Cohort kickoff agenda template
Two hours. A promise. A 1:1 they send today.
A cohort kickoff agenda is a spine, not a syllabus recitation. Two hours, twelve to twenty first-time managers, week 0 of an eight-week program. Their bosses stay out of the room. If you need an icebreaker, a slide garden of the eight weeks, or a reading list as homework, this is the wrong format.
Title. Week 0: the promise and the first win.
When. 1:00–3:00. Room B. Skip-levels are not invited. Walking in at :20 to “hear the norms” kills the format.
Outcomes. A transformation promise the room can audit: 1:1s people do not dread, same-week feedback, meetings that end with a decision. Cohort norms the participants amended and own, plus named peer partners for eight weeks. A live demo of a four-minute 1:1 they can steal from, audited in the room. A first win: a 1:1 agenda for a real person they manage, practiced once, sent the same day. Homework on the calendar: one live 1:1 and a four-line debrief by Friday.
Materials. Board: NAMES / PROMISE / NORMS / FIRST WIN / HOMEWORK. Printed workbooks, one per chair. One-page 8-week map — print, not a slide garden. Printed 1:1 agenda template (check-in, work item, people item, close). Shared cohort doc with empty homework rows: name / 1:1 day / debrief. Timer. Peer-partner list assigned in advance so friends do not clump.
The 120-minute spine
| Clock | Min | Mode | Segment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:00 | 12 | Talk |
Welcome Name the real job. Fifteen seconds each: name, headcount in their 1:1s, the conversation they have been postponing. Laptops closed. |
| 1:12 | 18 | Talk |
Transformation promise Three verbs, a show of hands on last two weeks, the 8-week map in four minutes. Not “become a leader.” |
| 1:30 | 20 | Discussion |
Norms Amend four working norms until the room owns them. Assign peer partners who are not already friends. |
| 1:50 | 10 | Demo |
What good looks like A real four-minute 1:1. The room audits it. Leave the agenda on the board to steal. |
| 2:00 | 40 | Activity |
First win Write a 1:1 agenda for a real direct report. Run four minutes with a peer. Rewrite. Leave ready to send today. |
| 2:40 | 20 | Discussion |
Homework and close Lock homework to a calendar, not an intention. Peer-text happens live. Hear a day and a name from every person. |
12 + 18 + 20 + 10 + 40 + 20 = 120. That is the whole two hours. A beautiful syllabus with zero 1:1s on the calendar is a fail.
How each block earns its minutes
1:00 · Welcome · 12
Say. You are in the room because someone trusted you with people, and the job is not the job you were promoted for. Two hours. We end at the time on the board. For eight weeks this cohort is the place you tell the truth about that. Today is not a syllabus recitation. You will leave having already run the first piece of the work. Close the laptop unless I ask you to open it. Fifteen seconds each. Name, how many people sit in your 1:1s, the conversation you have been postponing. Role is enough if you need to protect a name. Do not process it. We will put it on a side list for week 3.
Do. Stand, no slides. Write NAMES / PROMISE / NORMS / FIRST WIN / HOMEWORK and the 3:00 end (3). Collect laptops (1). Visible timer: 15-second round, one pass — 12–20 people, cut anyone who stacks (7). Scribe avoided conversations on a side list. Last 1: they copy the postponed conversation into the workbook. Do not process them today. Do not start the promise. 3+1+7+1=12.
On their page. Name. How many people sit in my 1:1s. The conversation I have been postponing (role, not name if I need to protect it). I will not process this in Open. It is for week 3.
1:12 · Transformation promise · 18
By week eight they need to do three things without a script in their pocket: run a 1:1 people do not dread, give feedback the same week the thing happened, and leave a meeting with a decision instead of a vibe. That is the promise. Not “become a leader.” Not presence. Write the three as verbs on the board (3). Show of hands for each: “Who has done this in the last two weeks?” No shaming (4). They score last two weeks, 1–5, in the workbook and circle the lowest — that is the first-month target (3). Hand out the one-page 8-week map. Walk it in four minutes — what they practice each week, not a reading list. Last four: point at week 1 — they already started it today. 3+4+3+4+4=18. If they already do the three, they are in the wrong room and you help them leave. Do not steal from norms.
