Leadership isn’t about knowing what to do. It’s about doing it consistently - under pressure, with real people, in real conditions.
This programme supports people preparing for their first leadership role, as well as those already in post who were promoted for capability but haven’t yet had the space to build strong leadership habits.
The programme builds the habits, judgement and emotional steadiness leaders need to lead well -consistently, and in real conditions.
Practical support between sessions so change actually sticks
Tools, scripts and simple routines leaders can use immediately
Designed for busy teams where pressure is the norm
In the events and creative sectors, people are often promoted because they’re brilliant at delivery. They can run projects, handle clients, and keep things moving under pressure. But people leadership is different.
Leadership readiness is not about job title or tenure. It’s about being able to demonstrate the behaviours, judgement and emotional steadiness expected of a leader - consistently, and under pressure.
And when senior teams don’t have time to coach, mentor or develop managers properly, businesses end up with a familiar pattern: capable people who want to step up - but haven’t yet built the leadership behaviours, confidence and commercial judgement the next role demands.
High performers pushing for promotion - but not yet showing the behaviours you’d expect at the next level
Managers leading projects well, but not leading people through coaching and development
Senior leaders acting as the backstop for problems that should be handled lower down
Good people leaving because they can’t see a path - or don’t understand what “ready” really looks like
Promotions made to retain talent, then creating unintended leadership gaps and pressure downstream
Most leaders don’t struggle because they don’t care, or because they lack intelligence. They struggle because leadership shows up in moments of pressure — and pressure pulls people back to old habits.
Avoiding a difficult conversation until it becomes “a thing”
Reacting quickly, then wishing they’d paused
Over-explaining, over-controlling, or people-pleasing
Struggling to set boundaries without feeling harsh
Carrying the emotional weight of the team and taking it home
This programme is designed for that gap - the space between knowing what good leadership looks like and being able to do it consistently.
When people aren’t properly supported into leadership, the cost shows up quietly:
senior leaders spend time absorbing people issues and decisions that should sit lower down
promotions become higher risk - because readiness is unclear
valuable employees plateau or leave
and delivery pressure grows, because capability isn’t compounding through the team
In most events businesses, one regretted leaver can cost £30k+ once you account for recruitment, onboarding, lost productivity and management time - before you factor in the impact on client delivery and team stability.
This programme exists to reduce that risk, and build leadership capacity deliberately.
And what's more, when leaders aren’t ready, businesses pay for it in quiet ways:
Confusion and mixed messages
Tension that spreads through the team
Unnecessary churn and avoidable mistakes
Overload on the few people who “hold it together”
Slower decisions and more firefighting
Leadership readiness protects performance, culture and retention — especially in tight-margin environments.
The Leadership Readiness Programme is a six-month, business-backed intervention designed to help high-potential employees step into people leadership with confidence, judgement and commercial awareness - without adding to senior leaders’ workload. It provides structure, challenge and accountability for individuals who are ready to grow, but who don’t yet have the experience or exposure to fully operate at the next level.
What it is:
A structured, supportive programme built around real-world application
Focused on behaviour, not just insight
Designed around the realities of delivery-led businesses
Designed to create habits leaders can sustain under pressure
Delivered 1:1, with clear milestones and real-world application
Built to reduce promotion risk and leadership bottlenecks
Built with practical tools, reflection, and accountability
What it isn’t:
A generic leadership course
Therapy or confidence coaching
A short, intensive course
A content-heavy learning experience
A “tick-box” qualification
A confidence pep-talk with no follow-through
A substitute for performance management
Dependent on senior leaders mentoring or “keeping an eye on” participants
This programme exists to grow leadership capacity without creating more demand at the top.
The Leadership Readiness Programme is designed for businesses that want to build a stronger leadership pipeline without stretching senior teams further.
This programme is designed to support both people preparing for their first leadership role and those already in position who have not yet had the opportunity to formally build leadership capability.
Participants are typically:
High-potential employees with 2+ years in the business
Individuals who have expressed a desire for progression - or are being considered for future leadership roles
Strong performers who are trusted, capable and committed
People who lead projects well, but haven’t yet fully stepped into people leadership
Employees whose confidence, commercial understanding or leadership presence hasn’t yet caught up with their technical ability
High-performing individuals preparing to step into their first leadership role, who want clarity on what “ready” looks like before promotion
Existing leaders who were promoted based on technical or delivery strength and need structured support to build confidence, consistency and people leadership skills
The programme is not for:-
People looking for a quick certificate or a two-day fix
People who don’t want to change anything about how they show up
This programme works best when participants are nominated by the business, rather than self-selecting. That keeps the focus on readiness, responsibility and organisational impact - not personal development for its own sake.
