what that means. Can you change the schedule? Who decides on overtime? Your old lunch crowd goes quiet when you walk in, and the person who also wanted the job is being very polite. So when the store gets busy, you do what you know: you jump back behind the counter. And the team is left without a manager.
THE SPREADSHEET
First 90 days spreadsheet
Use the completed example as a reference and enter your business data in the marked fields. Check the instructions and the calculations before you make a decision.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
Three situations this handbook solves
The weekend before your first day
You open the expectations conversation agenda and prep the five questions for your boss. You want three things in writing: the results that matter by day 90, what you decide on your own, and when you two meet. Monday, you walk in knowing the job.
You're itching to fix a rule that makes no sense
Before you scrap it, you run Chesterton's fence and ask why it exists. Sometimes it's a leftover nobody remembers. Sometimes it's the reason a problem stopped happening. Either way, the team sees you ask before you cut.
Something goes badly wrong on your watch
A cooler breaks down, or a big order goes out wrong. You pull up the first-crisis playbook: protect people and customers, call the expert, get the facts, bring your boss two options, and review it within 48 hours, without hunting for someone to blame.
INSIDE
What you'll find in each tool
Five parts that follow the calendar. Before day one: the expectations conversation with your boss and the promotion announcement. The first month: learn the area before you touch it, and record your starting numbers. Then your new relationships with your boss, your team, and your peers. Then your first changes, and your first crisis. Finally, owning the role and the day-90 review. Every tool has a step by step, a worked example, and an exercise.
WHAT YOU GET
Everything included in your purchase
- The First-Time Manager's Handbook in PDF: 24 tools, each with a step by step, a worked example, and an exercise
- The First 90 days spreadsheet in Excel and Google Sheets, with 6 working tabs, filled in with the example manager
- The Template kit: 13 ready-made texts, from your first talk to the team to a weekly message for your boss and a first-crisis playbook
- 2 worksheets to fill in (expectations conversation and day-90 review) and a 30-day plan for your first month, one week per stage
- Access to your handbook on the Consylion platform
Full table of contents
The 24 tools, in the order you'll use them
Part 1 · Part 1 · Before day one
- 01The expectations conversationAgree on results, limits, and deadlines with the person who promoted you
- 02Situation mapStart-up, turnaround, growth, realignment, or sustaining: read what your team actually needs
- 03Announcing the promotionWho announces it, the talk with the person who also wanted the job, and your first words
- 04Five new-manager misconceptionsThe beliefs about the role that trip people up in the first months
Part 2 · Part 2 · Learn before you change
- 05Learning planWhat to learn about the operation, from whom, and by when
- 06The Ohno circleOne hour standing still and watching before you touch any process
- 07Chesterton's fenceBefore you scrap a rule, find out why it's there
- 08The day-1 snapshotYour starting numbers, so you can show what changed by day 90
Part 3 · Part 3 · The new relationships
- 09Managing your bossThe rhythm, format, and topics of your conversations with the person above you
- 10The team's informal networkWho the team really turns to, beyond the org chart
- 11Peer alliancesThe other managers as allies, with trades that work for both sides
- 12Your one-page user manualHow you work, what you expect, and how people should bring things to you
- 13Assimilation meetingThe team asks what it wants to know about you, with you out of the room
Part 4 · Part 4 · The first changes
- 14Managerial leverageFind the hours in your week that multiply your team's work
- 15Pitching an idea to the ownerAsk for money, people, or a change in the language of the person who decides
- 16Your first improvement with the teamA problem the team picks and solves in 30 days
- 17Change without surprisesThe ending, the crossing, and the new beginning of your first change
- 18Your first crisisA playbook for the first serious problem on your watch
Part 5 · Part 5 · Owning the role
- 19The manager in the middleCarry the owner's decision down to the team, and the team's voice up to the owner
- 20What got you hereThe habits of a great employee that hold a new manager back
- 21The fear of not measuring upWhere the self-doubt of the newly promoted comes from, and what to do about it
- 22Mentor and support networkWho to call when you don't know what to do
- 23Learning journalFifteen minutes at the end of the day to learn from your week
- 24The day-90 reviewTake stock with your boss and plan the next six months
Who it's for
It's for you if
- You've just been promoted to manager, supervisor, or team lead, or you're about to be, and you've never run a team
- You'll be managing people who were your coworkers until last week
- You can't decide whether to change everything in week one or keep your head down and wait
- You own a small business, just promoted someone, and want to hand them a playbook for the first 90 days
It's not for you if
- You've been leading for years and want the full system for delegating, following up, and building a team. That's The Leadership Handbook
- You need to hire someone or evaluate your people fairly. See The People Management Handbook
- You need a script for a hard conversation with an employee. Start with The Feedback and Difficult Conversations Handbook
- You want someone to promise the team will fall in line. This handbook organizes the transition and helps you measure whether it's working
Frequently asked questions
I was promoted weeks ago and skipped the expectations conversation. Is it too late?
