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The Modern Leader Lab

Two days to rethink how you lead: use AI thoughtfully, think strategically and build the accountability that helps your team perform through change.

Leadership asks you to make decisions, support people and deliver results — sometimes all in the same conversation. You may be the person everyone looks to while still working out your own next step. Having developed hundreds of leaders across the UK, US and EMEA, we understand those competing demands. The Lab is space to think clearly, practise honestly and grow the confidence to lead in your own way.

Talk about your team Explore the course
Managers collaborating in a leadership workshop
Thrive Training Lab

Explore. Practise. Make it yours.

Duration

2 days · 9:30am–5pm each day

Group size

6–8 delegates

Format

Online or face to face

Price — Face to face

From £3,500

+ VAT

Price — Online

Price on request

+ VAT

where understanding becomes useful —

Why this course matters

Modern leadership asks you to connect fresh thinking with the everyday conditions that let people perform.

What you’ll explore in the Lab

Leadership today means making thoughtful decisions while technology, priorities and expectations keep moving. The Modern Leader Lab gives managers and senior leaders two practical days to step back from the daily demands and work on how they lead.

Day one connects responsible AI use with strategic thinking and change leadership. Day two turns direction into team performance through clear ownership, psychological safety and a useful rhythm of accountability. Bring a real leadership challenge, test your thinking with peers and leave with a practical plan for your team — not a collection of ideas waiting to be used.

a real challenge. a purposeful response.

The challenges this addresses

  • Technology and change moving faster than leadership habits
  • Strategy failing to become clear team ownership
  • AI opportunities pursued without clear safeguards or strategic purpose
  • Accountability routines that discourage people from raising delivery concerns

What this can change at work

Modern leadership means connecting new possibilities with the conditions people need to deliver. Exploring responsible AI use, strategic trade-offs and change conversations helps leaders make choices they can explain and teams can act on. Clear ownership, psychological safety and a practical accountability rhythm can turn broad ambition into everyday decisions, giving the business a more considered approach to technology, change and team performance.

Considered AI choices

Leaders assess a proposed AI use case against its purpose and required safeguards before deciding how to proceed.

Priorities with trade-offs

Team discussions connect strategic choices to clear priorities, explaining what receives attention and what will need to wait.

Accountability without hovering

Regular reviews clarify owners and next steps while inviting concerns and constructive challenge about progress and changing conditions.

Inside the workshop

Delivered live online or face to face for 6–8 delegates. Facilitated labs combine short input, peer challenge, scenario practice and work on your own leadership priorities. AI exercises use anonymised or fictional information: leaders check outputs, recognise limitations and consider privacy and organisational policy before choosing a use case. Each participant develops a strategic priority, a change conversation and a 90-day team performance plan, refined through feedback.

explore it. practise it. take it with you. —

Your The Modern Leader Lab agenda

This sample schedule is adapted around your team, with breaks agreed before delivery.

Day 1 — Lead with perspective

Connect technology, business direction and the people who make change happen.

  1. 09:30–10:00

    Your leadership challenge

    Set the business context and the outcome you want to work towards.

  2. 10:00–11:30

    AI with judgement

    Test appropriate leadership use cases, verify outputs and identify privacy and policy safeguards. Includes a short break.

  3. 11:30–12:30

    Think strategically

    Map priorities, trade-offs and the longer-term impact of a real decision.

  4. 12:30–13:15

    Lunch

    Time to pause and connect with peers.

  5. 13:15–15:00

    Lead people through change

    Build the case for change and rehearse a conversation that creates clarity and involvement. Includes a short break.

  6. 15:00–17:00

    Strategy into action

    Pressure-test your priorities with peers and prepare an initial leadership action plan.

Day 2 — Build the conditions for performance

Turn clear direction into ownership, useful team habits and purposeful progress.

  1. 09:30–10:00

    Reconnect and reflect

    Review day-one choices and the team behaviours needed to support them.

  2. 10:00–11:30

    Accountability without taking over

    Clarify expectations and practise ownership and follow-up conversations. Includes a short break.

  3. 11:30–12:30

    High performance starts with the team

    Explore trust, psychological safety, shared standards and constructive challenge.

  4. 12:30–13:15

    Lunch

    Time for informal discussion and reflection.

  5. 13:15–15:00

    Make small improvements count

    Identify marginal gains, useful measures and a sustainable team rhythm. Includes a short break.

  6. 15:00–17:00

    Your 90-day leadership plan

    Agree priorities, owners, review points and a first action, with facilitator and peer feedback.

Make The Modern Leader Lab relevant to your business

Tell us where you want to make progress with ai: responsible use, human judgement and practical leadership applications. We can discuss suitable workplace examples, priorities and access needs before agreeing the scope. Choose live online or face-to-face training for your UK or European team, with delivery arrangements agreed before booking.

Discuss this course

What the training covers

The scope below sets out the subjects covered. Workplace examples and practice are shaped around your team within the booked format.

  • AI: responsible use, human judgement and practical leadership applications
  • Strategic thinking: priorities, trade-offs and longer-term consequences
  • Change: communicating the why and involving your people
  • Accountability: clear ownership, expectations and follow-through
  • High performance: psychological safety, shared standards and marginal gains
  • Turning leadership priorities into a 90-day action plan

What’s included in your booking

Your booked time and format
2 days · Live online or face to face, agreed before booking · 6–8 delegates.
Included in every course
  • Interactive, facilitator-led learningLive, hands-on sessions built around practice and participation.
  • Group discussionsShared conversations about real situations, so people learn from each other as well as the facilitator.
  • Breakout exercisesSmall-group practice, role-play and problem-solving, online or in the room.
  • Take-away materialsCourse materials, tools and templates to use back at work.
Facilitated learning and practical application
The subject coverage, exercises and facilitator feedback described above, with space to connect the learning to relevant workplace situations. The workshop description sets out the specific plans, prompts or tools developed in this course.

Follow-up coaching, refresher sessions and additional delivery days are not automatic inclusions; any additions are agreed in your proposal. Travel, venue arrangements and any software licences are confirmed separately where relevant. Prices exclude VAT.

Outcomes

The capabilities delegates work towards through the training and practice:

  • Assess an AI use case and the safeguards it needs
  • Make a strategic choice with clear priorities and trade-offs
  • Explain change and invite constructive team involvement
  • Build an accountability rhythm without micromanaging
  • Create a practical plan for sustained team performance

the next conversation is where it counts —

Take it back to work.

Choose a real situation where you want to apply the learning. Use it to turn an outcome into a manageable first step, then reflect on what changes.

Choose

Start with one priority: Assess an AI use case and the safeguards it needs.

Apply

Try the approach in a relevant task or conversation. Note what felt useful and what you would adapt.

Review

Reflect on what happened, seek feedback where appropriate and choose your next step. Follow-up support can be discussed separately.

Bring this topic to your next event

We can discuss adapting The Modern Leader Lab into a keynote or large-group session, focusing on the themes most relevant to your audience. Depth, activities, timings and any follow-up depend on the format and package you choose; an event session is not a substitute for the full course.

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Your people. Your priorities.Ready to Thrive? Build your Lab.A programme shaped around your people — and the progress you want to make.

your next step starts here —

Ready to step into the lab?

Your business. Our training. Together, we thrive.

Bring the challenge your people want to work on. We'll shape a practical training workshop or coaching experience around it — with room to explore, practise and take a useful next step.

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