1:30 · Norms · 20
Cohorts die from politeness. Four rules you will hold them to, and they amend them before they are theirs. One: what is said about your people stays in this room. Two: you practice on live work, not hypotheticals. Three: if you skip a week, you write your peer, not me. Four: I will interrupt you when you abstract. Write the four (3). Pair-amend (8). Harvest additions — cameras on, no boss in the room, start at :00 — vote any new norm in (5). Read the pre-assigned peer-partner list, not the people sitting together. Put the pair list in the shared doc now (4). 3+8+5+4=20. They text a check-in time at Close, not now. Do not steal from the demo.
1:50 · What good looks like · 10
Recruit the volunteer on the way in, not cold in front of twenty. Put a four-line agenda on the board (1): written agenda both people can see, one question about the work, one question about the person, a close that names a decision. Sit and run it in real time — do not perform (4). Audit (4): scribe SPECIFIC vs VAGUE. Last 1: leave the agenda up. They copy it in First win. 1+4+4+1=10. They tell you what was specific and what was still vague. Do not compliment you. Audit you. Do not extend the demo.
2:00 · First win · 40
The first win is not a reflection essay. They write a 1:1 agenda for a real person they manage, then run four minutes of it with a peer who will not be kind. Use the board template: check-in, one work item, one people item, close. Silent write (8) — real names, real work. Pair with the assigned peer (2). Round 1: 4-minute live 1:1, 3-minute feedback (“vague” / “steal this”). Switch: 4 + 3. Walk during both rounds; interrupt abstractions (“what is the actual document?”). Rewrite (8). Last 8: they paste the agenda into the mail they will send today, or write the send-by timestamp. 8+2+7+7+8+8=40. No full-room share unless someone asks. Do not steal from Close.
2:40 · Homework and close · 20
Homework is one 1:1 using the agenda they just wrote, plus a four-line debrief in the cohort doc by Friday: what you asked, what they said, what you decided, what you would do differently. That is it. Do not read ahead. Do not watch a TED talk. Project the homework doc with empty rows (name / 1:1 day / debrief). People type their day before they stand (6). Phones out for the peer text (4). Close-around, 15 seconds each — 12–20 people (5). Last 5: photograph, confirm Friday 5pm, end at 3:00. Stay in the hallway after for the people who will not ask in front of 20. 6+4+5+5=20. You want to hear a calendar, not an intention. Do not add a seventh segment.
If Welcome runs long, you still take First win. You steal from next week’s opening, not from the 1:1 they have to send today. A two-hour kickoff that skips the first win is a syllabus recitation with better coffee.
What does not belong on this spine
- Bosses, skip-levels, and HR “sitting in.” The room only works if they can tell the truth about their people.
- A syllabus recitation. The 8-week map is one page, four minutes, not a slide garden.
- Icebreakers. Fifteen seconds of name, headcount, postponed conversation is the intro.
- “Become a leader.” Three verbs they can audit. Not presence.
- A reading list as homework. One 1:1 and four lines by Friday.
- Processing the postponed conversation today. Side list. Week 3.
- A seventh segment bargained back after 3:00. End on time.
Pre-work, in one paragraph
Fifteen minutes, not a leadership book. Put a 30-minute 1:1 with someone they manage on this week’s calendar — if they do not have a standing 1:1, that is the first problem you will treat, still pick a time. Write the conversation they have been postponing; role is enough if they need to protect a name. Score last two weeks, 1–5, honestly: (a) 1:1s had a written agenda both of you used, (b) you gave feedback the same week something happened, (c) you ended a meeting with a named decision and owner. Laptops closed unless you ask. The letter is in the workshop pre-work email guide.
After house lights: the promise, the norms they voted in, the peer-partner list, homework due Friday 5pm in the cohort doc. Wednesday starts by reading three debriefs out loud with permission. Week 1 is notes from the 1:1, not a summary of how it “felt.” The letter is in the workshop follow-up email guide.
Places ships this hour as a kit: timed segments, say-this, do-this, the workbook prompts, the emails. Open it, put the cohort dates in, print the paper.
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