Leadership development sounding board

Not sure what the right next step is?

Sometimes you don’t need a new leadership program. Sometimes you need a trusted sounding board.

Someone who understands leadership development, organisational systems and behaviour change, and can help you think through the opportunities, challenges and decisions in front of you.

That's exactly what the Leadership Development Sounding Board is designed to provide.

This is a short, structured advisory engagement for HR, OD, and L&D leaders seeking practical, independent support with their organisation’s leadership development approach, comprising three 90-minute advisory sessions over approximately 6 weeks.

Whether you're reviewing an existing program, exploring a new leadership initiative, navigating stakeholder dynamics, wrestling with a systems issue, or simply trying to determine where to focus your efforts, these sessions create space to step back, think clearly and move forward with confidence.

Why a sounding board?

Leadership development decisions are rarely straightforward.

  • Where should we invest our time, effort and budget?

  • Do we have a program problem or a systems issue?

  • Should we build something new or improve what we already have?

  • How can we make a step change in our approach to developing leaders?

  • What's the role of sponsors, line managers and peers?

These decisions shape the success of leadership development long before a workshop is designed or a program is launched.

Yet many HR, OD and L&D leaders have limited opportunities to test ideas, challenge assumptions and explore options with someone who understands the broader leadership development landscape.

The Leadership Development Sounding Board was created to fill that gap.

How it works

  • We'll explore your context, clarify the challenge or opportunity you're facing, and identify the factors influencing the situation. The goal is to move beyond symptoms and surface-level distractions to gain clarity on what is really driving the issue or critical to success.

  • We'll examine potential pathways forward, pressure-test ideas, explore trade-offs and identify opportunities that may not have been considered. The goal is to create confidence that you're focusing on the right levers.

  • We'll bring everything together into a practical way forward, including recommended next steps, priorities and considerations. The goal is clarity, confidence and momentum.

Common discussion topics

Every Sounding Board is different, but common topics include:

  • Leadership development strategy

  • Leadership capability priorities

  • Leadership frameworks

  • Evaluating existing leadership development offerings

  • Program design or review

  • Transfer of learning and behaviour change

  • Leadership development governance

  • Sponsorship and stakeholder engagement

  • Better aligning disconnected efforts across the organisation

  • Vendor selection and proposal review.

What’s included

  • Three 90-minute advisory sessions

  • Review of relevant documents and materials between sessions

  • Written reflections and recommendations following each session

  • Email support between sessions

Who it’s for

You keep investing in leadership development but aren’t seeing the impact you’d hoped for. You have the capability to design and drive leadership development initiatives internally, but first want to sense-check your approach. Maybe you’re under pressure to deliver something different and need someone to push your thinking. Or perhaps you need someone to help you solidify your thinking before issuing a request for proposal. For these and many other reasons, the Leadership Development Sounding Board is designed for those seeking an experienced thought partner to help them make better leadership development decisions:

  • Chief People Officers

  • HR Directors

  • Organisational Development leaders

  • Learning and Development leaders

  • Internal leadership development practitioners.

Before investing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in leadership development, it can be valuable to spend a few sessions ensuring you're solving the right problem and are headed in the best direction. The goal here isn't to create more work. It's to help you determine what will have the greatest impact in your context and to accelerate the required work that follows.

Limited places available each quarter

To ensure every engagement receives the time, thought and attention it deserves, I reserve a small number of Sounding Board places each quarter.

$3,000 (excl. GST)

Register Your Interest