Module 1
Developing high-performing teams
Build teams that speak up, challenge each other, and do their best work.
Leadership Development · Training and Coaching
Building leadership, lifting performance, retaining talent
Strong leadership is what keeps your best people and lifts performance. The programme pairs a foundation course with one-to-one coaching from registered psychologists, so what a leader learns becomes how they lead.
Trusted by
Why this matters
Leadership is a skill that can’t be built in one training day
Most leaders start as exceptional team members, stepping into management roles without a clear idea of how they’ll lead. Without effective training and ongoing support to embed new skills, the leader relies on instinct. Culture, productivity, engagement and retention start to suffer – this leadership programme closes that gap.
82%
of managers have no formal management or leadership training.
Chartered Management Institute, 2023
About the programme
Leadership training delivers the skills. Ongoing coaching embeds the changes.
Every leader starts with the foundation course, Building Secure Teams. What happens next depends on you – choose the modules that will deliver on your organisation’s unique pressures and goals. At the same time, each leader will have one-to-one coaching to turn what they learn into real-world action. All training is face to face, delivered by a registered psychologist – in-house for your own leaders, or as an open course.
Building Secure Teams course
All leaders complete a foundation course
It covers the six core skills required of an excellent leader:
- Maintaining reliable presence and steady rhythms that help people feel safe
- Attuned listening to hear tone and emotion, not just words
- Setting constructive boundaries to create structure and safety
- Encouraging risk and challenge to allow experimentation
- Building emotional regulation under stress and modelling calm
- Repairing and rebuilding trust when something goes wrong
Module 2
Managing change and integrating AI
Help people move through changes and use AI to deliver more value.
Module 3
Addressing psychosocial hazards
Manage psychosocial risk to take care of your people and meet compliance obligations.
Custom module
Tackling a unique challenge
If you have something else on your plate, talk to us about developing a custom module.
Ongoing coaching · alongside, all the way
One-to-one support throughout
Your leaders will work with a registered psychologist throughout the programme to embed their learning and put it into practice in the real world.
Want the full detail?
How it runs
Start seeing your leaders grow in just three to six months
1
Understanding the goals
We start with a short, no-obligation conversation about your leader and what good looks like for your organisation.
2
Matching the right psychologist to your leader
We match your leader to a coach with best-fit experience and check that fit early.
3
Working through the foundation course and modules
Your leader works through the Building Secure Teams course and your chosen modules. They’ll be supported by their coach throughout.
4
Checking on progress
At regular stages, we check in with you and the leader to review progress against your goals. These checks will protect the confidentiality of the room.
Organisation-wide impact
Benefiting your business at every level
Confident, resilient leaders
By building awareness of their own values, motivations and triggers, leaders can make clearer decisions and respond more effectively under pressure.
Supported and motivated people
With clearer direction, open conversations and less time spent reading your leader’s moods, your people will have the emotional space to focus on doing their best work. It’s also key to employee retention.
Faster, more effective customer service
Good leadership gives teams more ownership of customer outcomes. They’ll be confident in using their judgement to solve problems, rather than following rigid processes.
More board focus on strategy and growth
With effective leadership in place, boards spend less time dealing with operational issues. This lets them invest time and attention into strategic decisions for long-term success.
Expertise
Psychologists who understand leadership, pressure and how to overcome them
Our co-founders and CEOs lead a team of over 40 registered psychologists and specialist staff across Aotearoa. Their particular expertise in leadership across government, healthcare and corporate environments means we can match the right coach to your leader.
Sean Versteegh Co-CEO
Most people want to do good work. The question is whether the conditions let them.Connect on LinkedIn
Chris Scott Co-CEO
What changes wellbeing at work is not more support. It is fewer reasons to need it.Connect on LinkedIn
40+
The Team Across Aotearoa
More than 40 registered psychologists and specialist staff across Aotearoa, with particular expertise in leadership across government, healthcare and corporate environments.
Frequently asked
Questions people ask us about leadership development.
What is leadership development?
Leadership development builds the skills and judgement leaders need to lead people well, then embeds them so they're actually used. Our programme pairs face-to-face training from a registered psychologist with one-to-one coaching on a leader's real team and decisions, so the test isn't what someone learned but what changed in how they lead.
How is your leadership development different from a leadership course or workshop?
A workshop teaches. People leave with good intentions, and within a week they're gone. Our leadership development is built so the learning is used. The training gives a leader real depth and a foundation. The coaching then puts it to work on their actual decisions and their actual team, week after week. The test isn't what a leader learned, it's what changed in how they lead.
What do psychosocial hazards have to do with leadership, and what does New Zealand law require?
A great deal. Many psychosocial hazards, such as excessive workload, unclear roles and poor management behaviour, are shaped directly by how a leader runs a team. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act, organisations must manage these risks so far as is reasonably practicable, and WorkSafe guidance names building leadership capability as one of the ways to do it. Module 3 builds exactly that.
Can we choose only the leadership development modules we need?
Yes. Every leader does the foundation. The three modules are optional, and you choose the ones that fit the pressure your organisation is under. You don't pay for content you don't need.
Is the leadership development training in person?
Yes. The training is delivered face to face by a registered psychologist. We can run it in-house for a group of your leaders, or an individual leader can join one of our open courses. The coaching that runs alongside is one-to-one.
How does executive coaching fit in?
Coaching runs alongside the training, one-to-one with a registered psychologist, so what a leader learns is applied rather than shelved. Coaching is also available on its own, see the Executive Coaching page.
How long until leadership development shows results?
Leaders often notice a shift within the first few sessions. Development that genuinely changes how someone leads takes three to six months to show, and an engagement usually runs six to twelve months. We'll be upfront about timeframes.
Can you develop a whole leadership team?
Yes. The foundation and modules work well across a leadership group, and build a shared language. Coaching can run alongside for individuals. We'll talk through what fits in the first conversation.
Talk to us
Every organisation’s leadership challenges are different. Let’s talk about yours.
Related services
For Organisations
Leadership and Executive Coaching
One-to-one coaching for leaders — the embedding layer that runs alongside the programme.
For Organisations
Psychosocial Hazards
Identify and manage the workplace factors that affect how your people think and feel.
For Organisations
Workplace Burnout
Sustainable teams, not stretched ones — prevention and recovery, backed by evidence.