Training course:
Managing friends

Two hours • In-person or remote • 4-15 participants
Rated 4.2/5 ★★★★ from 4 recent reviews

About this bitesize training course

The transition from peer to manager can be awkward - especially when managing former colleagues and friends.

This practical course helps new managers navigate this delicate shift, establish appropriate boundaries, and build their leadership identity without damaging relationships. They'll learn to balance authority with approachability and develop their own authentic management style.

Attendees of the Managing friends training session will learn to:

  • Understand the differing needs and priorities of employees

  • Begin exploring their strengths and developments areas in their management role

  • Recognise the challenges of making the shift from peer to line manager

  • Consider their personal impact as a manager

  • Set new and constructive boundaries with their team

  • Use two-way feedback to support trust and rapport

  • Hold effective one to ones and career conversations

  • Set goals which inspire and motivate their team

Key details

  • this bitesize training course is two hours long and packed with powerful ideas

  • designed for groups of 4 – 15

  • delivered by an expert trainer at your workplace, or virtually

  • interactive, with plenty of exercises that get people talking

  • customisable, to connect with your organisation’s values

“The delivery was excellent and informative – it prompted me to think more about certain situations at work!” ★★★★

Attendee, Managing Friends

Why book this training session?

🧕🏼 Support new managers

Managing friends is one of those transitional topics that more senior managers may be less exposed to, and is easy to neglect. But this training course delivers valuable support against one of the very real challenges new managers can face.

↗️ Promote from within

The challenge of managing friends often emerges at companies with an otherwise laudable culture of developing talent and promoting internally. This course gives you the confidence to bring individual contributors into management positions without stressing about the impact on the wider team.

🙃 For dynamic teams

This training course is a great fit for organisations where teams may form and reform for different projects, requiring different members of a peer group to take the driving seat at different times. It’s also suitable for startups and scale-ups where new management responsibilities are likely to arrive imminently.

Create the perfect learning journey for your managers.

Don’t stop with just one session.

Create your dream management training programme, by mixing-and-matching from our library of core courses.

The sky’s the limit.

• Building & leading great teams
• Coaching skills for managers
• Conflict resolution
• Delegation
• Leadership styles
• Inspirational leadership
• Inspiring career conversations
• Introduction to employment law
• Managing absence
• Managing change
• Managing difficult conversations
• Managing friends
• Mentoring
• Motivating others
• Performance management
• Recruitment interviewing
• Running meetings
• Strategic thinking
• Thinking as a manager

“Maximal learning in a short, but intense, session. This is definitely the way forward for management training, as far as I am concerned.”

Professor Niamh Moran, Royal College of Surgeons Ireland ★★★★★

Training made easy, the Bitesize way •

Training made easy, the Bitesize way •

All killer, no filler: our training sessions are crammed with high-value insights, and perfect for busy teams.

Live & interactive: real change doesn’t come from half-heartedly skimming through e-learning. We believe in bringing people together, to deliver memorable, engaging training experiences with learning that sticks.

Expert-led: all our sessions are designed + delivered by experienced specialists in L&D, HR and leadership coaching.