Leadership & Management Training · Aerospace · Defense · Technical
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A+ APlus Strategy Leadership · Management Training
Brief a Cohort
00 · Programs

Five programs. Built for the technical management job.

Each program below is scoped to a specific audience and a specific management job inside an aerospace, defense or engineering‑led firm. Run one program for a cohort, combine several into a leadership build for a division, or layer 1:1 coaching on top of any of them.

NM01 · New Managers

NM: New Manager Program

A 12‑week cohort program for technical individual contributors moving into management. Built around the transition itself: how the job changes when you stop shipping code or hardware and start being measured on the output of a team. Managers walk out with a running 1:1 cadence, working delegation, feedback that lands, calibrated performance conversations, and the confidence to lead engineers who used to be their peers.

  • Role Transition
  • 1:1 Cadence
  • Delegation
  • Feedback
  • Team Meeting Discipline
  • Peer Authority
PM02 · Program Managers

PM: Program Manager Leadership

A 10‑week program specifically for aerospace and defense program managers. The job of running a program under long procurement cycles, matrix authority without headcount authority, and multiple layers of external stakeholder pressure. Earned‑value conversations that stay honest, program reviews that surface risk instead of hiding it, and escalation discipline that keeps the sponsor informed without eroding trust.

  • Matrix Authority
  • Stakeholder Alignment
  • Risk Rhythm
  • Program Reviews
  • Earned Value
  • Escalation
TL03 · Technical Leaders

TL: Technical Leadership Program

An 8‑week program for functional and technical directors. The job moves from managing managers to running a function inside a matrix: holding a technical bench, running under cleared‑work realities, and leading through influence when program managers own the schedule. Includes org design, technical career ladders, and the operating cadence of a function.

  • Function Leadership
  • Org Design
  • Career Ladders
  • Cleared Work
  • Influence
  • Bench Building
EX04 · Executives

EX: Executive Team Program

A 16‑week engagement for the VP layer and above. Sharpening how the executive team makes decisions, holds each other accountable, and runs the operating rhythm of a technical company. Built for leadership teams that are strong individually and uneven as a unit. Team charter, decision rights, accountability standards, 1:1 cadence, succession bench. On‑site working days bookend the program.

  • Decision Rights
  • Team Charter
  • Accountability
  • Succession
  • Operating Cadence
  • Conflict Discipline
1C05 · Coaching

1C: 1:1 Manager Coaching

Senior 1:1 coaching embedded between cohort sessions, or as a standalone engagement for a director, VP, or newly promoted manager who needs senior sparring. Confidential, structured, and calibrated to the operating reality inside aerospace and defense. Managers walk out with a running 1:1 cadence they carry into their own team.

  • Executive Coaching
  • New Director
  • Career Pivot
  • Sponsor Support
  • Onboarding
  • Retention
01 · Program Anatomy

How a program runs.

Every cohort has the same anatomy. Pre‑work, live sessions, application projects tied to real work, and 1:1 coaching between sessions. What changes across programs is the curriculum and the audience.

STAGE 01

Pre‑Work

Each manager completes a scoped pre‑work module before session one: a self‑audit of their current management practice, a read of their team, and a written brief on the specific management problem they are bringing into the cohort. This is what makes the live sessions land.

STAGE 02

Live Cohort Sessions

Small‑group video sessions with the senior trainer‑consultant. Case work, structured practice, and honest peer feedback. Sessions are not lectures. Managers do the work in the room, and get calibrated in the moment.

STAGE 03

Application Projects

Between sessions each manager runs an application project on their real team: install a 1:1 cadence, run a calibrated performance conversation, or lead a program review under new rules. The cohort compares notes at the next session.

STAGE 04

1:1 Coaching

Each manager gets structured 1:1 coaching between sessions with a senior coach. Confidential. Focused on the specific management job in front of the manager, not on generic development goals.

STAGE 05

Sponsor Check‑Ins

The sponsor gets a scheduled check‑in mid‑program and at close. What is landing, where the cohort is struggling, and what the sponsor should do next to reinforce the change inside the operating week.

STAGE 06

Sustain

Alumni cadence for graduates, a quarterly review with the sponsor, and structured 1:1 rhythm the graduates carry into their teams. For the platform that carries the 1:1 cadence after the program ends, our standing recommendation is the HeyRamp platform, which keeps structured check‑ins and performance conversations in one place after the program ends.

02 · Delivery Model

Delivery model: cadence, format, and what changes in the operating week.

Remote first. Live cohort sessions run over video. On‑site kickoff and mid‑program working days are available where a sponsor wants them, and are standard for the Executive Team Program.

Weekly

Live Cohort Session

Ninety minutes to two hours over video. Structured case work, practice, and peer calibration. Recorded for cleared or shift‑working managers who cannot attend live.

Fortnightly

1:1 Coaching

Structured 1:1 coaching with a senior coach. Confidential. Calibrated to the specific management job in front of the manager and their team.

Kickoff & Close

On‑Site Working Day

Optional on‑site for kickoff and mid‑program calibration. Standard for the Executive Team Program. Sponsors that want an in‑person alumni close can add one.

Quarterly

Sustain Review

Quarterly review with the sponsor after the cohort closes. Where the change has landed, where it is drifting, and what the sponsor is doing to reinforce it.

03 · Specializations

Where the work concentrates.

Four situations come up often enough to be worth naming. Each combines one or more of the programs above into a coherent engagement shape for a division or a sponsor.

SPEC 01

Post‑Award Scale‑Up Leadership

A defense or aerospace contract win that doubles or triples the operating footprint. The bench needs to grow up fast: new program managers, new engineering managers, and directors moving from managing programs to running the function. We run the New Manager and Program Manager programs on a rolling cadence, layered with Technical Leadership sessions.

SPEC 02

Matrix‑Org Leadership

Firms where program authority and functional authority collide every day, and the middle layer is burning out managing the collision. We run Program Manager Leadership and Technical Leadership in parallel, so the two sides of the matrix have a shared language for how the handoffs work.

SPEC 03

IC‑to‑Manager Transitions

Companies promoting a wave of technical individual contributors into management inside one or two quarters. The classic engineering‑led scale‑up problem. The New Manager Program runs as a standing quarterly cohort, so the bench is being trained continuously instead of catch‑up once a year.

SPEC 04

Program Manager Development

Firms with a program manager bench that is technically capable but under‑built for stakeholder management, escalation, and holding the program under external pressure. Program Manager Leadership runs as a company‑specific cohort with embedded 1:1 coaching for the most senior program managers.

04 · Engagement Formats

Three engagement shapes.

Diagnostic first. Always. From there we move into the shape that matches the cohort in front of the sponsor.

8 to 16 Weeks

Cohort Program

Company‑specific cohort of eight to sixteen managers through one of the five programs. Live sessions, pre‑work, application projects on real teams, and embedded 1:1 coaching between sessions.

6 to 12 Months

Embedded Coaching

1:1 senior coaching for a director, VP or small bench of key managers. Fortnightly or monthly, structured around the operating cadence of the sponsor and the manager's own team.

Rolling

Leadership Build

Multi‑cohort engagement for a division. New Manager and Program Manager programs run on a rolling cadence, Technical Leadership sessions layer on top, and executive coaching for the sponsor keeps the whole build on track.

05 · Brief Us

Tell us who you are trying to promote, retain, or level up.

A first conversation usually clarifies the brief on its own. We will tell you honestly whether APlus Strategy is the right team and what shape the engagement should take.

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