Frequently asked questions

A Playbook is a structured learning journey focused on a specific growth-critical capability, such as performance management, strategic decision-making, leading change, or handling a grievance.

Each Playbook is divided into Modules, and each Module into Steps. A Step is a short, focused unit of learning that can be completed in a single sitting. Steps follow the HGP Learning Model, moving through engagement, understanding and application, with reflection and interactive content built in throughout.

Playbooks are not generic courses. They are designed to change how people operate day to day, combining practical frameworks, tools and clear behavioural standards with content that is tailored to each audience Layer.

There are four types, each designed for a different kind of need.

Functional Playbooks are the core guides within each Library, covering the essential topics a high growth business needs to run well in that functional area. They form the foundation of the system.

Use-Case Playbooks address specific, high-stakes situations such as a grievance, a disciplinary process, a restructure, preparing for a funding round, or supporting someone through a capability improvement plan. Because the people involved vary by situation, the Layers in Use-Case Playbooks reflect the specific roles in that scenario rather than the standard eight.

101 Playbooks are cross-library foundation modules on the topics every high growth business must understand, such as Goals, Feedback or Performance. They work as standalone primers and are also used for free trials.

Pathway Playbooks cut across the Libraries to follow a single audience on a complete development journey. The High Growth Manager and The High Growth Leader are examples. They are particularly well suited to high-potential people who have not followed a traditional business education route, giving them the frameworks, language and confidence that an MBA might otherwise provide.

A Library is a curated collection of Playbooks covering a core functional area of the business. There are twelve Libraries in total, spanning Leadership, Management, Strategy, Performance Management, High Performance Culture, Growth, Operating Model, Employee Lifecycle, Universal Workplace Skills, Professional Skills, Risk and Governance, and Private Equity and Investment.

Each Library contains between six and ten Playbooks that are designed to work together as a complete system, using shared language, shared models and consistent structures. Licensing a full Library gives your organisation joined-up capability across an entire function, at a significantly lower cost per Playbook than licensing individually.

The HGP Framework is our proprietary, research-grounded model for how high growth businesses operate well across every function. It is not a single model but a family of Library-level Framework Models, each developed over years of research and practitioner experience.

Within each Library Framework, a set of focused mini-models addresses the specific topics that matter most. In Performance Management, for example, the Framework includes dedicated models for Goals, Feedback and the CPMOS, the Continuous Performance Management Operating System that defines the full annual cycle of conversations, check-ins and reviews.

The practical effect of this is that every Playbook, across every Library and every audience Layer, uses consistent language, consistent models and consistent standards. Capability built in one area reinforces every other. Your organisation develops a coherent way of working rather than a patchwork of unconnected training.

Layers are the distinct audience groups that each Playbook is written for. The eight standard Layers: are Employee, Line Manager, Manager, Senior Individual Contributor, Leader, C-Suite, Board and HR.

Every Playbook delivers the same core message but tailors the depth, angle and application to each Layer. A Manager gets practical tools for running the process day to day. A Board member gets the oversight lens and the right questions to ask. HR gets the policy framework and escalation routes.

When you roll out a Playbook, your administrator assigns each person to the appropriate Layer for their role. In most cases this maps straightforwardly to how your business is structured, and we help you work through it during onboarding if needed.