Leadership Lab

Course synopsis

Leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about creating the environment where people, teams and ideas can thrive. Leaders Online Lab Part 1 is a practical, interactive leadership development experience for established managers and experienced leaders who want to strengthen their influence, develop high-performing teams and lead with confidence. Across five live online sessions, leaders define their personal leadership philosophy, put emotional intelligence into action, move from giving answers to coaching independent thinking, build influence beyond their own team and create a culture of ownership rather than dependence. Every session includes a practical application — from a leadership impact assessment to a team accountability action plan — with workplace challenges between sessions so learning becomes everyday leadership.

5 live sessions · 2.5 hours each

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

The leaders people remember are the ones who brought them through change — and left them stronger, clearer and ready to lead themselves. Leaders Online Lab Part 2 strengthens strategic leadership, decision-making and change management capabilities while developing the next generation of talent. Across five live online sessions, experienced leaders communicate change with clarity and empathy, shift from operational priorities to strategic thinking, make decisions with incomplete information, adapt their approach for diverse and multigenerational teams, build talent development plans and define the leadership legacy they want to create. Each session closes with a practical application, finishing with a six-month leadership impact plan shared with the group.

5 live sessions · 2.5 hours each

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

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

Key focus areas

• 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

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

Your experience becomes influential when it gives someone else a useful way to think about their world. You have experience worth sharing. Thought leadership starts with understanding what you can genuinely add to the conversation, rather than trying to sound like everyone else. This one-day workshop helps leaders find a useful perspective, connect it to the questions their audience cares about and support it with evidence and real experience. Work on an internal briefing, industry article, panel contribution or professional post, then refine the message through discussion and feedback. Leave with a clear point of view, a draft piece of content and a realistic plan for sharing it with purpose.

Key focus areas

• Finding a useful point of view in your business experience
• Understanding audience questions and priorities
• Evidence, credibility and responsible claims
• Structuring an article, briefing or panel contribution
• Communicating in your own voice
• Handling questions and thoughtful disagreement
• A practical content and contribution plan

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

Leadership confidence is earned in the conversations and decisions people depend on you to lead. Confidence in leadership is about approaching people and decisions with clarity, care and sound judgement. This full-day workshop gives managers space to explore how they communicate, navigate challenging conversations and challenge ideas and behaviours constructively. Work on everyday situations from your team: explaining a decision, addressing a behaviour that needs to change or questioning an idea without closing down the conversation. Explore how listening, consistency and follow-through build trust, and practise making effective decisions when information is incomplete or views differ. Leave with conversations you've rehearsed and a practical plan for leading more confidently in your own working world.

Key focus areas

• Clear communication, active listening and checking understanding
• Preparing and navigating challenging conversations
• Challenging ideas respectfully while staying open to different perspectives
• Addressing behaviours through specific feedback and clear expectations
• Building trust through consistency, honesty and follow-through
• Effective decisions: evidence, assumptions, options and consequences
• Communicating a decision and agreeing practical next steps

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

Your team can take more ownership when responsibility comes with the authority and support to use it. Delegation hands over a defined task or responsibility. Empowerment goes further: it gives people the authority, context, resources and confidence to make decisions within agreed boundaries. This half-day workshop helps leaders understand the difference and choose the right approach for their team. Explore when to delegate, what should stay with you and who is ready for a responsibility, considering capability, capacity, motivation and development needs. Practise explaining why the work matters, agreeing the outcome and deciding what someone can act on independently. Leave with a practical plan for building ownership while staying available for support and accountable for your leadership responsibilities.

Key focus areas

• Delegation versus empowerment: responsibility, authority and ownership
• When to delegate, when to empower and what to retain
• Choosing whom to delegate to: capability, capacity and development
• Explaining why: purpose, context and the desired outcome
• Agreeing decision boundaries, resources and support
• Building trust and confidence without micromanaging
• Useful check-ins, escalation and shared learning

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

Sometimes your most useful answer is a question that helps someone find their own. When someone brings you a problem, it is tempting to jump straight to the answer. This focused half-day workshop helps managers recognise when a coaching conversation would be more useful and when clear direction is needed. Explore active listening, purposeful questions and a simple GROW structure, then practise on realistic management situations. The aim is not to turn every conversation into a formal coaching session: it is to help your people think more clearly, build confidence and agree their own next steps while you keep expectations and accountability clear.

