The Middle Seat — A Free Workshop for Managers

How to lead up, lead down, and not lose yourself in between. A 90-minute practical workshop for first-time and mid-level managers. Free to attend.

Nobody prepares you for the middle.

You have seniors above you with expectations and a team below you with needs. Somewhere between those two forces, there is you, trying to hold everything together, translating pressure in both directions, and quietly wondering when it got this exhausting.

Most management training talks about strategy, delegation, and performance conversations. Very little of it talks about what it actually feels like to lead from the middle. The self-doubt, the constant context-switching, and the slow erosion of your own voice.

This workshop addresses just that.

What we cover

• Lead up — how to push back effectively, propose alternatives, and manage pressure from above without burning the relationship.
• Lead down — how to communicate difficult news with honesty and steadiness, and why the difference between a Shield and a Translator matters more than you think
• Lead yourself — how to stop absorbing what is not yours, recognise the patterns that are quietly costing you, and build simple daily habits to protect your own capacity

What you leave with

• A short self-assessment to understand your default leadership style under pressure
• Three practical frameworks you can use the same week — not theory, not slides to read later
• A personal Middle Seat Map — a visual you create during the session and take home
• A participant workbook with all frameworks, tools, and reflection space

Who this is for
This workshop is part of The Shift Series — four standalone sessions for first-time and mid-level managers across any industry who want to lead better without burning out.

Upcoming workshops:

1. The Feedback Shift - On 9th May - Feel confident giving it, especially when the conversation is hard, the person is defensive, or the stakes feel high.
2. The Hard No - How to say no: to your team, your peers, and your seniors without damaging the relationship
3. The Conversation Before the Crisis - How to have the conversations that feel too risky, too awkward, or too late

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