No. Ask for it now and say you want to confirm what's expected of you by day 90. The sooner you have it, the less time you spend working without clear criteria. Tool 01 has the agenda, and the Template kit has it ready to use.
Can I keep doing the hands-on work I did before?
Some of it, yes, especially at peak times. The question is how many hours it takes away from the work that multiplies your team. Tool 14, Managerial leverage, helps you see where your week actually goes and what to hand off.
The coworker who also wanted the job is making things hard. What do I do?
Start with the one-on-one conversation in Tool 03. The Template kit has the words for it. If the behavior continues, treat it as a performance issue, using the script in The Feedback and Difficult Conversations Handbook.
I'm the owner. Should I read this or give it to the person I promoted?
Both. About half the tools call for a conversation between the two of you: the expectations, the weekly rhythm, the idea pitch, and the day-90 review. The transition moves faster when you both know the playbook.
Does it work outside of retail?
Yes. The example is a drugstore, but the tools are about the transition, not the industry. A new supervisor in a shop, an office, a clinic, or a warehouse goes through the same 90 days. You swap in your own team and numbers.
How much time will it take?
About 2 hours and 24 minutes of reading, or 6 minutes per tool, plus the exercises spread over your first 90 days. It's written for beginners. The 30-day plan covers your first month, and the spreadsheet holds the dates for days 31 to 90.
What do I get, and in what formats?
Each handbook is a PDF of about 100 pages with 24 to 27 tools. Every tool has step-by-step instructions and a worked example. You also get the handbook's spreadsheet in Excel (.xlsx), which opens in Google Sheets too, with the example already filled in. The message, policy, and clause templates are in the Template Kit inside the PDF, ready to copy and adapt. Read it in the member area or download the files.
How do I know if it fits my business?
Each handbook's page shows the problem it solves, who it is for and who it is not for, the full table of contents, sample pages, and the company used in the examples. The examples come from small businesses in several industries, with illustrative numbers. If it is not a fit, you can ask for a full refund within 14 days of your purchase, as described in the Refund Policy.
What is the difference between a handbook, an area set, and the Series?
A handbook solves one problem. An area set brings together every handbook and spreadsheet in one of the 6 areas, for less than the price of 5 single handbooks. The Consylion Handbook Series brings together all 100 handbooks and 100 spreadsheets, for less than the price of 8 single handbooks, and includes the next handbooks in the Series. Products outside the Series, from Consylion Life or Consylion Business, have their own price. They are sold separately and are not part of an area set or the Series.
Do I need to read everything before I start?
No. Each tool works on its own. Open the table of contents, pick the tool for today's problem, and start there. You can also read it cover to cover.
Do I need to know Excel?
The basics are enough: open the file and fill in the marked fields. The formulas are already built, and the handbook's example is filled in for reference.
How do I pay, and when do I get access?
By card or bank transfer, as a one-time payment with no subscription. Once your payment is confirmed, you get access to the member area by email. Approved card payments are confirmed right away. Bank transfers are confirmed when the funds clear. If access does not arrive within 24 hours of confirmation, check your spam folder and write to team@consylion.org.
How long do I have access, and how can I use the files?
Access does not expire, and you can download the files for offline use. The license is individual. You may read the handbooks, print them for your own use, and fill in and adapt the spreadsheet and templates with your company's data. If you are a consultant, accountant, or manager, you may apply the tools with your clients and deliver the result of your work, not the files. You may not share, resell, or distribute the files or the access.
How do support and refunds work?
Support is by email at team@consylion.org, on business days, with a reply within 5 business days. It covers questions about access, files, and payment. It does not include consulting or advice on applying the material to your case. You can cancel within 14 days of your purchase, without giving a reason, and get the full amount back through the payment method you used. Send the request to the same email. The details are in the Refund Policy.
CONSYLION HANDBOOK SERIES
The 6 departments of your business, for less than the price of 8 single handbooks.
This handbook solves today's problem. The Series solves the next one, and the one after that, with nothing more to pay.
- 100 handbooks with 2,403 ready-made tools, to read on screen and download as PDFs
- 100 spreadsheets for Excel and Google Sheets
- 6 business areas
- Lifetime access, unlocked once payment is confirmed
One-time payment of $197.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.
Management · Nº 31
Walk in on day one with a plan
Nobody hands you a manual when you get promoted. This one gives you the conversations to have, the order to have them in, the templates, and a spreadsheet to track your first 90 days, so you lead the team instead of hiding behind the counter. The rest is up to you.
See all 100 handbooks · $197.00
One-time payment of $29.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.