Key focus areas

• When to coach and when to give direction
• Listening without preparing your answer
• Open questions that help people think
• A simple GROW conversation structure
• Agreeing ownership, actions and follow-up
• Live coaching practice and feedback

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

A change plan becomes real when people understand it, contribute to it and know how to move forward. Whether introducing a restructure, a new system or a new strategy, leaders need more than a launch plan: they need people to understand, contribute to and adopt the change. This one-day workshop helps managers, senior sponsors and project leads plan, communicate and sustain change while supporting their teams through uncertainty. Delegates explore the emotional journey of change, respond constructively to resistance and build a compelling case through clear, honest communication and meaningful team involvement. They develop a simple change plan with clear milestones, giving them a practical basis for building ownership, maintaining momentum and embedding new ways of working.

Key focus areas

• Why people resist change and how to respond
• The emotional journey of change
• Building a compelling case for change
• Communicating change with clarity and honesty
• Involving your team to build ownership
• Keeping momentum and embedding new ways of working

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

Strong individuals become a strong team when purpose, trust and shared standards connect their work. High performance depends on more than individual capability: leaders need clear goals, shared standards and the trust for people to speak up, challenge constructively and take ownership. This one-day course helps team leaders and managers at any level, including those taking over underperforming teams and leadership teams raising the bar together, understand what distinguishes high-performing teams. Delegates assess their team against a high-performance model, exploring goals, roles, psychological safety, healthy conflict, decision-making and ways to recognise and stretch their people. They translate that diagnosis into a practical 90-day team development plan, with clear priorities for strengthening teamwork and raising standards.

Key focus areas

• The traits of high-performing teams
• Setting clear goals, roles and standards
• Building trust and psychological safety
• Healthy conflict and decision-making
• Recognising and stretching your people
• Diagnosing your own team's strengths and gaps

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

Developing people means making room for their thinking, not simply giving them your solution. When managers become the answer to every problem, they can limit their team’s opportunity to think independently and develop capability. This practical one-day course helps leaders and anyone responsible for others’ growth understand what coaching is, when to use it and when a more directive approach is appropriate. Delegates learn to structure conversations using GROW, ask open, powerful questions and listen actively, applying these skills to both everyday moments and formal performance and development discussions. Through live coaching practice and feedback, they build the confidence to make coaching part of their leadership approach and support others to take greater ownership.

Key focus areas

• What coaching is — and isn't
• The GROW coaching model
• Powerful questioning and active listening
• Coaching in the moment vs formal sessions
• Coaching for performance and development
• Live coaching practice with feedback

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

The conversation you prepare well today can prevent an unresolved issue becoming tomorrow's team problem. Avoiding difficult conversations can leave underperformance unresolved, behaviour unchallenged and sensitive issues harder to address, putting pressure on managers and their teams. This half-day course helps new and experienced leaders, and HR partners supporting line managers, understand why they hesitate and prepare around facts, impact and a clear desired outcome. Delegates learn a simple structure for opening respectfully, staying on track through emotion, defensiveness and push-back, and closing with agreed, documented actions and a plan for follow-up. Realistic scenario practice builds confidence to address issues directly and constructively, with greater clarity about what needs to change and what happens next.

Key focus areas

• Why we avoid difficult conversations
• Preparing: facts, impact and desired outcome
• Opening well and staying on track
• Handling emotion, defensiveness and push-back
• Agreeing actions and following up
• Scenario practice with feedback

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

Good delegation releases your capacity and gives someone else a meaningful opportunity to grow. As your responsibilities grow, doing more yourself is rarely the answer. This half-day leadership workshop helps managers turn delegation into a practical way to develop people and protect time for the work only they can do. Explore which tasks to delegate, how to match responsibility to capability and how to agree the outcome, authority and support someone needs. Practise a real delegation conversation, plan useful check-ins and work through what to do when progress slips. Leave with a delegation plan that gives your team room to grow while keeping expectations clear.

Key focus areas

• Choosing what to delegate and what to retain
• Matching responsibility to capability and development needs
• Agreeing outcomes, boundaries and decision authority
• A clear delegation conversation
• Check-ins, support and accountability without micromanaging
• Responding to setbacks without taking the task back

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

Performance improves through clear expectations and useful conversations throughout the year. Effective performance management is a continuous conversation, not an annual form, yet managers can struggle to maintain clarity and consistency when recognising achievement or addressing concerns. This half-day course helps line managers responsible for objectives and reviews, leaders introducing a new performance process, and managers dealing with underperformance build a practical, fair approach. Delegates learn to set SMART objectives, review progress through ongoing check-ins, give balanced, specific feedback, and recognise and reward great work. They develop the skills to address underperformance before it escalates, document discussions and follow up fairly, supporting clearer expectations, constructive conversations and more consistent management.

