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Manager inspiration

Manager Cookbook

A curated selection of practical manager guidance from companies that publish how they lead. Explore expectations, hiring, everyday management, performance, feedback, self-care, and complete public handbooks.

About this cookbook

What's this?

A pick-and-mix gallery of practical manager guidance from companies that publish how they lead. Ingredients are organised by the moments managers face most, with complete public handbooks near the bottom.

How to use

1Browse by topic with the chapter nav, or scroll the full cookbook.
2Open the source examples, borrow the parts that fit, and shape them around your own manager expectations and culture.

Starting from scratch?

Use the complete public handbooks near the bottom as a backbone, then layer in focused examples from each topic. Jump to full handbooks.

With thanks

Shoutout to the teams and contributors whose open guidance lets the rest of us learn.

37signals

ChecklyClaire Lowry-Hubball

Clearbit

Juro

JustlyLorna Flynn

Mintable

Open Org

Paul Graham

PostHog

Sourcegraph

What the role is for

Expectations

Set the contract for management clearly: what managers own, what excellence looks like, and how management differs from an IC promotion.

Clearbit

Management is a career change, not a promotion

Manager roleCareer pathExpectations

View live example

Juro

Manager expectations and responsibilities

ExpectationsResponsibilities

View live example

37signals

Manager Standard of Excellence

SkillsEngagementCoachability

View live example

Growing the team well

Hiring & onboarding

Practical guidance for standardising hiring, making thoughtful selection decisions, and giving new teammates a strong start.

Clearbit

Hiring 101: replace voodoo hiring with a standardised system

Hiring systemScorecardsInterviews

View live example

Open Org

How to nail hiring

Hiring guidePeople managers

View live example

Open Org

How to onboard effectively

OnboardingPeople managers

View live example

37signals

Hiring a new teammate

Hiring managerScreeningWork exercise

View live example

Everyday management

The basics

The recurring practices managers need most: communication, 1:1s, team agreements, recognition, pay conversations, team knowledge, and wellbeing.

Juro

Communication guidance for managers

CommunicationManager basics

View live example

Open Org

1:1 agenda template

1:1sAgendaTemplate

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Juro

How to get the most out of 1:1s

1:1sMeetings

View live example

PostHog

Team charters and ownership

Team charterOwnership

View live example

37signals

Employee recognition

RecognitionTeam morale

View live example

Justly

How to talk about levels and salary bands

Salary bandsLevelsTough conversations

View live example

Open Org

Know your team

Team knowledgeRelationships

View live example

Juro

Wellbeing and managing a return to work

WellbeingReturn to work

View live example

Checkly

Spotting burnout and what to do

BurnoutWellbeing

View live example

Clarity, growth, and intervention

Performance management

Examples for setting expectations, running healthy performance conversations, managing underperformance, and supporting high performers.

Open Org

Setting clear expectations and goals

ExpectationsGoals

View live example

Juro

How to have healthy performance conversations

Performance conversationsManager guidance

View live example

Juro

How to manage underperformance

UnderperformanceIntervention

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37signals

The SEC performance management model

SkillsEngagementCoachability

View live example

Sourcegraph

Addressing underperformance: guidance for managers

UnderperformanceManager guidance

View live example

Clearbit

Performance: goals, ownership, and debugging poor performance

GoalsOwnershipPerformance

View live example

Checkly

Managing high performers

High performersDevelopment

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Say the useful thing

Tough conversations & feedback

Frameworks and training material for specific, actionable feedback and the conversations managers are most tempted to avoid.

37signals

Giving feedback

Constructive feedbackSpecificity

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Open Org

Manager training guide: giving and receiving feedback

Training guideGiving feedbackReceiving feedback

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Clearbit

Feedback at Clearbit

Feedback cultureWeekly feedback

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Juro

How to give and get great feedback

Giving feedbackReceiving feedback

View live example

Open Org

Tough conversations

Tough conversationsManager guidance

View live example

Manage yourself first

Self-care

Tools for reflection, calendar design, energy management, and staying healthy enough to support other people well.

Lorna Flynn

Manager self-assessment

Self-assessmentReflection

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Clearbit

Managing yourself: time, calendar, and energy

Time managementCalendarEnergy

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Open Org

Self-care for managers

Self-careWellbeing

View live example

Complete public playbooks

Full handbook examples

End-to-end manager handbooks you can study as complete systems, then adapt to your own expectations and culture.

Full recipe