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Templates for HR & Team Leads.

A curated set of 25 spreadsheets for the people who run people. Map your team's capability on a skills matrix, find what's missing with a gap analysis, and settle who owns what with a RACI matrix — your team's capability and risk on one grid, not buried in someone's head.

See your team's capability and risk on one grid

Most teams carry their capability in their heads — who can cover what, who's the only one who knows the process, where the next gap will open when someone leaves. A skills matrix puts that on a single grid you can actually act on: spot key-person risk, plan training, and make the case for a hire with evidence instead of a hunch. For task-by-task coverage on a line or shift, an ILUO matrix records who is signed off to run each task alone — and flags the ones only one person can.

Pair it with a gap analysis to see the distance between where the team is and where it needs to be, and a RACI matrix to make responsibilities unambiguous across a project or a reorg. To map the seats you can't afford to lose, a succession plan scores each critical role's bus factor and flags your single points of failure. When people do leave, an exit-interview & turnover-analytics workbook turns each departure into a trend — your turnover rate by team and manager, the regrettable split, the reasons people go, and the cost of turnover; capture one exit free with the exit-interview form, or see how it compares to HR analytics software. And when it comes to pay, set salary bands and check compa-ratio and pay equity in a workbook you own, instead of a per-seat compensation platform. And to keep the day-to-day covered, a PTO & absence tracker logs who's off and flags when a shift runs short — see what PTO accrual means, or how a tracker compares to HR leave software.

When it's time to hire, interview on evidence rather than a gut feeling: a structured interview asks every candidate the same questions and scores them like-for-like, and an interview scorecard & question bank ranks your slate and recommends a hire — see how it compares to ATS software. Once you've made the hire, give them a strong start: a 30-60-90 plan maps a new starter's first three months into goals, owners, and check-ins — the onboarding end of the funnel that begins with a job applicant tracker.

And to point the whole team at the same quarter, set OKRs — objectives and key results scored each cycle — in an OKR & Goal-Setting Workbook that rolls every team up to one company view, instead of a per-seat goal-tracking app. Then keep the thread with each person in a one-on-one: a 1:1 Meeting & Goal-Tracking Workbook logs every meeting, carries action items forward, and tracks whether goals are on pace — instead of a per-seat performance-management platform.

Recommended templates

25 templates

Skills matrices, gap analysis, a RACI matrix, and PTO & coverage tracking — in Excel and Google Sheets.

Where we fit

Most tools force a choice between a blank spreadsheet you build from scratch and a monthly app that's overkill. Ardent Workshop is the rung in between — structure you own.

  1. Blank spreadsheet

    Free, but you build and maintain every formula, tab and layout yourself.

    • Free
    • Infinite setup
    • No structure
  2. You are here

    Ardent Workshop

    Owned, structured, connected workbooks — a one-time price, yours to keep.

    • One-time price
    • Structured & connected
    • Yours to own
  3. Generic SaaS app

    Powerful, but overkill, rented and locked-in — built for someone bigger than you.

    • Monthly rent
    • Overkill
    • Lock-in

Reading list

Manager-facing playbooks for mapping your team's capability and spotting the gaps before they become emergencies.