Key focus areas

• Setting SMART objectives
• Ongoing check-ins and reviews
• Giving balanced, specific feedback
• Recognising and rewarding great work
• Tackling underperformance early
• Documenting and following up fairly

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

A purposeful leadership rhythm creates space for the important conversations before everything becomes urgent. When leaders spend their time firefighting, meetings can become reactive, priorities lose clarity and accountability becomes inconsistent. This half-day course helps managers of operational and customer-facing teams, and leadership teams aligning their ways of working, design daily, weekly and monthly cadences that fit their teams. Delegates explore how to run short, focused huddles, purposeful 1:1s and effective reviews, supported by a handful of meaningful measures rather than unnecessary reporting. By building their own leadership calendar, they establish a practical framework for maintaining focus, addressing issues regularly and holding people accountable consistently and fairly, without micromanaging.

Key focus areas

• Designing daily, weekly and monthly rhythms
• Running effective team meetings and huddles
• Purposeful 1:1s
• Tracking the measures that matter
• Creating accountability without micromanaging
• Building your own leadership calendar

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

Your team's best insight is only useful if people feel able to share it. When people hesitate to ask questions, challenge decisions or share bad news, leaders lose opportunities to address problems early and improve team performance. This half-day course helps managers of new or changing teams, leaders facing silence or blame, and leadership teams building a speak-up culture understand what psychological safety is—and what it is not. Delegates assess trust in their teams, explore how their own behaviour strengthens or erodes safety, and practise inviting challenge and responding constructively to mistakes. They develop practical habits and team trust rituals to support open conversations, shared learning and a more confident contribution from everyone.

Key focus areas

• What psychological safety is — and what it isn't
• The link between trust, learning and performance
• How leader behaviour builds or erodes safety
• Inviting challenge and responding well to bad news
• Learning from mistakes without blame
• Practical team trust rituals

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

People bring more energy to work when their contribution matters and their individual motivations are understood. Motivation cannot be forced, but managers can create the conditions for people to contribute with energy and commitment, particularly through change or sustained pressure. This half-day course explores the role of purpose, autonomy, growth and recognition, helping leaders spot disengagement early and understand what genuinely motivates each person in their team. Delegates develop practical approaches to motivation conversations, meaningful recognition and shared ownership, with opportunities to consider how these apply to their own management challenges. They leave with a practical team engagement plan to guide more focused conversations, re-energise their team and support their efforts to retain valued people.

Key focus areas

• What really motivates people at work
• Spotting disengagement early
• Motivation conversations: finding what drives each person
• Recognition that feels genuine
• Giving autonomy and ownership
• Building an engagement plan for your team

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

A strong hire begins with knowing what your team needs and recognising evidence of the ability to deliver it. Recruiting well is a leadership responsibility: understanding what your team needs, recognising relevant capability and making a fair decision you can explain. This one-day workshop helps hiring managers, team leaders and heads of department turn business needs into clear role requirements and a consistent selection approach. Leaders explore how to define essential skills, prepare purposeful questions, probe for evidence and assess candidates against agreed criteria rather than first impressions. The focus is on practical hiring judgement, inclusive interviewing and a positive candidate experience, working alongside your organisation's HR policies and recruitment process. Delegates leave with a draft interview plan, an evidence-based scorecard and clear actions for their next hire.

Key focus areas

• Defining the role around team needs and business outcomes
• Essential criteria, transferable skills and evidence-based scorecards
• Behavioural and situational interview questions
• Probing answers, active listening and useful interview notes
• Recognising bias and supporting inclusive candidate participation
• Panel calibration, fair comparison and documented decisions
• Candidate communication and the handover into onboarding

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials

Course synopsis

A leadership presentation should turn information into understanding and understanding into a clear next step. A leadership presentation should help people understand the message and know what happens next. Whether explaining a change, presenting a business case or updating a senior team, leaders need to connect their audience's priorities with a clear, credible story. This one-day workshop develops the structure, delivery and judgement needed to present with purpose. Delegates practise opening strongly, translating complex information into a focused narrative, using evidence responsibly and making a clear recommendation or call to action. They also work on presence, pace and handling questions under pressure. Each leader refines a real workplace presentation and leaves with a practical structure and greater confidence for their next important conversation.

Key focus areas

• Audience priorities and the decision or action you need
• Structuring team briefings, change messages and business cases
• Turning complex information into a clear leadership narrative
• Using evidence, examples and purposeful visual support
• Presence, voice, pace and managing presentation nerves
• Handling questions, challenge and uncertainty with credibility
• Engaging in-person and live online audiences
• Rehearsal, peer feedback and a personal presentation plan

Included in every course

• Interactive, facilitator-led learning
• Group discussions
• Breakout exercises
• Take-away materials