Curriculum
Authentic Authority for Managers
ONLINE COURSE
40 video micro-lessons in 8 modules, about 4.5 hours in total.
Each lesson runs 6–8 minutes.
Micro-lessons are the absolute best way to learn. No long, boring lessons you don’t get to finish. The lessons in this course are only 5-8 min long. One concept per lesson. No fluff and unneeded filling. Take a lesson and use it immediately.
Take a lesson with your morning coffee, in a break, or in commute.
This is a course that gets finished.
Module 1: The Standing You Can't Order
- 1.1
The Title Is Not the Authority.
Your appointment gives you a mandate, but only your team can give you Authority, and this lesson shows you how to use the first without leaning on it for the second.
- 1.2
What Changes When You Manage.
Once you're promoted, your Authority rests on what your leading does for your team's work, and this lesson shows you how to stop leaning on the standing your own work used to earn you.
- 1.3
What Your Team Is Checking.
Your team settles early that you know the work, and this lesson shows you how to pass the two checks they keep running: whether your word holds and whose side you're on.
- 1.4
Lent, Not Owned.
Your team renews your Authority every week and withdraws it quietly, and this lesson shows you the early signs and what to do when you see them.
- 1.5
Where You Stand Today.
This lesson gives you an honest baseline of your Authority across the six strands with your team, your own manager and your peers, built on what people do, not what you intend.
Module 2: Steady Under Pressure
- 2.1
The Doubt That Comes With the Role.
Doubt comes with the role, and this lesson shows you how to handle it honestly and steadily, so that hiding it doesn't cost you Authority with your team.
- 2.2
Sure Without Needing to Win.
You can hold a view firmly without turning disagreement into a contest, and this lesson shows you how to decide clearly while keeping the doubts coming that your Authority depends on.
- 2.3
Saying Less.
Over-explaining turns clear standards into starting offers, and this lesson shows you how to give instructions that are short, kind and plainly meant, so your Authority isn't renegotiated with every request.
- 2.4
When Everyone Agrees With You.
A team that always agrees may be deferring to your role rather than giving you Authority, and this lesson shows you how to make disagreement safe so their agreement means something.
- 2.5
Good Calls, Bad Outcomes.
A sound decision can still end badly, and this lesson shows you how to own the result and keep deciding, so your Authority survives the outcomes you didn't choose.
Module 3: Knowing What You Know
- 3.1
When Your Expertise Stops Being the Job.
Once you manage, your expertise builds Authority only when your team can use it, and this lesson shows you how to move your judgment out of your head and into their work.
- 3.2
Direction People Can Repeat.
When your team can't repeat your direction, someone else's view fills the gap, and this lesson shows you how to give priorities clear enough to travel without you.
- 3.3
Deciding Without All the Facts.
Waiting for certainty hands your Authority to whoever decides first, and this lesson shows you how to make honest, timely calls with the facts you have.
- 3.4
Saying "I Don't Know."
A caught bluff makes your team doubt everything you say, and this lesson shows you how to say "I don't know" in a way that strengthens your Authority.
- 3.5
Leading People Who Know More Than You.
Your Authority with specialists can't rest on knowing more than them, and this lesson shows you how to lead experts through clear standards, sound risk decisions and backing them upward.
Module 4: Your Word
- 4.1
Small Promises to Your Team.
Many of the things your team asks for aren't yours to give, and this lesson shows you how to promise only what you control, so your word keeps its value with your team.
- 4.2
One Story for Every Room.
The rooms you speak in always compare notes, and this lesson shows you how to tell your team, your manager and your peers the same story, so your Authority holds in every direction at once.
- 4.3
The Shortcut .
When a target presses, your team watches whether your standard or the number wins, and this lesson shows you how to hold the line so your standards keep their meaning.
- 4.4
Owning It Cleanly.
When your team makes a mistake, your manager and your team both watch what you say first, and this lesson shows you how to own it upward and deal with it privately, so your Authority holds in both directions.
- 4.5
Fair, Not Favoured.
A team that sees a favourite stop trusting your praise and your choices, and this lesson shows you how to give out praise, attention and opportunity so your word counts for everyone.
