The First Two Years

19 chapters. 57 templates inside the book. Written by Mike Pritula - PHRi · SHRM-CP, founder of Mike Pritula Academy, 150,000+ students trained, 20+ years building HR teams at StarLightMedia, Wargaming, Preply, and iDeals. This system works.

You got promoted six months ago. Your team is missing deadlines and you're working 60-hour weeks to cover for them. Your one-on-ones feel like dentist appointments. Half your reports avoid eye contact in Slack. The other half tell you what you want to hear and then do whatever they were going to do anyway.

Nobody told you any of this would happen. You were the best engineer, designer, or account manager on the team - that's why they promoted you. And then the new job turned out to be a completely different job, and nobody handed you the manual.

When you don't have the operating system: you stay late, your team stays stuck, your skip-level loses confidence, and one of your strongest reports starts interviewing at a competitor by month nine.

When you do have it: you close your laptop at six, your team ships on time, your reports ask you to be their mentor, and your skip-level calls you the most promotable lead on the floor.

This book is the exact system Mike has used to coach hundreds of first-time managers through their first two years.

Here's what you'll learn:

• The Four-Shift IC-to-Manager Transition - calendar reallocation that turns IC time into manager time

• The Boss-Manager-Leader Mode Map - when each mode is correct, and the decision tree to pick

• The Four-Needs Diagnostic - the order to address clarity, fairness, safety, growth on day one

• The Skill-Will Matrix - task-specific reads that route every report to the right style

• The 14 Non-Financial Levers - motivation moves that produce engagement without a budget request

• The 30-Minute 1-on-1 Agenda - turning the dreaded weekly meeting into the highest-return meeting on the calendar

• The GROW Coaching Conversation - replacing "telling" with "asking" so your team learns to think

• The SBI Feedback Script - feedback that doesn't crater the relationship

• The 12-Month IDP - turning growth from a slogan into a 90-day-by-90-day plan

• The Team Rules-of-Engagement Charter - ending the "but I didn't know" excuses in 90 days

• The Accountability Conversation - early intervention that prevents the costly PIP later

• The 90-Day Broken-Team Reset - the playbook for when you inherit a team already in trouble

57 ready-to-use templates - all inside the book: The IC-to-Manager Transition Audit. The Calendar Reallocation Worksheet. The 30-60-90 Identity Letter. The Mode-Switch Decision Tree. The Manager Job Description (In Your Own Words). The Skill-Will Matrix. The Direct Instruction Template. The Onboarding Script for Week One. The Crisis Communication Playbook. The Two-Factor Compensation Conversation Script. The Personalized Motivation Profile. The 30-Minute 1-on-1 Agenda. The GROW Conversation Template. The SBI Feedback Script. The 12-Month IDP. The Team Charter. The Decision Rights Matrix. The Accountability Conversation Script. The Termination Decision Worksheet. The 90-Day Reset Roadmap.

No email walls. No resource pages. No broken download links. Every template is on the page.

HBR's 10 Must Reads for New Managers is $22.99. Becoming a Manager (Hill, Harvard) is $29.99. A leadership consultant runs $200-500/hour. An open-enrollment first-time-manager workshop is $1,500-3,500 per seat. This book costs less than dinner.

Every framework has been tested across hundreds of new managers coached at Mike Pritula Academy and refined through 20+ years of running HR teams at four companies.

Stop being the bottleneck. Start running the system.