Over the course of the programme, senior leaders usually notice clear, practical shifts in how participants show up and contribute.
These often include:
Greater confidence rooted in understanding how the business actually works
Improved people leadership — managing through coaching rather than escalation or control
Stronger commercial awareness, including cost, margin and decision-making trade-offs
More proactive ownership and contribution beyond role remit
Reduced dependency on senior leaders to resolve people or delivery issues
The result isn’t louder confidence - it’s calmer, more capable leadership behaviour.
For those pre-promotion, these changes demonstrate readiness; for those already in role, they build confidence, consistency and credibility as a leader.
The Leadership Readiness Programme runs over six months and is designed to fit alongside day-to-day delivery without disruption.
Leadership habits don’t form in a workshop. They form between meetings - in real conversations - with space to reflect, adjust, and try again. That’s why this programme is designed around application, not information.
This programme is designed to build leadership readiness in a way that fits how your business actually operates - without creating additional management burden.
Upfront leadership alignment
At the outset, senior leaders define the leadership behaviours and expectations that matter most in your business. This ensures the programme builds readiness in line with how leadership is expected to show up in your organisation - not a generic leadership model.
Clear leadership readiness milestones
Participants work towards defined leadership behaviours, agreed upfront with the business. This provides clarity for both the individual and senior leadership on what “ready” actually looks like, and how progress will be assessed in practice.
Practical, individual coaching focused on live situations
Sessions are centred on real decisions, conversations and pressures participants are dealing with right now. Each session results in a clear, practical action to apply immediately in the real world - not abstract theory or academic reflection.
Small, sustainable behaviour shifts between sessions
Between sessions, participants apply simple, realistic changes in how they communicate, decide and respond under pressure. These small shifts compound over time, building consistency without adding to workload.
Two light-touch leader check-ins
Short, structured conversations are built in to align expectations early and reflect on readiness at the end of the programme - without creating ongoing mentoring or line-management load for senior leaders.
A focused, low-friction delivery model
There are no group coaching sessions, no peer forums and no requirement for senior leaders to be involved day-to-day. This keeps the programme contained, practical and respectful of time.
Every element of the programme is designed to support consistent leadership behaviour in day-to-day work - without adding complexity or unnecessary overhead.
The Leadership Readiness Programme is grounded in real operational experience inside delivery-led events businesses, and underpinned by well-established business, leadership and behavioural theory.
As an Operations Director, I worked with technically excellent, committed people who wanted to progress. What became clear over time was that people development needed to go far beyond improving technical delivery or managing events more efficiently. Progression required a broader shift: commercial understanding, decision-making confidence, and the ability to develop others with the same awareness and judgement at an appropriate level.
In many cases, the gap wasn’t capability or effort - it was limited exposure to how the business truly functioned, and how leadership decisions were shaped by cost, cash flow, risk, accountability and long-term impact. When people development addressed those wider dimensions, not just task performance - confidence grew, judgement sharpened and leadership capacity began to compound through teams.
By applying a structured, theory-informed approach and translating it into practical, real-world application, I saw clear shifts in both individuals and the wider business. Managers became more commercially aware, more intentional in how they developed their teams, and better equipped to contribute beyond their immediate role. Senior leaders experienced reduced escalation, stronger succession conversations and greater confidence in progression decisions - without adding management overhead or relying on informal mentoring.
This programme blends practical leadership experience with evidence-based approaches from emotional intelligence, behavioural change, coaching psychology and communication models - translated into tools leaders can actually use on a busy Tuesday afternoon.
25+ years leadership experience (events/creative)
MBA (Distinction)
NLP Master Practitioner
Coaching qualifications (list 1–2)
Board-level consultancy experience
Workshop facilitation + change programmes
The Leadership Readiness Programme is a six-month, business-backed investment in leadership capacity and succession.
£5,500 per participant
The value of this programme isn’t in the sessions alone - it’s in what changes between them: decisions made differently, conversations handled better, and pressure managed more calmly.
Reduced team friction and avoidable escalations
Stronger confidence in decision-making and boundaries
More consistent leadership behaviours across the week
We’ll sense-check fit, goals and whether this is the right support for your leaders.
Some clients use this programme as a stand-alone leadership intervention. Others use it alongside wider people improvements (role clarity, retention, hiring, performance habits). If you’re tackling more than leadership readiness, we’ll map the smartest route.
Book a short chat and I’ll help you work out what support will make the biggest difference - even if this programme isn’t the answer.