Module 5: Holding the Line
- 5.1
Promise What You Can Deliver.
Every target you accept upward is a promise your team has to keep, and this lesson shows you how to commit only to what you can deliver, so your Authority holds with your team and your own manager.
- 5.2
Deciding When Not Everyone Agrees.
Waiting for everyone to agree hands your decisions to the loudest objector, and this lesson shows you how to hear your team properly, decide and own the call, so your Authority holds even when not everyone agrees.
- 5.3
Holding Your Best People to Account.
Your team watches what your best people get away with, and this lesson shows you how to hold your stars to the same standards as everyone else, so those standards and your Authority stay real.
- 5.4
When Someone Senior Steps Into Your Area.
When someone senior directs your team without you, what you do next decides your Authority, and this lesson shows you how to handle the moment, the senior person and your team so nobody is left guessing who they answer to.
- 5.5
Disagreeing Without Force.
Caving and pushing both cost you Authority when you disagree with someone you can't overrule, and this lesson shows you how to hold a clear position with reasons, not pressure, and still help the decision work.
Module 6: On Their Side
- 6.1
When Someone Brings You Bad News.
Your first reaction to bad news decides whether your team brings you the next piece, and this lesson shows you how to receive it so your Authority rests on what's really happening.
- 6.2
Handing Over the Decision.
Handing over tasks while keeping every decision holds people back, and this lesson shows you how to hand over real decisions, so your Authority grows as your team's does.
- 6.3
Letting Them Get It Wrong.
Rescuing people from every mistake keeps them dependent, and this lesson shows you how to set clear limits and let people learn inside them, so your team grows and gives you Authority freely.
- 6.4
Backing Your People When It Costs You.
Your team judges your care by what you say about them when they're not in the room, and this lesson shows you how to back them upward when it costs you, which is where lasting Authority is earned.
- 6.5
Letting Someone Go Well.
Letting a performance problem drift costs you Authority with everyone who covers for it, and this lesson shows you how to name the gap early, help properly and, if it comes to it, end things with dignity.
Module 7: In the Middle
- 7.1
Advising Your Own Manager.
Your own manager decides whether to consult you the same way your team decides whether to follow you, and this lesson shows you how to earn Authority upward by offering a clear, honest read on what's happening.
- 7.2
Peers Who Owe You Nothing.
With other managers you have no mandate at all, so this lesson shows how to earn the Authority peers give freely: reliable handovers, direct conversations and help without an invoice.
- 7.3
Leading Your Former Peers.
When yesterday's colleagues become your team, they decide again whether to give you Authority, and this lesson shows how to handle the change, close the old side channels and hold the standard first with the people closest to you.
- 7.4
Passing On a Decision You Didn't Make.
When you pass on a decision you didn't make, your Authority depends on being honest about where it came from while owning how it's carried out, and this lesson shows you how to do both without hiding behind "them upstairs".
- 7.5
Change Nobody Asked For.
Long changes wear teams out, and this lesson shows how to keep your Authority through them: name the cost, keep a steady rhythm of honest updates and fix what the pushback tells you is broken.
Module 8: Tested by Pressure and Time
- 8.1
The First Ten Minutes.
In the first minutes of a crisis your team reads you before it reads the situation, and this lesson shows you how to slow down, give everyone one named job and set your next update, so your Authority steadies the room.
- 8.2
After the Crisis.
A crisis lends you extra Authority, and the week after decides whether you keep it: review it with your own mistake first, credit the unseen work and repair things with anyone you overrode.
- 8.3
The Team Isn't You.
When your sense of yourself rides on your team's figures, your team starts managing your mood instead of the work, and this lesson shows you how to keep your reactions steady and judge yourself on what was yours to do, so your Authority doesn't rise and fall with the numbers.
- 8.4
When the Role Changes Under You.
A reorganisation can take your mandate overnight, but it can't take the Authority people gave you freely, unless you spend it by holding on to what's gone.
- 8.5
A Team That Doesn't Need You.
Being needed feels like Authority but is really dependence, and this lesson shows you how to name what only you can do, grow a successor openly and test your team with a real absence.