For teams

The Cohort Program

A guided six-month development experience for new and newly promoted managers

Most new managers get no training. This program is the training.

The Chartered Management Institute puts it at 82 percent: managers promoted into the role and left to figure it out. Small cohorts of managers in live transitions move through a four-phase arc together, apply every concept to their real work the same week, and finish with results their leaders can see.

Talk to us about a cohort See how it works

From Emergent, creators of The Emergent Manager: Field Guide to Your First Six Months as a Manager.

At a glance

Six-month arc: a 10-week intensive plus a 90-day sustain layer
Kickoff, eight weekly 90-minute workshops, and the Next 90
Virtual-first delivery, with on-site options available
Cohorts of 8 to 20 participants, 12 to 16 ideal
Working pods of four for peer consulting
Includes the book, the editable Toolkit workbook, and the AI Coach
Pre and post measurement built in

The window

Why the first six months matter

A manager's first six months set the trajectory for everything that follows.

Team engagement, trust, retention, whether priorities actually move: all of it traces back to how the first months went. When the transition stumbles, the cost lands on the team long before it shows up in results. Most organizations leave that window to chance.

The Cohort Program closes the gap. It is built for managers in a live transition, so every session lands on problems participants are facing right now, not ones they faced years ago.

Who it's for

Managers in a live transition

Within roughly six months of a first promotion into management, or newly stepped into a materially bigger or different role.

Cohorts are intentionally composed of managers at a similar transition stage, so the room shares the same problems at the same time.

The format

How it works

An applied intensive that fits inside a single quarter, followed by a sustain layer that carries the habits through the rest of the transition.

Weeks 1 to 10

An applied intensive, delivered live

A two-hour kickoff, eight weekly 90-minute working sessions, and a two-hour Next 90 session where managers present results to their sponsor and their own leader.

A concept spotlight to frame the week
An application lab focused on each manager's real situation
Peer consulting in fixed pods of four

Sessions are workshops, not webinars. Between sessions managers put the work to use and return to examine what happened. The rhythm is simple: try, notice, learn, adjust.

The following 90 days

A sustain layer

Development continues past the weekly workshops, so what managers learn becomes how they actually lead.

Three monthly peer-coaching sessions
Ongoing access to the AI Coach, grounded in the book and Toolkit
A month-six progress check that reports back to the sponsor

The framework

Built on two decades of transition work

The program follows the book's four phases, covering 22 management skills backed by more than 40 ready-to-use tools.

PHASE 1

Taking Hold

Land well. Role Charter, Key Few Objectives, stakeholder map, and a plan for the first moves that build credibility.

PHASE 2

Immersion

Learn the terrain. A full self-assessment debrief, a plan for managing up, and a read on how the place actually works.

PHASE 3

Reshaping

Make your mark. Team gap analysis, a team vision drafted and pressure-tested, and working agreements for hybrid teams.

PHASE 4

Consolidation

Make it stick. Support built across the org, progress measures set, and the Next 90 presented to each manager's own leader.

Grounded in executive transition research, and drawing on more than two decades of leadership, strategy, and organizational change work with organizations including Lowe's, PepsiCo, JetBlue, Mondelez, Gap, Mattel, and Walgreens.

Evidence, not good feelings

Results you can see

Progress is measured, not assumed. The program looks at change from three angles: capability growth, observed change on the job, and tangible leadership outputs.

A 22-item pre and post self-assessment tracks capability growth across the cohort, one item per skill.
A short survey of each participant's manager captures observed changes in leadership behavior on the job.
Every participant completes hard deliverables, including a Role Charter and Key Few Objectives, reviewed directly with their own manager.
Pulse checks at weeks three and six keep the program honest along the way.

Why a cohort

Managers actually finish

Harvard Business School reports 85 percent completion for its cohort-based programs, several times what self-paced courses achieve.

They finish because their peers, their pod, and their own manager are in it with them.

Working together

A partnership, not a drop-in course

Development sticks when the people around the manager are part of it.

Sponsors are engaged from scoping through a six-month close-out, with a structured journey of touchpoints along the way. Each participant's direct manager plays a defined role too: a nomination conversation at the start, a check-in as the program begins, and a seat at the Next 90.

Weeks 1-10 The live intensive. Kickoff, eight weekly working sessions, and the Next 90.
Months 4-6 The sustain layer. Monthly peer coaching and ongoing AI Coach access.
Month 6 Close-out. A progress check and a report back to the sponsor.

Investment

where cohort programs begin

Up to 12 participants
13 to 20 participants
Significant customization

Programs are scoped on cohort size, delivery format, and organizational requirements. Every cohort includes all live sessions, participant materials, the AI Coach, measurement, sponsor reporting, and the 90-day sustain layer.

Minimum cohort of 8. Intact in-house teams and multi-cohort programs scoped on request.

Getting started

Four to six weeks

A scoping conversation, a nomination window, and a kickoff date. That is what most organizations need to go from first call to a running cohort.

Every participant receives

A seat in the full six-month program. The two-hour kickoff, eight weekly 90-minute working sessions, the Next 90, and three monthly peer-coaching sessions.
A fixed pod of four peers. The same working group from week one through the sustain layer, so the network outlasts the program.
The printed book. The Emergent Manager: Field Guide to Your First Six Months as a Manager.
The Toolkit: Editable Workbook. All 40+ tools, checklists, and worksheets from the book, assembled as one working document they fill in as they go.
The AI Coach. Grounded in the book and Toolkit, available on demand through month six.
A written Next 90 plan. Their own transition plan, presented to their sponsor and their direct manager.

Every sponsoring organization receives

Pre and post capability measurement across the cohort.
A direct-manager survey capturing observed change in leadership behavior on the job.
Pulse checks at weeks three and six, so the program can be adjusted while it is still running.
A defined role for each participant's manager: a nomination conversation, a check-in as the program begins, and a seat at the Next 90.
A month-six close-out report back to the sponsor.

10 weeks

of live working sessions, not a one-and-done workshop

Applied

every tool used on the manager's real role, not a case study

Pods of 4

fixed peer groups, so the network outlasts the program

Six months

covered, from the first week to the progress check