One-to-one manager development
Development work with one person rather than a programme for a group: individual development conversations, coaching, mentoring, work based on a diagnosis of strengths and working style, and support in transitioning into a new role. The format follows the person and the situation, not a catalogue.
What problem we solve
Not every development need requires a group programme, and yet the reflex answer is often to book someone onto a course. Some situations concern one person and one context: an expert takes on broader responsibility while continuing to operate as an expert in their field; a manager moves into a new role and finds that what worked before no longer does; a leader faces a question they will not ask in a room full of people. A group programme answers the averaged need rather than that specific one — and it consumes the time of the person who has the least of it.
Who it is for
Ways of working
Individual development conversations
- The starting point is one person's situation, described in their own words rather than as the output of a competency survey
- Making sense of what has stopped working in the role, and separating what can be solved from what has to be accepted
- A conversation with someone from outside, off the reporting line and without the line manager present
- The right format where an outside perspective is needed rather than a longer process
Coaching
- A series of sessions around a goal set by the person themselves, not by the organisation
- Work on how the role is performed: decisions, priorities, communication with the team and with clients, coping with the load
- Responsibility for the solution stays with the person — the coach works through questions, not through ready-made answers
- A contract agreed at the outset: purpose, rhythm of sessions and confidentiality
Mentoring
- Work with someone who has already travelled the road the person is only now taking
- Sharing experience and concrete solutions where the question is about the craft of the role rather than the choice of direction
- Particularly useful when entering a role that nobody in the immediate environment has held before
- The boundary with coaching: a mentor describes how they did it themselves, a coach does not supply the solution
Development work based on a diagnosis of strengths and working style
- A diagnosis using a tool that describes strengths and working style, selected to match the question it is meant to answer
- The outcome discussed in an individual conversation — a report without a conversation rarely changes anything
- Translating the outcome into decisions: what to build on, what is not worth compensating for, and where to look for complementary strengths in the team
- The specific tool is agreed while the process is being designed, because the choice follows from the purpose of the conversation rather than from habit
Support in transitioning into a new role
- A format that is particularly valuable for people taking on new areas of responsibility while continuing to operate as experts in their field
- Recognising what is different about the new role: the scope of decisions, the audiences, the measure of success, the way influence is exercised
- Moving from responsibility for one's own results to responsibility for the results of others
- Companionship through the first months, when most of the difficult situations happen for the first time
What the organisation receives
- A named development challenge belonging to a specific person — in their words, not in the categories of a competency model
- A contract for individual work: purpose, rhythm of sessions and confidentiality
- A description of strengths and working style together with conclusions translated into everyday practice, where diagnosis-based work was selected
- Concrete decisions about how the role is performed: what the person starts doing, what they stop doing and what they do differently
- A plan for entering a new role, for people taking on a new area of responsibility
- Closure of the process: an assessment of what has changed and an agreement on how the person intends to continue developing on their own
Format and timing
Not fixed in advance — it follows from the chosen format and the purpose of the work. A single development conversation is sometimes the whole need; a coaching or mentoring process is usually a series of sessions spread over weeks or months, at a rhythm agreed with the person concerned. Scope and frequency are agreed after an initial conversation, not before it
Experts
Works with senior leaders and with people taking on new areas of responsibility. Delivers executive coaching, mentoring and advisory processes; specialises in leadership, organisational effectiveness, business communication and client relationships
Business trainer, coach and facilitator. In individual work, focuses on communication and assertiveness, motivating a team, managing tasks and time, and coping with the load that comes with a managerial role
Business trainer and coach with experience in international organisations. In individual work, concentrates on business communication, leading a team through change, and preparation for a new role
Combines coaching, Action Learning, facilitation and diagnostic tools describing strengths and working style. Supports leaders in translating the outcome of a diagnosis into concrete decisions about how they work, communicate and collaborate with their team
When a group programme is the wrong instrument
Not every development need requires a group programme. The sentence sounds obvious, and yet the default reaction to „this person needs to develop” is still to book them onto the next course with a matching title.
Some situations simply have no group equivalent. An expert who takes on broader responsibility and is still expected to be an expert. A manager for whom, after a promotion, what worked in the previous role stops being enough. A leader with a question they will not ask in front of a dozen people, because asking it is itself information about them. In each of these cases a group programme answers the averaged need — and the cost is not the fee, it is the time of the person who has the least of it.
