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Thrive Training Lab

Module 5

Time & Priorities as a Leader

Balance personal delivery with team leadership by setting clear priorities, protecting your time and managing expectations upwards.

Being good at your job does not make your first leadership conversations easy. Suddenly you are setting expectations, delegating to former peers and finding time to support others as well as deliver your own work. We understand that shift. You do not need every answer before you start — you need a supportive place to build the foundations.

Talk about your team Explore the course
Managers collaborating in a leadership workshop
Thrive Training Lab

Explore. Practise. Make it yours.

Duration

2-hour live online module (or part of the 1- or 2-day face-to-face programme)

Group size

Maximum 5 delegates

Format

Live online

Price — Online

From £550

+ VAT

where understanding becomes useful —

Why this course matters

Newly promoted managers and player-managers often face competing demands: delivering their own work while making time to lead others, particularly when they already feel stretched.

What you’ll explore in the Lab

This two-hour online module introduces a simple prioritisation framework and practical ways to protect leadership time, handle interruptions and build a sustainable leadership routine.

Delegates explore how to say no, or not now, professionally and agree priorities with their own manager, rather than treating every request as equally urgent. The focus is on making deliberate choices about where time goes, balancing personal targets with team needs and setting clear expectations about what can realistically be delivered.

a real challenge. a purposeful response.

The challenges this addresses

  • Urgent requests repeatedly displacing time for people development
  • New managers carrying their old workload alongside leadership
  • Leadership time left unprotected against competing individual delivery targets
  • Priorities accepted without agreement from the manager above

What this can change at work

Leading people needs space in the diary as well as a place in the job description. New and stretched managers practise prioritising, protecting leadership time and responding professionally when another request arrives. Agreeing priorities with their own manager can help individuals make more deliberate choices, give teams more reliable attention and help the organisation clarify competing expectations rather than leave player-managers to absorb every demand.

Leadership time protected

Managers block out time for team leadership and people development rather than relying on gaps left after their individual delivery work.

Requests assessed deliberately

New requests are considered against a simple prioritisation framework, with managers able to explain a professional no or not now.

Priorities agreed upwards

Managers discuss competing demands with their own manager and agree which priorities should guide decisions about their time and attention.

why this module matters —

New leaders still have their own work to deliver, plus a team to lead and a manager to keep happy. Without clear priorities, leadership is the first thing to slip. This module helps you protect time for what matters most.

Sound familiar?

Your calendar is wall-to-wall, your inbox is overflowing and the team keeps saying they can't get time with you. Your own manager has just added another 'urgent' project.

inside the session —

What we'll cover

  1. 1

    Where your time really goes

    A quick audit of your week to see how much time goes on leading versus doing.

  2. 2

    Prioritising with purpose

    A simple framework for deciding what to do, delegate, schedule or drop.

  3. 3

    Protecting leadership time

    Building one-to-ones, team time and thinking time into your week, and keeping it there.

  4. 4

    Managing upwards

    Practising how to push back, negotiate deadlines and say 'not now' professionally.

  5. 5

    Your leadership commitments

    Bringing the whole programme together into a personal plan for the months ahead.

Tools you'll take away

  • Weekly time audit
  • Prioritisation framework
  • Ideal leadership week template
  • Managing-upwards phrase guide
  • Personal leadership commitment plan

before the next module —

Put it into practice

Share your leadership commitment plan with your own manager and agree a review in 30 days.

Inside the workshop

Working in a small group of up to five, delegates move from reviewing competing demands to applying a prioritisation framework and planning protected leadership time. Breakouts, peer-to-peer learning and live practice provide opportunities to work through interruptions, rehearse professional pushback and prepare conversations about priorities with their manager. Delegates leave with a practical leadership routine and clear actions for managing their time.

Make Time & Priorities as a Leader relevant to your business

Tell us where you want to make progress with prioritisation tools. We can discuss suitable workplace examples, priorities and access needs before agreeing the scope. This course is delivered live online for people in the UK and Europe, with timings agreed around participants.

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.

  • Prioritisation tools
  • Protecting time for leadership
  • Managing interruptions
  • Managing upwards
  • Building your leadership routine

What’s included in your booking

Your booked time and format
2-hour live online module (or part of the 1- or 2-day face-to-face programme) · Live online · Maximum 5 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:

  • Prioritise using a simple framework
  • Block out time for leading your team
  • Say no (or not now) professionally
  • Agree priorities with your own manager

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: Prioritise using a simple framework.

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 Time & Priorities as a Leader 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.

Explore Speaking & Events

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5 live online sessions or 1 full day · 9:30am–5pmMaximum 5 delegates

Course synopsis

Potential needs preparation when someone is getting ready to lead people for the first time. Leadership potential deserves attention before the promotion arrives. Emerging Leader Academy is designed for people growing towards their first leadership role, taking on project responsibility or beginning to support colleagues. Across five live online sessions or one full-day workshop, participants explore their strengths, build self-awareness and practise the communication, judgement and ownership that leadership asks of them. This is a development pathway for emerging talent, distinct from the New Leaders Programme's day-to-day management essentials. With a maximum of five participants, everyone has space to contribute, practise and receive personal feedback.

Key focus areas

  • Know yourself: strengths, values and leadership self-awareness
  • Find your voice: clear communication, listening and confidence
  • Work with others: collaboration, influence and constructive feedback
  • Take ownership: priorities, decisions and accountability
  • Plan your next step: growth mindset and a personal leadership development plan

Outcomes — you'll be able to

  • Recognise your strengths and leadership development priorities
  • Communicate and influence with greater confidence
  • Practise collaboration and constructive feedback
  • Take ownership of decisions and commitments
  • Build a development plan for your next leadership step

Included in every course

  • Interactive, facilitator-led learning
  • Group discussions
  • Breakout exercises
  • Take-away materials

Face to face

Price on request+ VAT

Course details
Module 1

From Peer to Leader

Step confidently from colleague to leader, establish clear boundaries and build credibility with the team you now manage.

2-hour live online module (or part of the 1- or 2-day face-to-face programme)Maximum 5 delegates

Course synopsis

Leading former colleagues changes the relationships, responsibilities and expectations that shape your working day, making the transition as much about judgement as authority. This two-hour online module helps newly promoted managers, team leaders in their first year and high-potential staff preparing for promotion understand what leadership requires and how to approach it with confidence. Delegates explore how to manage former peers and friends, set appropriate boundaries and develop a leadership style that supports their new responsibilities. The focus is on building credibility early, navigating changing relationships thoughtfully and creating a practical first-90-days plan to guide their transition into leadership.

Key focus areas

  • Your new role and responsibilities
  • Managing former peers and friends
  • Setting boundaries
  • Discovering your leadership style
  • Your first 90 days

Outcomes — you'll be able to

  • Understand what's expected of you as a leader
  • Navigate changing relationships with former peers
  • Build credibility quickly
  • Create your first-90-days plan

Included in every course

  • Interactive, facilitator-led learning
  • Group discussions
  • Breakout exercises
  • Take-away materials

Live online

From £550+ VAT

Course details
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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