For founders, COOs, CTOs and heads of engineering of companies with 20–300 people
You promoted good people into management. Their hard conversations still end up with you.
Your managers usually know what needs to be said, but many of them avoid saying it, so it comes back to you. You're paying their salaries and still doing that part of their job yourself. Over one quarter I work with your managers on the conversations they now hand to you, and we count whether fewer of them reach you.
Founding groups: two companies, starting February–March 2027
Leadership training I've designed and run
- CloudLinux / TuxCare
- Godel Technologies
- Profitero
- Bali Love
What I measure
Three numbers, counted in week 1 and again in week 12.
When I looked at leadership programmes sold in Australia, most reported how participants rated the course. I didn't find one that reported whether managers behaved differently afterwards. I count three things, in week 1 and again in week 12, and you can check them yourself.
People issues that reach you each week
Counted with you, from your own week.
One-to-ones held without anyone chasing
Or quarterly conversations, if that's your cadence.
The gap between how a manager rates themselves and how others rate them
Rated by you and by someone from their team.
This won't guarantee you hit your targets. It will show you whether your managers now handle these conversations themselves.
Book a discovery callDoes this happen to you?
Each of these is part of a manager's job. When they don't do it, you do.
- A manager asks you to have the conversation they should have had.
- The same issue comes back to the leadership meeting week after week.
- One-to-ones and quarterly conversations happen when you chase them.
- You still make decisions you already handed over.
- Your managers say they're comfortable with these conversations, and then don't have them.
The programme
How the quarter runs
Weeks 1–2
The starting point
Each manager rates themselves on the core skills of the role. You, and someone from their team, rate them too. Together we count how many people issues reach you in a normal week. At the end of week 2 you get a 3–4 page report: what I found, and the three things to work on first.
Weeks 3–11
Group sessions
Every two weeks, 90 minutes. Each session starts with a conversation one of the managers is putting off. We prepare it and practise it in the session. They have the real conversation that week and tell the group how it went next time. Between sessions, each manager has a short exercise and a partner from the group to check in with.
Alongside
1:1 coaching
For two or three managers you name, or for you.
Week 12
Measure again
We repeat the ratings and the count. You get a short report on what changed and what still needs work.
Managers aren't away from work for whole days. You meet me twice: once at the start and once at the end.
What the sessions cover
The week-2 report decides the order, and which topics get more time.
- Holding people to what they agreed
- Delegating without taking it back
- Feedback people can act on
- One-to-ones that aren't status updates
- Conflict between people on the team
- Spotting performance dips early
- Owning the team's numbers
- Staying steady under pressure
EOS
If you run EOS
I use what you already have: the Scorecard, rocks, the Issues list and Quarterly Conversations. I sit on the leadership team of a company that runs on EOS. I'm not an Implementer, and I work alongside yours.
Anything else
If you don't
I work with your one-to-ones, goals and review cycle as they are. Your managers don't have to learn a new framework.
About me
- 60+
- leaders through the programme I designed and ran at CloudLinux
- 93%
- of surveyed CloudLinux managers reported holding regular one-to-ones after I introduced the practice
- 13 yrs
- in tech teams, from software tester to director
From doing the work to managing the people who do it.
I started as a software tester and moved into delivery and then management over 13 years, so I went from doing the work to managing people who do it.
I've managed a team of ten directly. At CloudLinux, as Director of Agile Strategy and Transformation, I designed and ran a leadership programme for more than 60 leaders. I now sit on the leadership team of Bali Love, which runs on EOS.
Certified in Management 3.0, and as an ICTA Transformational Coach.
In their words
From managers I've worked with
“Bringing a senior back to business priorities or motivating a mid-level engineer to develop are not easy conversations. People rarely object to a manager openly, so a poorly delivered message turns not into an argument but into hidden sabotage or the risk of losing the employee. Today I have these conversations without those consequences.”
“After your course I started paying more attention to the content of one-to-ones, and seeing more clearly the reason behind performance dips. I started picking up signals in my constantly burning-out team member earlier than he did himself.”
“The Leadership course Diana put together for the CloudLinux / TuxCare team leaders was a treasure trove. Lots of hands-on help for new leaders as well as science-founded theory, and practical examples to help them on their way. Highly recommended!”
Formats
Two ways to join
6–8 managers
An in-house group
6–8 managers from your company, on your own cases.
Book a discovery call1–3 managers
An open group
For companies with one to three managers. They go through the same quarter with managers from other companies. Register interest and I'll let you know when the next group is ready to start.
Next steps
How we start
01
Discovery call
30 minutes. You tell me what keeps landing on you, and I tell you whether this programme will help.
02
A written plan
One page with the plan and the price, within two working days.
03
Confirm a start
I hold a start date for 7 days, since I only run a few groups at a time.
04
Begin
The quarter is paid upfront. Change your mind in the first 7 days and you get a full refund. After that there are no refunds, because the dates are kept for your group.
If you want coaching to continue after the quarter, it's a flat monthly fee. When you have a new group of managers, you can run another quarter.
Need the owner's sign-off?
If you're the COO or Integrator and the decision sits with the owner, book the call anyway. Afterwards I'll send you a one-page summary of the problem and the plan that you can forward.
Tell me which conversations keep landing on your desk.
A 30-minute discovery call.