A leadership academy for new managers
Up North is where people go on purpose — to get distance, get clear, and return changed. Up North Learning is built the same way: a place new managers head to deliberately, and come back from leading better.
Founding cohort, by invitation. We are forming the first cohort now — places begin with a conversation, not a checkout. Beyond the cohort, take the full programme or pick and mix single modules and bundles.
The first management job is where leadership habits form — and where they quietly go wrong. The research is consistent about how little support most new managers get, and how much rides on them anyway.
~82%
Around 82% of managers take on people responsibility with no formal management or leadership training — the “accidental managers” now leading most teams.
Chartered Management Institute research on accidental managers. Figure widely reported; treat as approximate.
~70%
Gallup's long-running research attributes roughly 70% of the variance in team engagement to the manager. Who leads the team matters more than almost anything else about the job.
Gallup, State of the Global Workplace research programme.
39%
Only about 39% of training professionals say they are satisfied with their organisation's learning platform — most describe content libraries with no path, and completion counted as learning.
Industry survey of training professionals; satisfaction figure as reported in the underlying research review.
Ten modules for people in their first management role, built from the 100 most topical leadership challenges new managers actually face — not a syllabus of theory. Each module takes roughly 95–105 minutes, in short units that fit around a real job. Take all ten as the complete flagship programme, or pick and mix the single modules and bundles you need most.
The book behind the programme
The programme grows directly out of What Leaders Make Normal by Deon Benito — the argument that a team's culture is simply whatever its leader repeatedly does, tolerates, and rewards. Every module turns one of the book's ideas into decisions, practice, and a commitment the learner carries back to their team that same week.
Learners read, decide, and practice in one flow: scenario units open with a prediction, the reading gives the principle, and a Norm Sprint — one week of practicing a single commitment with your real team — turns it into one specific behaviour, in one specific situation, for that week.
Ask about the programmeThe work that made you promotable is no longer the work. This module helps a new manager grieve the old scoreboard, stop rescuing, and start leading through other people.
Most new managers delay feedback until it becomes an event. Here they practice small, specific, same-week feedback — and taking it as visibly as they give it.
Delegation fails when it is really abdication — or a loan you snatch back. Learners build a delegation habit: the right work, the right person, the right level of freedom, agreed out loud.
Hybrid teams drift toward two classes of citizen. This module sets the norms that prevent it: written-first decisions, meetings that include remote voices first, and visibility based on work, not presence.
AI lands on teams as a rumour before it lands as a tool. Learners practice honest framing, small experiments, and the norms that keep judgement human while the work changes around it.
Engagement is not a survey result; it is the accumulation of ordinary Tuesdays. This module turns the evidence on recognition, clarity, and progress into weekly habits a new manager can keep.
New managers are managed, too. Learners build the upward habits that create trust: crisp updates, early bad news, clear asks, and disagreement that stays useful.
Nothing tests a new manager like underperformance. This module covers the fair process: clear expectations, documented support, honest timelines — and the conversation itself, practiced before it counts.
Reorganisations, cuts, sudden pivots: pressure reveals what a leader has made normal. Learners practice communicating change they didn't choose, without pretending or panicking.
The final module turns the lens around: boundaries, recovery, and asking for help as leadership behaviours the team will copy. What leaders make normal starts with what they model about themselves.
Every module follows the same rhythm: a Prediction Check — a short check comparing what you predicted with what actually works — then the principle, decisions in scenarios, practice, and a Norm Sprint to carry it into the week with your real team. Every module also ends with a Team Session: a cohort exercise your cohort leader runs, where small groups work a fresh case together and debrief it. Learning is individual, then cemented together. On the full programme, modules open weekly across the cohort, with a grace window — pace with company, not pressure alone.
You don’t have to take all ten to start leading better. If one challenge is urgent — feedback, delegation, a hard conversation — start there. If you want the complete practice, the full programme is still the flagship path.
All ten modules in sequence, building week on week — the complete Normal-Maker practice as it was designed.
Choose one module for the one job in front of you right now — and add more later whenever you’re ready.
Group the modules around a theme — a new team, a difficult patch, leading change — and take just that set.
Whichever way you come in, the terms are the same: nothing is charged until you activate and start a module, and every module you complete stays on your My Progress record. The one thing pick-and-mix doesn’t include is the Cumulative Final Check — that belongs to the full programme, because it tests all ten modules together.
No content dumps, no completion theatre. Each mechanic below exists because the evidence says it changes what learners do at work — and each one is already built into the platform, not promised for later.
