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People Manager Quick-Start Guide

People Manager Quick-Start Guide

What This Is & Why It Matters?

This guide is your quick-reference companion as you step into people management at 

Axelerant.

It’s designed to help you:

  • Start managing people effectively, even if it’s your first time.

  • Balance delivery and leadership responsibilities without losing sight of either.

  • Access templates, prompts, and escalation paths quickly when you need support.

Remember: People management is not about authority—it’s about enabling your team’s best performance while helping them grow as individuals.

Leadership Principles

At Axelerant, leadership is grounded in our three core values: Excellence, Openness, and Kindness.

These values guide how we lead ourselves, our teams, and our customers every day.

Excellence: Strive for Better, Together

What it means:

We pursue mastery - in our craft, in how we collaborate, and in the outcomes we deliver. Excellence isn’t perfection; it’s a commitment to learning, refining, and raising the bar for ourselves and others.

Leadership Behaviors:

  • Set high standards: Expect quality work from yourself and your team. Define “what good looks like” clearly.

  • Stay curious: Keep learning new tools, methods, and perspectives that enhance performance.

  • Coach for growth: Give developmental feedback, not judgmental. Recognize effort and progress, not just results.

  • Balance delivery with development: Meet goals while helping people become better at what they do.

  • Celebrate wins, learn from misses: Treat every success as a team success, and every challenge as a shared opportunity to improve.

Openness: Build Trust Through Transparency

What it means:

We share context, invite diverse views, and speak with honesty and respect. Openness strengthens trust and allows collaboration to thrive across boundaries.

Leadership Behaviors:

  • Communicate with clarity: Share goals, decisions, and rationale so your team always knows the “why.”

  • Seek perspectives: Ask for input, especially from quieter voices. Encourage constructive disagreement.

  • Be transparent in challenges: Admit when you don’t have all the answers and involve others in problem-solving.

  • Encourage dialogue, not monologue: Listen actively - with curiosity, not defensiveness.

  • Model accountability: Own your decisions and mistakes publicly. It permits others to do the same.

Kindness: Lead with Empathy and Respect

What it means:

Kindness at Axelerant is active - it’s about creating a space where people feel safe, valued, and supported to do their best work. It’s not about being “nice”; it’s about being fair, patient, and compassionate while driving outcomes.

Leadership Behaviors:

  • See the person, not just the role: Be genuinely curious about your team members’ well-being and aspirations.

  • Show empathy in action: Adjust workloads during difficult times. Listen before you respond.

  • Give feedback with care: Address performance gaps with compassion and clarity.

  • Be inclusive and equitable: Make sure every voice has space and dignity in conversations and decisions.

  • Recognize humanity in leadership: You don’t need to have all the answers - just the intent to support.

Bringing It Together

Great Axelerant managers integrate these values every day:

  • Lead with Excellence - set the bar and enable growth.

  • Lead with Openness - create clarity and trust.

  • Lead with Kindness - foster belonging and care.

“Our people-first culture starts with how we lead. Excellence sharpens us, Openness connects us, and Kindness sustains us.”

Your Core People Responsibilities

Here’s your quick-scan table of what matters most:

Responsibility

What Good Looks Like

When to Escalate

Resources

Building relationships and trust

Know your team’s strengths and aspirations. Personalized check-ins during illness or personal challenges, thoughtful messages on birthdays and anniversaries. Build rapport beyond work. 

If trust breaks down or there’s disengagement. If someone appears isolated or withdrawn.

High5 Strengths Test, Rapport Builder GPT, Coaching team

 

1:1 Conversations

Hold meaningful weekly or biweekly sessions focusing on growth, well-being, and feedback.

If recurring blockers or emotional distress surface.

 

Leapsome 1:1 template, Manager Check-in Template

DSM/Stand-up

Focused discussions to track progress, remove blockers, and reduce meeting load. Project Managers and Reporting Managers may choose to jointly facilitate these.

If blockers repeat or performance dips.

Leapsome Team Meeting Template

Feedback

Give feedback that’s specific, timely, and balanced - reinforce strengths while addressing gaps.

If feedback isn’t landing or behavior persists.

Feedback Giving Toolkit, Coaching Support

Recognition

Celebrate individual and team achievements consistently - small wins and major milestones alike. Reinforce desired behaviors publicly and authentically.

If recognition is absent or feels uneven, people express feeling unseen.

 

Leapsome Praise, Recognition Slack Channel

Goal-setting

Use SMART goals; align individual goals with team and company objectives.

 

If goals are continuously not being met 

Manager Quick Starter: Goals & Accountability, Leapsome Academy

Identifying Strengths

  • Ask directly: What do they believe they do best? What excites them?

  • Review their experience: Past successes reveal natural talents.

  • Observe behaviors: Who builds harmony? Who drives ideas? Who delivers relentlessly?

  • Avoid assumptions: Validate impressions through observation and feedback loops.

Example: Pair a creative thinker with a detail-oriented executor to balance innovation and follow-through.

These questions should be integrated into ongoing, natural conversations—not limited to scheduled one-on-one meetings. They are intended to reflect a continuous People Manager mindset rather than a checklist to be completed once a month.

Support Structure

You are never managing alone. These are your key support partners:

  • People Care Team – Guidance on policies, culture, and well-being.

  • Your Service Leader – Strategic alignment and escalations.

  • Coaching Team – Personalized support for leadership and people challenges.

Resources