Online and face to face training, coaching and events across the UK and Europe
Thrive Training Lab

Managing Up & Across

Build strong working relationships with your manager, peers and stakeholders — clarify expectations, communicate upwards and influence across teams without authority.

You may have the idea, expertise or ambition — and still want more confidence in how you express it. Meetings, presentations, feedback and difficult conversations shape your experience of work and your next career step. We understand that growth is personal, not just a line on a development plan.

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Thrive Training Lab

Explore. Practise. Make it yours.

Duration

Half day · 3.5 hours per half day

Group size

6–8 delegates

Format

Online or face to face

Price — Face to face

From £1,100

+ VAT

Price — Online

From £899

+ VAT

where understanding becomes useful —

Why this course matters

Some of the most important relationships at work are with people you don't manage — your manager, your peers and the teams you rely on.

What you’ll explore in the Lab

This half-day session helps professionals build those relationships deliberately. Delegates clarify expectations and priorities with their manager, adapt to different working styles, and give updates that make it easier for others to support and decide.

They then look across the organisation: mapping the stakeholders their work depends on, building credibility with peers and influencing without formal authority. The session closes with how to raise concerns and disagree constructively with more senior colleagues, so important issues surface early and respectfully.

a real challenge. a purposeful response.

The challenges this addresses

  • Priorities misunderstood because expectations were never clarified with a manager
  • Updates that report activity but don't help a manager decide or support
  • Cross-team work stalling when there is no formal authority to move it
  • Disagreements with senior colleagues avoided rather than raised constructively

What this can change at work

Help people build productive working relationships in every direction, not just within their own team. Clarifying expectations, adapting to a manager's style and influencing peers without authority means fewer surprises, faster cross-team decisions and concerns raised while there is still time to act. Managers receive clearer updates and better-prepared requests. The business benefits from collaboration that relies less on escalation and more on trust, shared priorities and constructive challenge.

Expectations agreed upfront

People confirm priorities, success measures and preferred ways of working with their manager rather than guessing.

Updates that help decisions

Updates lead with progress, risks and what is needed, so managers can support or decide quickly.

Peers engaged early

Colleagues map who they need across teams and involve them before work reaches a deadline or a dispute.

Inside the workshop

In a small group of 6–8, delegates work on their own working relationships, anonymised where needed. Short input leads into breakouts, peer-to-peer learning and live practice: an expectations conversation with a manager, a concise upward update and a cross-team request where there is no authority to rely on. Delegates leave with a stakeholder map and a practical plan for the relationships that matter most in their role.

Make Managing Up & Across relevant to your business

Tell us where you want to make progress with understanding your manager's priorities and style. We can discuss suitable workplace examples, priorities and access needs before agreeing the scope. Choose live online or face-to-face training for your UK or European team, with delivery arrangements agreed before booking.

Discuss this course

What the training covers

The scope below sets out the subjects covered. Workplace examples and practice are shaped around your team within the booked format.

  • Understanding your manager's priorities and style
  • Clarifying expectations and success measures
  • Upward updates that help decisions
  • Mapping stakeholders across the organisation
  • Influencing peers without authority
  • Raising concerns and disagreeing constructively

What’s included in your booking

Your booked time and format
Half day · Live online or face to face, agreed before booking · 6–8 delegates.
Included in every course
  • Interactive, facilitator-led learningLive, hands-on sessions built around practice and participation.
  • Group discussionsShared conversations about real situations, so people learn from each other as well as the facilitator.
  • Breakout exercisesSmall-group practice, role-play and problem-solving, online or in the room.
  • Take-away materialsCourse materials, tools and templates to use back at work.
Facilitated learning and practical application
The subject coverage, exercises and facilitator feedback described above, with space to connect the learning to relevant workplace situations. The workshop description sets out the specific plans, prompts or tools developed in this course.

Follow-up coaching, refresher sessions and additional delivery days are not automatic inclusions; any additions are agreed in your proposal. Travel, venue arrangements and any software licences are confirmed separately where relevant. Prices exclude VAT.

Outcomes

The capabilities delegates work towards through the training and practice:

  • Agree clear expectations and priorities with your manager
  • Give concise upward updates that lead to support or decisions
  • Map the stakeholders your work depends on
  • Influence peers and other teams without formal authority
  • Raise concerns with senior colleagues constructively

the next conversation is where it counts —

Take it back to work.

Choose a real situation where you want to apply the learning. Use it to turn an outcome into a manageable first step, then reflect on what changes.

Choose

Start with one priority: Agree clear expectations and priorities with your manager.

Apply

Try the approach in a relevant task or conversation. Note what felt useful and what you would adapt.

Review

Reflect on what happened, seek feedback where appropriate and choose your next step. Follow-up support can be discussed separately.

Bring this topic to your next event

We can discuss adapting Managing Up & Across into a keynote or large-group session, focusing on the themes most relevant to your audience. Depth, activities, timings and any follow-up depend on the format and package you choose; an event session is not a substitute for the full course.

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Your people. Your priorities.Ready to Thrive? Build your Lab.A programme shaped around your people — and the progress you want to make.

your next step starts here —

Ready to step into the lab?

Your business. Our training. Together, we thrive.

Bring the challenge your people want to work on. We'll shape a practical training workshop or coaching experience around it — with room to explore, practise and take a useful next step.

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