Every skill is tracked through four levels. Mastered can't be earned in the sitting where you learned it — only by proving the skill again, later, mixed in with others.
Every completed unit returns as a single review question — one day later, one week later, one month later. One question, thirty seconds, and the learning holds.
Each module ends in a one-week if–then commitment: “If it's the Monday stand-up, then I ask what people need before I give updates.” Small, specific, and reviewable.
Every module has a Team Session — a group exercise the cohort leader runs. In small groups you work a fresh case the module has not covered, decide together, then debrief what you chose and why. Learning is individual, then cemented together. Attendance is recorded as a simple progress fact, and nothing else from the session is captured. For people learning on their own, a Team Session is never a gate — the module still completes without one.
Echo 360 is structured feedback from your manager, peers, and team. Responses are only shown once enough people have replied to protect anonymity — honest input, safely given.
Modules open weekly for the whole cohort, with deadlines early and a grace window after them. Learners move together — discussion stays alive — without a hard cliff when a work week explodes.
The single biggest lever on whether training transfers is the learner's own manager. So theirs gets a short guide at enrolment and a copy-ready five-minute update each week, written from real progress.
Most platforms mark a skill “done” the moment you finish it. Ours doesn't. Step through it the way a learner would:
You meet a scenario — say, a team member who has gone quiet — and make your call. That's Attempted.
We designed from the research literature and the best-documented platforms in the world — and we keep the hedges on the numbers, because a learning company should model intellectual honesty.
Practicing recall — answering from memory rather than reviewing — is among the most robustly supported techniques in learning science, with meaningful effect sizes across hundreds of studies. It is why review questions exist here.
Retrieval-practice and spacing meta-analyses, educational psychology literature.
The same practice, spread over time, is retained far longer than the same practice massed in one sitting. Our +1 / +7 / +30-day review questions and later-proof mastery rule are spacing, made structural.
Distributed-practice research, replicated across decades of studies.
In large online-course datasets, deadlines in the first two weeks are associated with roughly double the completion likelihood, and shorter units complete better. Cohort pacing here puts real dates early — with grace, not penalties.
Platform-scale observational research on online course completion.
Programmes where the learner's own manager is actively involved show substantially stronger behaviour change than identical programmes without that involvement. The manager loop is not a courtesy — it is the mechanism.
Training-transfer research and coached-group field studies, as reviewed in our design research.
Deliberately not copied from the platforms we studied: public league tables, penalty streaks that punish a bad week, and vendor completion claims we could not verify. Where a widely quoted figure comes from a vendor rather than a study, we say so — or leave it out.
Organisations license the programme for their new managers. Individuals join pay-per-view. Either way you can take the full ten modules, a single module, or a bundle. Both routes share one rule: nothing is charged until a learner actually starts.
License the full Normal-Maker programme — or a single module or bundle — for a cohort of new managers, and run it from the Operate desk — the sponsor's side of Up North Learning.
New to management and nobody is training you? Join pay-per-view — take a single module, build a bundle, or take the full programme — on the same terms as any sponsored learner.
“Leaders see the results they need to coach. Reflections and Echo 360 stay private.”
That is a brand promise, not a settings page — and every learner is told on day one exactly what their leader sees. The executive sponsor sees the cohort picture in aggregate. The cohort leader — the training manager or HR business partner leading the group — sees named progress and knowledge results for their cohort only: who has started and finished, check scores, pass or fail, attempts, missed questions, mastery and sprint outcomes. What stays private, always: a learner’s free-text reflections, their unmarked prediction guesses, and Echo 360 at rater level — Echo is anonymous, shown only as aggregates once enough people have replied. Results visible, private writing private: that is how leaders can help and learners can still answer honestly.
Already invited, and looking for the way in? Learning opens by invitation, cohort by cohort — there is no public sign-in page yet, and nothing to sign into until your place is confirmed.
The promise, in plain words: “Your cohort leader can see your progress and your check results. Your reflections are yours alone, and Echo 360 feedback is always anonymous — no one ever sees who said what.”
Once you’re in, the words are the ones you already know: Home for where you left off, My Course for the modules you’ve taken — the full programme, or the single modules and bundles you picked — Practice for your review questions and weekly commitments, and My Progress for the skills you’ve proved.
Can’t find your invitation? Write to us at deon@benitobookspress.com and we’ll sort it out.
