The People Management Handbook
Management · Nº 09
The People Management Handbook
Hire Right, Evaluate Fairly, and Keep Your Best People, without an HR Department
You hired on a good feeling. Three months later, you're posting the same job again.
24 tools for the whole employee lifecycle, a spreadsheet already filled in with one example company, and ready-made texts for the conversations you keep putting off.
You get 24 tools to hire by criteria, onboard new people, run a one-page review, keep the people you can't afford to lose, and let someone go with a clear process. Plus a 6-tab spreadsheet and a Template kit with 8 ready-made texts.
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.
Someone gave notice this morning. It's the second one at that desk this year. You'll post the old ad again, interview whoever answers first, and pick the one who felt right in a half-hour chat. Meanwhile a coworker covers the gap, customers wait longer, and your best person is quieter than usual. Nobody has asked them why. You haven't either. You're too busy hiring.
THE SPREADSHEET
Employee lifecycle 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
A great résumé, and an interview on Thursday
Before Thursday, you run a 15-minute phone screen, write two real-case questions for each competency, and plan a short skills test. After the interview, you score alone, before you talk to anyone, and the spreadsheet adds it up.
Your best person has gone quiet
You don't wait for the resignation letter. You book 20 minutes, separate from any review, ask the five questions from the stay interview script, and mostly listen. You close with one action and one date.
You have to let someone go
You check the reviews and the records first, and ask your accountant for the calculation. Then a private talk of 15 minutes or less, the reason in one sentence, the next steps, and a word to the team the same day.
INSIDE
What you'll find in each tool
Five parts that follow the employee lifecycle. Hire right, from the job profile to the decision. Start new people off right. Track and evaluate on one page. Keep your best people. Then culture, house rules, corrective action, and letting someone go. Each tool starts with what the research says, flags what to check in your country, and ends with a short exercise.
WHAT YOU GET
Everything included in your purchase
- The People Management Handbook in PDF: 24 tools, each with a step by step, an example from the same company, and an exercise
- The employee lifecycle spreadsheet in Excel and Google Sheets, with 6 working tabs, filled in with the example company
- The Template kit: 8 ready-made texts, from the job posting and the rejection message to the stay interview and the written warning
- 2 worksheets to fill in (job profile and one-page review) and a 30-day plan, one week per focus area
- 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 · Hire right
- 01Job profileDescribe the role by the results you expect, not by a list of tasks
- 02Where to find candidatesPick the channels that bring people who stay, not just people who apply
- 0315-minute phone screenA few knockout questions before anyone spends an hour on an interview
- 04Competency-based interviewQuestions about real past cases that show how a person actually acts
- 05Skills testWatch the finalists do the job's most important task before you hire
- 06Hiring decisionScore each criterion separately and choose by the numbers, not by memory
Part 2 · Part 2 · Start them off right
- 07First day and first weekAn onboarding checklist with a buddy and a real task on day one
- 08Training to a standardTeach it in four steps and write it down for the next hire
- 09Probation periodWhat to evaluate by day 45 and by day 90, and how to decide
- 10Expectations in writingA scale that shows what good work looks like in each role, from day one
Part 3 · Part 3 · Track and evaluate
- 11One-page reviewA simple review every six months, with a self-review and one agreement
- 12Taking bias out of reviewsThe predictable mistakes reviewers make, and how calibration fixes them
- 13Performance and potentialWho to develop, who to keep, and who to reconsider
- 14Development planOne growth goal per person, with a monthly follow-up
Part 4 · Part 4 · Keep your best people
- 15Why people leaveYour turnover by role, the causes, and what each departure costs
- 16Pay and benefits you can affordA pay range and benefits that fit your budget, beyond salary
- 17A simple career pathClear steps up, even in an 8-person company
- 18Engagement surveyTen questions to measure how the team is doing, asked the same way every time
- 19Stay interviewAsk why they stay before you have to ask why they left
Part 5 · Part 5 · Culture, rules, and letting people go
- 20Values as behaviorsTurn the values on the wall into things people actually do
- 21House rulesA two-page code of conduct, written with the team
- 22Warnings and corrective actionDocument and correct problems with respect and on solid footing
- 23Letting someone goThe decision, the timeline, and a short conversation script
- 24Exit interviewLearn from the people who leave what the people who stay won't say
Who it's for
It's for you if
- You hire, review, and let people go yourself, with no HR department behind you
- You've made a bad hire before and want criteria you can score instead of a gut feeling
- Good people keep leaving and you want to know why, and what each departure really costs
- You're opening a new location or growing the team and want a hiring process you can repeat
- You want to treat people fairly and know when it's time to call your lawyer or accountant
It's not for you if
- You want to get better at everyday conversations with your team. That's The Leadership Handbook
- You need a word-for-word script for every hard conversation. See The Feedback and Difficult Conversations Handbook
- You need a severance calculation or a legal opinion on a dispute. That's a job for your accountant and your lawyer
- You want a course with an instructor. This is a handbook with tools, a spreadsheet, and templates
Frequently asked questions
I only have 5 employees. Is this too much for me?
It works in a smaller version. The handbook tells you where to start: the job profile, a probation period with a set review date, and the house rules. Add the other tools as the team grows.
Will this work for my kind of business?
If you hire people, yes. The example is a group of clinics, but every tool shows how it applies to services, retail, manufacturing and distribution, and independent professionals with a team. You swap in your own roles and numbers.
Is this legal advice?
No. Hiring, probation, and dismissal rules differ from country to country, so the handbook flags what to check with your employment lawyer or accountant at each step. It doesn't calculate severance. It gives you the process, the records, and the questions to bring them.
Do I need HR experience?
No. It's written for owners and managers at an intermediate level, with a step by step, an example, and an exercise in every tool. You enter the scores; the spreadsheet does the math: weighted totals, turnover, the cost of each departure, and the survey averages.
I can't afford to raise salaries. Will this still help me keep people?
Part 4 points you to what you can control: fairness inside the team, the schedule, a path to grow, and benefits that cost little. The stay interview helps you find out what matters to each person before they leave.
How much time does this take?
About 2 hours and 24 minutes of reading, or 6 minutes per tool, plus the exercises. The 30-day plan breaks it into four weeks: your numbers and the next opening, onboarding, reviews, then retention and house rules.
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 09
Stop hiring on a feeling and losing people by surprise
Your team is built one hire, one review, and one conversation at a time. This handbook gives you the tools, a spreadsheet, and the ready-made texts to do each one on purpose, from the job posting to the exit interview. Who you hire and who you keep is still your call.
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.