The People Systems Playbook

What you'll walk away with

• Hire against a scorecard instead of a gut feel.
• Run review cycles that people prepare for and act on.
• Define roles clearly enough that ownership stops being ambiguous.
• Identify who is ready for the next transition before you promote them.
• Install a weekly rhythm that keeps priorities visible.

Course content

Sample lessons are shown below. Full lesson content, workbooks and templates are released to enrolled participants as a formatted e-course pack (PDF, print-ready) after enrolment.

1. 01

   Part 1 — Role clarity and the pipeline

   Sample lessons

   What each layer of your organisation is actually accountable for.

   • Mapping your passages

     Define the work values, time horizon and skills that change at each transition in your business, from contributor to functional leader.

     Informed by The Leadership Pipeline (Charan, Drotter & Noel, Jossey-Bass / John Wiley & Sons).

   • The one-page role scorecard

     Purpose, outcomes and competencies, plus three measurable results the role directly controls and reports regularly — for example revenue converted, customer response time, or work completed accurately and on time.

2. 02

   Part 2 — Hiring

   Sample lessons

   Structured interviews and reference checks that predict performance.

   • Structured interview guide

     Behavioural questions tied directly to each scorecard outcome, with a shared rating scale.

   • Reference checks that reveal something

     Five questions that get past the confirmation call.

3. 03

   Part 3 — Onboarding

   Enrolled only · 2 lessons

   A 30-60-90 framework so new people contribute sooner and stay longer.

   • ●The 30-60-90 templatelocked
   • ●Setting development level expectationslocked
4. 04

   Part 4 — Performance reviews

   Enrolled only · 2 lessons

   A lightweight cycle, rating guidance and conversation scripts for both directions.

   • ●Brief goal reviewslocked
   • ●Calibration without politicslocked
5. 05

   Part 5 — Accountability rhythms and hard conversations

   Enrolled only · 3 lessons

   Weekly one-on-ones, escalation paths, and runbooks for underperformance and exits.

   • ●The weekly operating rhythmlocked
   • ●Underperformance runbooklocked
   • ●Exits done properlylocked

Course material

Enrolled participants receive the complete formatted e-course pack and all implementation materials listed below.

• A4 digital playbook with every implementation tool on its own printable page
• 24 ready-to-complete templates for role clarity, hiring, onboarding, performance and accountability
• Implementation checklist and 30-day roll-out plan included in the playbook
• Printable conversation cards for reviews and one-on-ones included in the playbook

Prerequisites

Useful for organisations of roughly 10 people and up, or any team about to add its first layer of management.

Facilitation

Written by XZX Business Consulting; walkthroughs recorded by a senior partner.