Team Lead
Playbook
Yesterday you were one of them. Today you run the team. The talent management, authority, political, and operational skills that determine whether you advance to Manager or plateau.
The free tier gives you the frameworks. This path is the behavioral playbook for what changes when you become the person responsible for other people's performance, careers, and the team's output. Guided by the Career Chessboard, structured by the 5-Step Career Booster, measured by a 90-day roadmap with a real tollgate.
Miguel asks — "Friday I was one of them. Monday I run the team."
→The first 90 days set your leadership reputation — this is the playbook.
The 5-Step Career Booster — your spine for this path. Click any step to jump to it.
How this path works
Self-paced study, fixed-pace practice
- Study 30–60 min daily
- Practical exercises happen at your real job, on a real roadmap
- 90-day milestones keep you honest — you are managing people now
One behavior per week
- Each module ends in something you do with your team
- Pick one leadership behavior, apply it, repeat until natural
- Reading about delegation does not make you a delegator
AI in every module
- Each exercise has an AI application (Prompt Reversal, Session Document, Interview Mode)
- AI restricted? Every exercise has a manual alternative
- AI prepares you, reality tests you
New to the foundation techniques? Read How to Learn & AI Foundations first — it applies to every path.
Apply it at work — not just on the page
Reading changes nothing on its own. These three tools turn each module into action: a practice prompt, a desk reminder, and a place to bank the proof.
Sprint Plan
5 sprint cards. Five actions each — self-paced, applied with your actual team.
Open the cards → RememberDesk Cards
The core frameworks as printable reminders. Pin one at your desk until it is second nature.
Open the cards → BankProof of Work
Track the 14 real deliverables you will build. By the end, it is your evidence file.
Open the tracker →Get knownPersonal Brand
Build professional visibility on purpose — LinkedIn, a network that means something, and safe posting. A cross-path topic for every level.
Open the topic →Break throughThe Promotion Plateau
When your strengths become your ceiling. The shift from individual output to scaling a team — and the moves that get you through it.
Open the topic →System literacySAP for GBS
The system of record behind your day. What it is, the modules you touch, how to navigate, and why the data underneath matters.
Open the topic →First 90 days90-Day Leadership Plan
Understand your people and terrain, measure, then improve with the team. Built from the field.
Download .xlsx →Run the teamTeam Capacity Model
Drive it off real volume — target vs actual cases — not just hours. Auto-flags overload.
Download .xlsx →Hard conversationsSBI Feedback & Follow-Through
Situation, Behavior, Impact, plus corrective and preventative action so issues do not recur.
Download .xlsx →Build a Career Mindset
The assessment changes at Team Lead level. You're no longer scored on individual execution — you're scored on whether your team delivers and whether you're developing the capabilities a Manager needs. Different game, different scoreboard.
1.1Self-Assessment: The Team Lead Scoreboard▾
Score yourself the way your manager does — on outcomes, not hours.
As an associate, the question was "are you good at your job?" As a Team Lead, the question splits: "does your team deliver?" and "could you run something bigger?" Rate yourself against each competency below. Same rule applies: no example, no score.
Impact — does your team deliver?| Competency | Evidence question |
|---|---|
| Direction | Does every team member know their priorities and why they matter — without you restating them weekly? |
| Accountability | When someone misses a target, do you address it the same week — or let it drift? |
| Conflict Resolution | Name the last interpersonal or process conflict you resolved before it escalated. |
| Team Building | Have you hired, onboarded, or developed someone who's now performing above expectations? |
| Competency | Evidence question |
|---|---|
| Financial Literacy | Can you explain your team's cost-to-serve, and would your number be close to your manager's? |
| Strategic Thinking | Have you proposed a structural change — not a process fix, but a team or service redesign? |
| Org Navigation | Do you know how decisions get made one and two levels above you — and can you influence them? |
| Engagement | Would your team members choose to work for you again? How do you know? |
The shift is real: strong individual contributors can score low here. Direction, accountability, and team building are learned skills, not personality traits. If your Impact scores are weak, the path starts there — managing people well is the prerequisite to everything that follows.
Upload two things — a Team Lead or Supervisor job description for your organization, and your own up-to-date CV with your skills and experience. Ask: "Match my CV against this JD. For each factor, ask me for a concrete example involving my team before you score me. Then show me where I am strong, where I have a gap, and what evidence I am still missing."
- Strip out the company name, people's names, and any client or product names.
- Swap them for placeholders with find-and-replace — [Company], [Client], [Name].
- You get the same quality of help on a neutralised version, and nothing sensitive leaves the building.
1.2The Career Chessboard — Team Lead Edition▾
Impact now and readiness for next. A Team Lead is judged on both axes.
Same framework, different competencies. Your eight scores collapse into Impact (team delivery) and Readiness (manager capabilities). The square you land on drives your focus for the entire path.
The "Super-IC" square is the most common trap for promoted associates. High personal output, low team development. Module 2.2 addresses this directly.
Give AI your eight scores and your square. Ask: "Interview me about my team context, then tell me which two competencies, if improved, would move my position fastest — and what my manager would need to see as evidence."
- Strip out the company name, people's names, and any client or product names.
- Swap them for placeholders with find-and-replace — [Company], [Client], [Name].
- You get the same quality of help on a neutralised version, and nothing sensitive leaves the building.
The modules that move your career sit behind Full Access.
What is left is the practical core — the hard conversations, the ready-to-use templates, the AI workflows, and the 90-day roadmap that turns all of it into a promotion case. One payment. Lifetime access. Every path, now and later — for $45.
Get Full Access — $45 →Milestones, not deadlines
Study at your pace — the leadership practice runs on a roadmap. Three milestone checkpoints build the habits; the tollgate at the end tells you honestly whether you're operating at the level above.
Stabilize & Assess
Lead & Build
Position & Prepare
Are you operating at the next level?
These checkpoints are evidence that you've made the shift from managing tasks to leading people and thinking like a manager. If you can't honestly check them, the path has shown you exactly where to focus next.
Templates & tools
| Template | Format | Used in |
|---|---|---|
| Career Chessboard — Team Lead Edition | Interactive + worksheet | Step 1 |
| Generic TL / Supervisor Role Profile | Step 1 — benchmark fallback | |
| Generic Manager Role Profile | Steps 1 & 4 — readiness benchmark | |
| Team Talent Map | XLSX | Module 2.1 |
| Leadership vs. Execution Time Tracker | XLSX | Module 2.2 |
| Performance Conversation Prep Sheet | Module 2.3 | |
| CI Improvement Pipeline Tracker | XLSX | Module 2.5 |
| Team Huddle Format Template | Module 3.2 | |
| Compensation & Promotion Rules Reference | Module 3.3 | |
| Cost-to-Serve Calculator | XLSX | Module 4.1 |
| Succession Planning Worksheet | XLSX | Module 4.2 |
| Brag Sheet — Team Lead Edition | XLSX | Module 5.1 — used throughout |
| Promotion Case Builder | DOCX | Module 5.2 |
| AI Session Document | DOCX | All modules — foundation technique |
What's deliberately not here: leadership theory (the free tier covers it), generic management courses, and Director-level strategy. You're learning to lead people and think like a manager — not run a function yet. That's the Manager Playbook.