Challenge / Situation
A mid‑level professional in a specialist function had recently been promoted to manage a team they had worked in for several years. Known for strong technical delivery and reliability, they were a natural choice for promotion – but like many new managers, they had no formal people leadership training and limited support in navigating the transition from peer to leader.
Within months, signs of strain appeared. Former peers resisted new expectations, informal alliances undermined decisions, and difficult conversations were avoided until issues became urgent. Team performance and morale started to slip, and HR noticed more low‑level complaints and requests for clarification around roles and responsibilities.
This is not just an isolated story; it reflects a broader reality in modern organisations. Gallup’s global data indicates that about 70% of the variance in a team’s engagement is determined by the manager, which means one person’s capability and behaviour can materially lift or erode performance, wellbeing and retention across an entire team. Evidence from organisational behaviour and people management research consistently shows that devolved people management only works when line managers are properly equipped and supported.
This scenario is typical of the challenge our People Leader & Management Development Programme is designed to address: highly capable technical professionals promoted on merit, then left to carry complex people responsibilities without the tools, practice or coaching they need.
As part of a broader organisational engagement with Apex Dynamics, the manager was offered individual coaching within the People Leader & Management Development Programme.
Solution / Approach – Coaching Methodology and the 5 Diamond Pillars
Our approach integrated:
- One‑to‑one coaching sessions focused on live leadership challenges.
- The 5 Diamond Pillars framework – Character, Competency, Connection, Curiosity, Co‑Elevation – as a practical guide to performance leadership.
- Targeted communication skills and management fundamentals.
- Coaching on Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for team members, supplementing existing performance KPIs.
Coaching conversations followed a structured, solution‑focused approach compatible with models such as OSKAR/OSCCAR (Outcome, Situation, Choices, Actions, Review), ensuring each session moved from reflection to specific actions. This design reflects current evidence that leadership development is most effective when it combines clear frameworks, psychological insight, and repeated opportunities to apply learning in context.
We began by helping the manager separate three intertwined challenges:
- Their own identity shift from peer to leader (Character and Curiosity).
- The relational reset with former peers (Connection).
- The practical skills gap in performance management, feedback and development planning (Competency and Co‑Elevation).
Using the 5 Diamond Pillars, we framed leadership as a set of observable, repeatable behaviours that could be learned and practised, aligning with organisational behaviour research and guidance on effective line management.
Implementation – Tools and Frameworks in Practice
Over the 10‑month programme, the manager participated in a series of short, high‑frequency coaching sessions aligned with the broader People Leader & Management Development cadence. Each session targeted specific aspects of the peer‑to‑leader transition.
1. Clarifying Role and Standards (Character, Competency)
Early sessions clarified what it meant to be a people leader in this organisation:
- Defining non‑negotiable responsibilities around performance, behaviour and development.
- Articulating personal leadership principles linked to the 5 Diamond Pillars.
- Preparing a clear narrative to communicate the role shift to the team.
Together, we co‑designed a short “reset” conversation the manager held with the team, acknowledging the transition, reaffirming respect for past peer relationships, and setting clear expectations and boundaries for the new leadership role.
2. Communication and Feedback Skills (Connection, Curiosity)
The next phase built foundational communication skills:
- Using structured feedback scripts to address behaviour and performance objectively and respectfully.
- Practising open questions and active listening to surface issues early.
- Rehearsing difficult conversations in coaching sessions before holding them in real life.
We used OSCCAR‑style flows to ensure each conversation moved from describing the situation to exploring choices and committing to actions. These practices are consistent with research on psychological safety and effective team performance, which emphasises open dialogue, learning behaviours and constructive feedback as drivers of outcomes.
3. Management Skills and IDPs (Competency, Co‑Elevation)
As confidence grew, we turned to management systems and development planning. Drawing on the People Leader & Management Development Programme, we helped the manager:
- Translate organisational goals into team‑level expectations and measurable behaviours.
- Build simple Individual Development Plans for each team member, aligned with their strengths, aspirations and KPI responsibilities.
- Integrate IDP check‑ins into existing one‑to‑ones, so development became a regular conversation rather than an annual event.
The manager learned to position IDPs as a growth‑oriented complement to KPIs, supporting both performance and career progression – a principle reinforced in research on development‑focused people management and line manager capability.
4. Sustaining New Habits (All 5 Pillars)
Throughout, we used each coaching session to:
- Review recent leadership situations and extract learning.
- Reinforce small wins to build confidence and psychological capital.
- Plan targeted experiments for the next fortnight – a specific feedback conversation, a team reset, a new meeting rhythm – and then debrief outcomes.
This learn–apply–debrief rhythm mirrors the embedded learning approach of the broader People Leader & Management Development Programme and reflects evidence that sustained, context‑specific support to managers can significantly shift engagement, performance and retention over time.
Results / Outcomes – Rapid Turnaround
Because the coaching was intensely practical and closely tied to live issues, the turnaround in both team performance and manager confidence was relatively rapid, consistent with outcomes seen when organisations invest directly in the leaders who drive most engagement variance.
Indicative outcomes included:
- Within three months, the frequency and intensity of people‑related escalations from the team to HR and senior leaders decreased, as more issues were resolved directly with the manager.
- Team members reported greater clarity on expectations and appreciated the increased frequency and quality of feedback and development conversations.
- The manager moved from avoiding difficult conversations to initiating them proactively, using structured scripts and coaching tools to keep discussions constructive.
- Over the 10‑month period, team performance stabilised and then improved, with more consistent delivery against KPIs and fewer disruptive behaviour patterns.
Most importantly, the manager’s identity as a people leader solidified. They began to see coaching, feedback and development as core parts of their role rather than uncomfortable add‑ons – exactly the mindset shift the People Leader & Management Development Programme is designed to create.
For the organisation, this individual case brought Gallup’s 70% finding to life: when you equip a manager with the right frameworks, skills and support, you shift the engagement and performance trajectory of the whole team, not just one individual. By investing in the layer of leadership that carries most of the engagement and retention risk, the organisation protected performance, wellbeing and culture across a critical part of the workforce.
