Leader Lab: Peer Coaching for Experienced Managers
The Leader Lab is a facilitated, peer-to-peer development programme for experienced managers and leaders who don’t need another leadership training course stuffed with theories and frameworks.
What they need is space, structure and honest peer challenge to work through the leadership dilemmas they’re actually facing – with people who understand the complexity, and a skilled facilitator to make sure it leads to action.
They already know the models, they’ve read the books and they’ve done the training.
This is leadership development that gets applied.
What This Programme Delivers
For Participants
- A high-trust, high-challenge space to work on complex, real-world leadership issues
- More confident judgement in ambiguous, high-stakes situations
- Stronger capability in handling people issues, performance challenges and competing priorities
- Greater self-awareness and more deliberate leadership behaviour
- Peer challenge that sharpens thinking in a structured, purposeful environment
For Your Organisation
- Fewer issues reaching HR or senior leaders
- Less senior time spent on leadership problems that should have been resolved further down
- More consistent leadership behaviour at mid and senior levels
- Better decisions made closer to the work
- Leaders who take ownership rather than passing problems upwards
Stronger leaders, fewer escalations, less organisational drag.
Why This Matters
Many experienced leaders keep getting sent on training programmes that were never designed for them.
They revisit familiar models. They nod along. They leave energised – and then quickly return to a role where the real challenges are messier than the theory, there’s little time to reflect, and difficult issues still get postponed or pushed upwards.
At this level, the gap isn’t skill or knowledge. It’s application in context.
The Leader Lab addresses this directly – supporting leaders to work on live challenges, with peers who understand the complexity, and with enough structure to turn reflection into action.
What Your Managers Will Be Able To Do
By the end of the programme, participants will:
- Tackle complex leadership dilemmas with greater clarity and confidence
- Address people and performance issues earlier and more effectively
- Apply organisational leadership behaviours consistently in real situations
- Think more carefully about the impact, trade-offs and consequences of their decisions
- Lead with greater courage, judgement and accountability
- Draw on peer insight rather than leading in isolation
What Makes the Leader Lab Different?
This isn’t leadership skills training. There are no frameworks to learn, no case studies from other organisations, no generic content managers have seen before.
What there is: a structured, confidential space where experienced leaders work through the challenges they’re actually facing right now. Real problems, brought by the people in the room. Peer challenge that’s honest and purposeful, facilitated to ensure it stays focused and leads to action. And direct alignment to the leadership behaviours your organisation needs more of.
The agenda is set by the participants, not the programme. That’s what makes it work.
Who Should Attend:
- Experienced managers and leaders
- Senior managers, heads of function and directors
- Leaders who have already completed leadership development programmes
- Leaders operating in complexity, ambiguity or organisational change
- High-potential leaders preparing for broader or more senior roles
This is not a programme for:
- First-time managers
- Leaders who need foundational skills training
- Anyone looking for theory, tools or frameworks
If your managers need to build foundational leadership skills, Ignite is the right starting point.
Find out more about Ignite.
Business Outcomes You Can Expect
High performance without high turnover.
Stronger leadership capability without repeated training spend
Better performance and decision-making day to day
Fewer grievances, conflicts and employee relations issues reaching senior leadership
Less stress and absence linked to unresolved people challenges
Higher confidence and consistency among experienced leaders
A clear reduction in problems being pushed up to HR or senior leadership
Frequently Asked Questions
Get in touch if you need further assistance.
No. The Leader Lab is development for experienced leaders, not foundational skills training. It assumes participants already understand core leadership concepts – and focuses on applying them in real, complex situations
It’s facilitated peer-to-peer development, using a structured coaching-style approach – but it’s not therapy, mentoring or open-ended conversation. The facilitator ensures the work stays focused, challenging and outcome-driven, and aligned to what your organisation needs from its leaders.
No. This programme is for experienced managers and leaders who already understand leadership fundamentals but are struggling with the confidence or consistency to apply them. If your managers need foundational skills, Ignite is the better starting point.
Typically: performance or behavioural issues with team members, difficult stakeholder dynamics, leading through ambiguity or change, balancing delivery with people leadership, and decisions where there’s no obvious right answer.
1:1 coaching offers depth with one perspective. The Leader Lab combines that depth with multiple peer perspectives – while remaining structured and facilitated so it doesn’t become unfocused or anecdotal. Many organisations use both alongside each other.
The programme is carefully designed and professionally facilitated. Clear boundaries, structure and roles are agreed from the start, and every session is anchored around purposeful exploration and action – not general discussion.
Yes – and it’s designed to be. The orientation session explicitly aligns the programme to your organisational behaviours or leadership expectations, so the peer work reinforces what the organisation needs more of.
High. Confidentiality is agreed at the outset and reinforced throughout – creating the psychological safety needed for honest, senior-level discussion.
The Leader Lab runs over 10 weeks. The structure includes one 2-hour orientation, four 90-minute Peer Lab sessions (one per participant), and one 60-minute capstone session.
Ignite is our programme for managers who need to build foundational leadership capability – teaching-focused, 6 modules, 3 days. The Leader Lab is for experienced managers who already know the theory but need support applying it consistently. It’s facilitated peer development, not training – working on real challenges, not learning new frameworks. If your managers need to build skills, choose Ignite. If they know what to do but struggle to do it consistently, choose The Leader Lab.
Leader Pods are capped at 4 to ensure psychological safety, meaningful airtime for each person, and depth of discussion. Larger groups don’t create the conditions for the honest conversations that drive real change.
One participant is the Focal Leader for each 90-minute session. They bring a real, current leadership challenge. The other pod members offer coaching-style support through active listening, powerful questions, and experience-sharing when invited. The Upwrd facilitator ensures depth, focus and practical outcomes.
Yes. Participants decide what they want to work on. The small-group, confidential structure means they can bring genuinely difficult or sensitive challenges without fear of judgement.
The Leader Lab works best for managers who have leadership experience and understand core concepts, are facing challenges that feel stuck or recurring, would benefit from peer perspective and structured reflection, and are ready to engage honestly with peers. It’s not suitable for managers who need foundational skills first.
All facilitation, pre-programme consultation, materials, and post-programme resources. Coaching Clinics are an optional enhancement priced separately.
Yes. Many organisations run several pods to develop multiple leaders at the same time. Pricing scales by number of pods required.
The Leader Lab is measured on what actually matters at this level – behaviour change, earlier intervention and reduced escalation – not attendance or satisfaction scores. We use a light combination of pre- and post-programme self-assessment, reflection on actions taken, and where helpful, brief sponsor feedback. Where appropriate, we also look at relevant organisational trends such as HR escalation or senior leader involvement.
Get in touch to talk about whether The Leader Lab is right for your experienced managers. We’ll explore your challenges, answer any questions and help you decide if it’s the right fit.