Cohort leaders are the training managers and HR business partners inside an organisation who lead a group of managers through the programme — running the sessions around the modules, holding the pace, and turning what the group is learning into practice back at work. The executive sponsor commissions the cohort; the cohort leader works with its learners day to day. They get their own sign-in, separate from both the learner sign-in and the sponsor’s Operate desk, and a view built for that job: named, individual knowledge results for the learners they lead, so a struggling learner can be spotted early and coached — with a clear line around what stays private.
Sign in as a cohort leader and you see the cohort or cohorts you have been assigned to lead — learner by learner, by name. Nothing else: no other groups, no other organisations, and none of the private writing described below.
The point of the data is what you do with it in the room — and one to one. Your cohort view is built so you can reinforce, coach, adjust, and report back, while reflections and Echo 360 stay private.
“Results by name, so you can coach. Reflections private, so learners can be honest.”
This is the line, stated plainly — and learners hear it on day one, before they answer anything. As cohort leader you see named progress and knowledge results for your cohort: started and finished, check scores, pass or fail, attempts, missed questions, mastery and sprint outcomes. You never see free-text reflections, unmarked prediction guesses, or Echo 360 at rater level — Echo is anonymous and shown only as aggregates above a reply threshold. The executive sponsor sees the cohort in aggregate. Different roles, different views — each one only what that role needs.
Named as a cohort leader but can’t find your setup email? Check your spam or junk folder first — then write to us at deon@benitobookspress.com and we’ll re-send it.
Up North Learning's sister arm builds educator resources around the Benito Books children's catalogue — including the animated Storytime films. Lesson resources, discussion guides, and classroom materials written for the teachers and parents who bring the stories to children.
The approach is the same as the leadership academy: resources built around the real books, designed for the adults doing the guiding, and staged carefully — educator-facing first.
Ask about educator resources
People in their first management role — newly promoted, newly hired into leadership, or managing a team for the first time without ever being trained for it. If you were promoted because you were good at the work and are now learning the very different work of leading, this was built for you.
Each module takes roughly 95–105 minutes, in short units — most under ten minutes — that fit around a working day. On the full programme, modules open weekly across ten weeks; a single module or bundle can be started on its own. Each module asks for a one-week Norm Sprint practiced with your real team. Review questions after each unit take about thirty seconds each.
Every module has one. It is a group exercise your cohort leader runs: you split into small groups, work a fresh case the module has not covered, decide together, then debrief what you chose and why. Learning is individual, then cemented together — the Team Session is the together part. Attendance is recorded as a simple progress fact, and nothing else from the session is captured. If you are learning on your own, without a cohort, a Team Session is never a gate: your module still completes without one.
It depends on the role — and you are told on day one exactly who sees what. The executive sponsor sees only the cohort picture in aggregate: how the group is moving, in summary. Your cohort leader — the training manager or HR business partner leading your group — sees your named progress and knowledge results: modules started and finished, check scores, pass or fail, attempts, questions you missed, mastery and sprint outcomes, so they can spot it if you are struggling and coach you. What nobody sees: your free-text reflections, your unmarked prediction guesses, and Echo 360 at rater level — Echo stays anonymous, shown only as aggregates once enough people have replied. Your own manager also receives the update you generate and choose to share.
It is a mobile-first web experience: it runs in the browser on your phone, tablet, or computer, with nothing to install. Short units and thirty-second review questions are designed for the phone in your pocket; longer reading sits just as comfortably at a desk.
The founding cohort is forming now, by invitation. We would rather open to a measured first cohort and learn from it than publish a date we can't keep. Request an invitation and we will tell you honestly where things stand.
Yes — that’s pick and mix. Choose any single module, or bundle several together around the challenge in front of you. Each module is complete in itself, with its own Prediction Check, practice and Norm Sprint, and you don’t need to take the others first. If you later decide to take the full programme, the modules you’ve completed count toward it.
Organisations can license single modules and bundles for a cohort in exactly the same way — you don’t have to license all ten.
The full programme is the flagship path: all ten modules in sequence, paced weekly across a cohort, finishing with the Cumulative Final Check — a final check that draws all ten modules together. Pick and mix gives you the same modules, mastery tracking and spaced practice, but only the ones you choose, in the order that suits you. The Cumulative Final Check is the one part reserved for the full programme, because it tests the whole set together.
Organisations license the full programme, a bundle, or single modules for a cohort; individuals join pay-per-view on the same pick-and-mix basis. In both cases, charging happens on activation — when a learner sets up their account and begins a module — never for unused seats or unstarted modules. Terms are agreed in conversation, so write to us and we will walk you through them.
