Scaling Leadership: Building a Management Layer That Works

As digital agencies and other tech companies grow, they often encounter the same pain point:
founders and senior leaders become bottlenecks, and there is no solid middle management to take
the reins. Building a capable leadership layer is key to sustainable growth — but many organizations
promote from within without providing structure, clarity or support.

This hands-on workshop offers a practical roadmap for identifying, developing, and empowering
leaders within growing tech teams. Participants will reflect on their current structure, explore
example company growth cases, and leave with actionable frameworks and tools they can
immediately apply. No advanced leadership theory knowledge is required — the workshop is designed to be practical, accessible and relevant to real-world challenges.

Key takeaways

Participants will leave with practical tools and a clear roadmap for building and supporting a middle
management layer that enables sustainable growth, ownership, and accountability in tech teams.

What you’ll learn

By participating in this workshop, you will:

• Understand the key functions and challenges of middle leadership in growing
  organizations
• Distinguish between high performance and leadership potential, using behavioral
  indicators to identify individuals suitable for leadership development
• Apply the Performance vs. Leadership Potential Matrix to evaluate current team
  members and make more informed, strategic leadership development decisions
• Assess the readiness of potential leaders by defining behavioral milestones and
  identifying the support mechanisms required for their growth
• Learn how to design development paths using stretch assignments, feedback, and
  real-world learning opportunities
• Explore how to clarify leadership responsibilities using the Leadership Accountability
  Map
• Exchange insights and challenges with other leaders navigating growth and scale
• Reflect on your own leadership structure and define at least one concrete action to
  strengthen leadership capacity in your organization

Participant requirements

No formal HR or leadership training is required. Participants should have:

• Experience working in or managing a team
• A basic understanding of their current organizational structure
• Willingness to reflect on their real-world challenges and explore new approaches

All materials will be provided. The workshop will be hands-on and discussion-based — bring your
experience, your questions, and your curiosity.

Agenda at a glance

1. Why middle leadership matters

• Common growth patterns and organizational traps
• Case examples: 3 types of leadership structures

2. Identifying & developing leadership potential

• Leadership readiness vs. performance
• Mapping potential in your team
• Designing practical growth paths

3. Creating accountability & ownership

• Clarifying expectations with the Leadership accountability map
• Tools for supporting sustainable leadership behavior