Five formats, not five stages
This service is modular: what follows are formats of work, not stages of a process. They do not follow one another, you do not have to choose all of them, and there is no correct order between them. One conversation is sometimes the whole need; sometimes it makes sense to combine a diagnosis with a few coaching sessions; and sometimes mentoring turns out to be the only format that answers the question.
Choosing the format is the first decision and it is worth making deliberately. Coaching and mentoring are often used interchangeably, yet they differ at the point that matters most: in coaching the person works out the solution and the question is the main instrument, while in mentoring the person supporting them describes how they went through the same thing and hands over ready experience. Confusing the two ends with someone receiving advice when they needed space — or questions when they needed a concrete answer.
A new role without giving up expertise
The most common reason organisations reach for this form of work is someone entering a new role while continuing to operate as an expert in their field. The situation has a built-in tension: this person’s advantage so far came from solving hard problems themselves, and the new role requires that other people solve them while they remain accountable for the outcome.
Individual work then covers four things: what is different about the new role, how the scope of decisions changes, how success is recognised in this position at all, and how to exercise influence where formal authority is not enough. It is most useful in the first months, when most of the difficult situations happen for the first time and there is nothing yet to compare them to.
A diagnosis is the start of a conversation, not its result
In individual work we use diagnostic tools that describe strengths and working style. It is worth saying plainly what they are for: to arrive at a good question, not to issue a verdict.
A report that has not been discussed changes nothing in practice — a week later what remains is a label and a sense that „it does fit”. The value appears in the conversation, where the outcome is translated into decisions: what to build on, what is not worth compensating for through sheer effort, and where to look for complementary strengths in the team. The tool itself is selected while the process is being designed, because the choice follows from the question it is meant to answer.
A boundary worth knowing
One-to-one manager development is an advisory service, not a training course. There is no syllabus, no level and no open enrolment date — there is a format chosen for the person and a scope agreed individually. If the same challenge applies to a whole team, the trainings linked to this card are the right route.
It is also worth separating this service from its two neighbours. A mentoring programme builds a mechanism inside the organisation: it pairs people, prepares mentors and mentees, and runs supervision and calibration. A training and development strategy designs a development system at the level of the whole organisation. One-to-one manager development builds neither a system nor a mechanism — it works with one person on one specific situation.
Let us talk about who in your organisation is facing a situation that no course will solve — the choice of format follows from that.
Frequently asked questions
How does one-to-one work differ from a management training course?
In what is being worked on. A course works on material common to the whole group and on worked examples; one-to-one work deals with one person's situation in their real context and ends with decisions that apply only to them. If the need is shared by a group of people facing the same thing, a course is the better instrument — it is simply faster and cheaper.
Is this just coaching?
Coaching is one of five formats, not the whole service. Alongside it there are individual development conversations, mentoring, work based on a diagnosis of strengths and working style, and support in transitioning into a new role. The difference matters: in coaching the person arrives at the solution themselves, while in mentoring they receive the experience of someone who has already been through it. Choosing the format is the first decision, not a formality.
Who sets the purpose of the work — the person or their line manager?
The purpose belongs to the person being supported; the organisation contributes context and expectations but does not hold the conversation on their behalf. What information returns to the organisation is agreed explicitly before the first session — a process in which nobody knows what will reach the line manager stops being developmental by the second meeting.
How long does it take?
It depends on the format and the purpose. A single development conversation is sometimes the whole need and ends the same day; a coaching or mentoring process is a series of sessions spread over weeks or months. Quoting a number of sessions before the initial conversation would be a number without cover, which is why the rhythm is agreed afterwards.
What does diagnosis-based work involve?
A conversation, not a report. We use diagnostic tools that describe strengths and working style, and their outcome is the input to individual work — the starting point for asking what follows from it for concrete decisions in the role. The tool itself is selected while the process is being designed, because the choice follows from the question it is meant to answer.
How does this differ from a mentoring programme for the organisation?
In scale and in subject. A mentoring programme implements a mechanism inside the organisation: pairing, contracting, preparing mentors and mentees, supervision, calibration. One-to-one manager development builds no mechanism — it works with one person on their situation, and the person providing support comes from outside. If the aim is to build mentoring inside the company, the mentoring programme is the right service.
How does this differ from a training and development strategy?
In the level at which decisions are made. A training and development strategy answers the question of how the organisation develops its people as a system: capability profiles, pathways, internal trainers, the choice of formats. One-to-one manager development answers the question of what to do about one specific person's situation. The two conversations often run in parallel and usually with different people — the first with HR, the second with the person concerned.
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