The Resilient Leader Programme

Building Sustainable Leadership Capacity for Lasting Performance

Your manager cohort is working harder than ever, yet results are inconsistent. Team engagement is dropping. Talented leaders are leaving for competitors. And those who remain seem perpetually exhausted, bouncing from crisis to crisis without time to lead strategically.

You're not alone. Research shows that 75% of managers feel overwhelmed by expanding responsibilities. The hidden cost to your organisation? Declining performance, rising turnover, and a leadership pipeline on the edge of burnout.

Here's what's happening: Your mid-level managers—the critical link between strategy and execution—are caught in an impossible position. They're expected to:

  • Navigate constant organisational change whilst maintaining team performance

  • Create psychological safety and belonging in hybrid environments

  • Handle increasingly complex interpersonal conflicts

  • Support their team's wellbeing whilst neglecting their own

  • Lead with confidence despite ambiguity and incomplete information

Most programmes teach frameworks and send leaders back to unchanged contexts. Within weeks, they've reverted to old patterns because they haven't developed the internal capacity to lead differently.

The Resilient Leader Programme takes a fundamentally different approach. Rather than delivering content, we develop leaders from the inside out—building the resilience, emotional intelligence, and practical skills required to thrive in complexity.

Over 6-8 months, leaders don't just learn concepts; they develop new ways of showing up, relating, and leading that create lasting change.

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Organisations – an in-house programme for groups of 10 to 14 people within the same company.

Individuals – join an Open programme with a group of 10 to 14 people from a range of organisations and backgrounds.

Next Open Programme Mar 2026

Programme Outline

  • Begin with self-awareness. Through sharing circles and values excavation, leaders explore their leadership story, identify core principles, and develop authentic presence. This foundation enables everything that follows.

  • Master the SPACE framework (Suspend judgment, Permission to fail, Acknowledge contributions, Curiosity over certainty, Emotional regulation). Leaders practise creating conditions where teams feel safe to contribute, innovate, and challenge the status quo.

  • Develop confidence in leading productive conflict resolution, delivering feedback, and addressing performance issues with both empathy and clarity. Through role-play and peer coaching, leaders practise conversations they've been avoiding.

  • Build adaptive leadership capacity to navigate organisational transition, manage ambiguity, and maintain performance through uncertainty. Leaders learn to support their teams through change whilst building resilience.

  • Learn to use narrative to inspire, connect, and drive action. Leaders craft compelling stories for different contexts—from team meetings to presentations—and practise authentic vulnerability that builds trust.

  • Move beyond "politely functional" to genuinely collaborative. Leaders facilitate team development, co-create values and agreements, and establish the foundation for sustainable high performance.

  • Recognise warning signs of overwhelm and establish practices that enable long-term effectiveness. Leaders create personal sustainability plans and learn to support team members experiencing stress.

  • Connect daily leadership actions to organisational strategy. Leaders practise empowering team decision-making, cascading vision, and balancing operational demands with strategic thinking.

FAQs

  • This programme is designed for mid-level managers who are navigating the complexity of modern leadership. It's ideal for leaders who are:

    • Feeling overwhelmed by expanding responsibilities whilst trying to maintain team performance

    • Stepping into leadership roles for the first time and establishing their approach

    • Facing significant organisational change or transition

    • Managing cross-functional teams or leading without direct authority

    • Being developed for senior leadership positions

    The programme works best for leaders who recognise that sustainable high performance requires more than traditional management skills; it requires emotional intelligence, resilience, and the ability to create psychological safety for their teams.

  • Clinical Foundation + Business Acumen: Led by Joel Hines, who brings a rare combination of mental health expertise (Occupational Therapist), proven leadership experience (School Principal, Interim CEO), and facilitation mastery. Joel understands both the psychology of human behaviour and the realities of organisational performance, bridging worlds that traditional consultants miss.

    Experiential, Not Theoretical: Every module emphasises practising skills and applying learning to real challenges participants are facing. Leaders work in peer learning circles, receive feedback, and test approaches in a safe container before taking them back to their teams. This isn't content delivery, it's transformational development.

    Identity Development, Not Just Skill Building: We help leaders develop their identity as resilient, emotionally intelligent space-holders rather than just acquiring techniques. This internal shift creates sustainable change that persists long after the programme ends, operating on "sourdough time" rather than quick-fix thinking.

  • The 8-module curriculum directly addresses the most pressing leadership challenges organisations face today:

    • Manager Overwhelm - Modules on sustainable leadership, emotional regulation, and building resilience give leaders practical tools to manage expanding responsibilities without burnout.

    • Change Navigation - Dedicated modules on leading through change and building adaptive capacity prepare leaders to navigate organisational transition whilst maintaining performance.

    • Team Performance - Modules on psychological safety, building high-performing teams, and navigating difficult conversations equip leaders to create conditions where teams thrive.

    • Influence Without Authority -The storytelling and psychological safety modules help leaders build influence through connection rather than positional power.

    • Retention Challenges - By developing leaders who create supportive, psychologically safe environments, the programme addresses the root cause of turnover, poor leadership.

    Importantly, leaders apply everything they learn to real challenges they're currently facing, ensuring immediate relevance and practical impact rather than theoretical knowledge

  • Organisations investing in The Resilient Leader Programme typically see measurable improvements across multiple areas:

    • Reduced manager turnover by addressing the overwhelm that drives leadership attrition before it results in costly departures

    • Improved team performance and productivity as leaders create conditions where teams execute effectively and solve problems independently

    • Enhanced employee retention since managers are the number one factor in whether people stay or leave

    • Decreased workplace conflict as leaders navigate tension productively rather than avoiding or escalating issues

    • Faster decision-making as confident leaders make timely decisions even with incomplete information

    • Protected wellbeing through sustainable leadership practices that reduce burnout-related costs

    Research shows that companies typically see an ROI of $7 for every $1 invested in leadership development, with even stronger returns when programmes address overwhelm, change capability, and retention simultaneously—which is exactly what this programme does

    • Intensive: 3-day offsite + 6 months of group coaching

    • Standard: 6 half-day sessions + monthly peer circles + individual check-ins

    • Hybrid: Mix of face to face and online.

  • Absolutely. Whilst the 8-module framework provides a proven structure, we work closely with organisations to ensure the programme addresses your specific leadership challenges and organisational context.

    For cohorts of 5+ leaders, we conduct a discovery process to understand:

    • The specific challenges your leaders are facing

    • Your organisational culture and strategic priorities

    • Current initiatives or changes affecting your leadership team

    • Your specific industry

    • Desired outcomes and how you'll measure success

    We then adapt examples, case studies, and applied projects to reflect your context whilst maintaining the integrity of the transformational methodology. For larger organisational programmes (10+ leaders), we can design custom delivery models, integrate with your existing leadership frameworks, and create peer accountability structures.

    The discovery conversation is complimentary, it allows us both to determine if there's strong alignment between your needs and what the programme delivers