Adamas | Manager Development

The problem

Esports expects its people to manage, then never trains them to

In esports, everyone wears several hats. Head coaches run staffs of assistants, analysts and performance coaches. Team managers handle rosters, travel and partners. Department leads juggle commercial, marketing and operations. Most of them got the job for being great at something else, and few were ever trained to manage people.

The cost lands on the org. Ownership gets fuzzy and accountability slips. The same decisions get rehashed in meeting after meeting. Without a strong middle layer, executives get pulled back into micromanaging, and growth slows. And as the org scales into new titles, countries and partnerships, the cracks get wider.

Managers drive at least 70% of the difference in how engaged a team is. Replacing one costs around twice their salary. And 44% of managers worldwide have never had any management training.

Too many hats, no clear owner

Staff juggle several roles, so ownership and accountability slip through the gaps.

Executives stuck micromanaging

Without trained middle managers, leaders get pulled back into the day-to-day.

Head coaches managing blind

They hire the wrong staff, assign work unclearly and burn out the people around them.

The same decisions, again

No shared decision frameworks, so meetings rehash what should already be settled.

How it works

Seven weeks that turn managers into leaders

The first half builds self-awareness. The second half turns it into the skills your org runs on: clear roles, ownership, planning, decision-making and communication. We use proven frameworks from business and sport, applied to the realities of esports. Every session is live and practical, and each one ends with something your people put to work that week.

6Live group sessions

3One-on-one coaching sessions

12Hours of live coaching, up to

10Managers per cohort, max

Part one: Know yourself

Self-awareness is the foundation every leadership skill is built on.

Kickoff (45 min)
Meet the cohort, set goals and take a baseline self-assessment.
1. Values and Mission
What you stand for and how it shows up when things get hard.
Leave with: a draft personal mission statement
One-on-one
Shape the mission statement and connect it to daily work.
2. Strengths and Motivators
What you do best and what drives you, so you use it on purpose.
Leave with: a strengths profile
3. Performing Under Pressure
Stress triggers, self-regulation and recovery across a long season.
Leave with: a personal pressure plan
One-on-one
Real examples of strengths at work and moments under pressure.

Part two: Lead your team

The management skills orgs rely on, put into practice.

4. Role Clarity
Define the role and its boundaries with coaches and staff using RACI, then set goals for it.
Leave with: a role map and clear goals
5. Planning, Priorities and Leading Change
Build a season plan, decide what comes first, and lead change with Kotter's 8-step model.
Leave with: a one-month plan in use
One-on-one
Review the plan, check how it is holding up and prepare for obstacles.
6. Communication
Communicating up to owners and down to staff and players, giving feedback, handling hard conversations.
Leave with: tools for the next hard conversation
Review and Learn
Look back on what changed and set the next steps.

Be proactive

Every session asks the same questions. Where were you reactive this week? What was in your control? What will you do next time?

Character first

Lasting leadership comes from character, virtues and principles. We develop the person as well as the professional.

Research across 335 studies shows leadership development pays off when it is spaced over weeks, built on practice, supported with feedback and delivered live. Poorly designed programs can lose money. Ours includes all of these, plus one-on-one coaching between sessions.

The return

What your org gets from better managers

Clear ownership and accountability

Every person knows what they own, what they decide and who they hand off to.

Executives freed from the day-to-day

Managers who plan, prioritize and decide well take work off the leadership team's desk.

Head coaches who can run a staff

Better hiring calls, clearer responsibilities and less micromanaging across assistants, analysts and performance staff.

Faster, settled decisions

Shared planning and decision frameworks mean fewer meetings rehashing the same calls.

Systems that outlast people

Recruitment, scouting, onboarding and planning become repeatable processes your org keeps as it scales.

Departments that pull together

Managers who communicate up, down and across work better with commercial, marketing and esports teams.

Leaders who stay

People stay where they grow. 94% of employees say they would stay longer at a company that invests in their development.

The math

Replacing a manager can cost up to twice their salary, plus a split of lost momentum. A seat in this program costs $2,150. Keeping one good leader pays for it many times over.

Orgs with strong leadership talent are 3.1 times more likely to outperform financially, and highly engaged teams are 23% more profitable with far lower turnover. Managers drive most of that engagement.

What your managers gain

Investing in your people's careers is one of the strongest reasons they stay.

A career that travels

Mission and values work, RACI, goal setting, change management and communication are tools leaders use in every industry.

A clear north star

A personal mission and values that guide hard calls when the season gets loud.

A plan they run

A season plan and a weekly planning habit that keep them ahead of the calendar.

Control under pressure

They know how they react when stakes are high and how to reset.

Peers and coaches

A small group of managers facing the same problems, and two coaches who have done the work.

Your coaches

Coached by people who have done the work

Caleb Cousens

CEO, Adamas Esports · Certified Organizational Coach

Caleb has coached and mentored dozens of leaders in esports and spent 20 years building high-performance service businesses.

Robert Davies

Strategy Lead · Performance Psychologist

Robert has worked with tier one organizations in the LEC and VCT for the last four years. He is a Performance Strategic Lead for Sport Wales.

We are here to develop principled, character-driven people as well as the professionals. Esports managers work in a high-stress industry with little rest and less training. Our job is to change that, one leader at a time.

Founding cohort

Investment

Priced per seat so an org can enroll one manager or its whole leadership group.

$2,150

Per seat

Regular price ~~$2,950~~

Each seat includes seven weeks, up to 12 hours of live coaching, three one-on-one sessions and a cohort of peers from other orgs. The founding rate is for the first cohort only, and seats are capped at 10.

Teams wanting to book multiple seats can speak to us about group pricing. We invoice your organization directly.

Email us to enroll your team

Turn your managers into leaders your org can build on