No. The programme is built on What Leaders Make Normal by Deon Benito, and the ideas are woven through every module in short readings. If you enjoy the programme, the book makes a natural companion — but nothing in the modules assumes you have read it.
You sign in as a cohort leader — a separate sign-in from the learner sign-in, created when your organisation names you as the leader of a cohort. You receive a personal setup link by email, set your password, and your view opens on the cohort or cohorts you lead — and only those.
Inside, you see each learner by name: who has claimed their account, started or finished a module, their Prediction Check scores and pass or fail, how many attempts they took, which questions they missed, and their mastery levels. That is how you spot who is struggling and coach them. What you never see is a learner’s written reflections, or Echo 360 feedback at rater level — Echo is always anonymous, shown only as group aggregates once enough people have replied. Learners are told on day one, in plain words, exactly what you can see.
Lead and coach with it. Cohort leaders use individual results — scores, attempts and missed questions — to spot a learner who is stuck and help them directly, and use the cohort picture to reinforce what the group found hardest, run each module’s Team Session, and plan follow-up practice. They follow up personally, and — within the pacing windows the sponsor has set — adjust how the cohort moves, for example holding a module open longer so the group stays together. They can also share the cohort-level report back to the sponsor. What they cannot do is see a learner’s written reflections or who said what in Echo 360, or change a learner’s record or mastery levels — the learning record stays the learner’s own.
Your My Progress summary: a portable record of the skills you reached Proficient and Mastered in — proved, and proved again over time. It is designed to travel with you between roles and employers, because the capability is yours, not your sponsor's.
The founding cohort begins with a conversation. Tell us who you are and what you're hoping for, and we will reply personally — with where the cohort stands and whether it's the right fit.
Open the founding-cohort invitation page
Received a personal invitation? The founding-cohort page is the focused version of this request — what the cohort is, what it asks of you, and the same form, in one place.
Prefer plain email? Write to us at deon@benitobookspress.com.
Up North Learning is the learning platform of Benito Books Learning, based in Harbor Springs, Michigan — where “up north” has always meant the place you head to on purpose.
The founding cohort — by invitation
This page is for the people who received a personal invitation. The founding cohort is the measured first test of the Normal-Maker Leadership Programme: a first group who learn for real — and whose honest, measured feedback decides what the programme becomes.
No checkout, no payment, no date to chase. Places begin with the request form below and a personal reply.
Up North Learning opens the way serious programmes should: with a founding cohort whose experience is measured properly before anything scales. Participants work through the full Normal-Maker programme exactly as future learners will — and at the end, we evaluate it together, honestly.
The complete Normal-Maker Leadership Programme — from The Shift to Staying Whole — opened weekly across the cohort, with deadlines early and a grace window after them.
Every unit opens with a Prediction Check — a short check comparing what you predicted with what actually works: a scenario and your call, before the principle is revealed. You learn by deciding first — not by watching someone else decide.
Each module ends with a Norm Sprint: one week of practicing a single commitment with your real team, set as an if–then plan, then reviewed. The programme is judged on what changes at work, not on what gets clicked.
Every module also has a Team Session: a group exercise the cohort leader runs — small groups, a fresh case, a debrief. You learn each module on your own, then cement it together. Attendance is a simple progress fact; nothing else from the session is captured.
Structured feedback from your manager, peers, and team — shown only once enough people have replied to protect anonymity, so it can be honest.
People in their first management role — promoted for being good at the work, now learning the very different work of leading. If that is you, and an invitation reached you, this page is yours: the programme was built for exactly your first year.
Employers who want to develop their new managers and are willing to test a programme properly: a named group of learners, a manager in the loop for each of them, cohort pacing you can plan around, and cohort-level reporting for the sponsor at the end. You can also name a cohort leader — the training manager or HR business partner inside your organisation who signs in separately, sees only your cohort, sees each learner’s progress and check results so they can coach anyone who is struggling, and runs the Team Session that cements each module together.
A founding cohort is a two-way commitment, and we would rather state both sides plainly than sell one of them.
“Your cohort leader can see your progress and your check results. Your reflections are yours alone, and Echo 360 feedback is always anonymous — no one ever sees who said what.”
That promise holds in the founding cohort exactly as it will at scale, and every learner hears it on day one. Evaluation results are reported to the sponsor as cohort-level findings. Your cohort leader sees your named progress and knowledge results so they can support you; your written reflections stay yours, and Echo 360 is shown only as anonymous group aggregates.
Tell us who you are and that you received an invitation, and we will reply personally — to confirm where the cohort stands and what happens next.