Henley High Performance Leadership Programme (live-online)
- Understand how to make the most of the leadership skills in your team
- Develop self-awareness of your leadership style and its impact
- Explore how to develop leadership in others
- Increase your understanding of resilience and how to sustain it
- Learn via short live-online sessions, supported by in-depth 360 feedback, psychometrics and one-to-one coaching
What you need to know
Overview
During the Henley High Performance Leadership Programme you will discover that to be a complete leader, you need to be aware of your limitations and draw on the diversity of your team.
The programme explores how no one individual has the complete set of leadership skills. It enables you to identify and reflect on your natural leadership style, personality and behaviours. Then, with the support of a professional coach and a psychologist, you will agree on areas for development where your leadership shows potential or is fragile.
The programme is built around the Primary Colours® model of leadership, developed over 25 years of research. This simple, memorable model helps clarify which leadership roles suit you and the tasks you need to perform to meet your specific leadership challenges.
"Chris Williams, Interim CFO at Obliquity Group recently joined us on the High Performance Leadership Programme. He explains how the programme cast light on his strengths which ultimately led to higher productivity for him and his team."
Key benefits
- Develop confidence in your capabilities as a leader and know when to draw from others.
- Gain a clear and coherent understanding of your leadership strengths and limitations.
- Learn how to align strategic, operational and interpersonal leadership.
- Support your leaders as they transition into new roles by helping them understand and apply their leadership strengths, assess their impact, and lead effective teams.
- Identify and optimise the leadership skills available in any team.
- Identify, develop and promote leaders into key roles, supporting career growth, talent retention and maximising their impact on organisational performance.
"Rob Jones, a Head Teacher, expands on his experience with the High Performance Leadership programme. He explains how using a coaching-based approach helped his team's problem solving skills and how this led to greater staff accountability."
Start dates
Important note
Specific dates for NEO psychometric feedback and coaching sessions will be arranged after the start of the programme.
All programmes are subject to limited availability. We recommend booking a minimum of 6 weeks before the programme start date, to guarantee sufficient time for your enrolment and on-boarding.
Course structure
The Henley High Performance Leadership Programme is delivered through a mix of live-online learning and self study. It includes three one-to-one coaching/feedback sessions to help you understand your leadership style as well as how you can use your capabilities to make your workplace more agile and collaborative.
Modules 1-4 are delivered live-online by the Programme Director, requiring a commitment to key points during the programme. These interactive sessions allow participant discussion and encourage you to share your leadership experience and challenges.
The study requirements prior to and between modules are completed in your own time, with the coaching sessions arranged at a mutually convenient time.
The Primary Colours® model of leadership
The programme is built around the Primary Colours® model of leadership, developed over 25 years of research.
This simple, memorable model maps out the three overlapping domains in which leaders work - the strategic, operational, and interpersonal domains. It helps to clarify which leadership roles suit you and enables you to balance leadership capabilities across your team and organisation.
It is also task-focused, helping you define what you need to do as a leader to meet your specific challenges.
HPL: Pre-Programme
Before the course begins, you will:
- Reflect on your leadership challenges
- Complete the required pre-reading
- Complete a NEO personality assessment* and 360-degree feedback
*The NEO personality assessment gives leaders an evidence-based view of the five key personality factors: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. It identifies strengths, clarifies behaviours, and supports effective leadership, team development, and talent decisions.
HPL: Module 1
In this module you will:
- Identify the challenges leaders face
- Review the Primary Colours® approach to leadership
- Look at the evidence that led to the formulation of the model
Before the next module begins, you will:
- Undertake self-lead learning including video, e-materials and reading
- Take part in a session with a psychologist where you will receive feedback on your NEO to understand the impact of your personality on your leadership performance
HPL: Module 2
In this module you will explore:
- Personality in leadership
- The tasks of leadership and how they relate to each other
- Using NEO and 360 to gain insight into how your personality helps and hinders the accomplishment of leadership task
Before the next module begins you will take part in a personal coaching session with an accredited coach where you will use your 360 to understand your current leadership impact and clarify the focus of your development plan.
HPL: Module 3
In this module you will learn how to adopt a team-based approach to leadership, with a focus on how to promote collaboration and to handle the conflicts that commonly arise in leadership teams.
Before the next module begins, you will:
- Discuss team leadership and the complementary differences in your workplace with your colleagues
- Undertake a ‘leadership experiment’ to put into practice one of the actions in your development plan
- Take part in one further coaching session on the implications of leading as a team
HPL: Module 4
In this module you will:
- Reflect on your leadership experiment and explore how to overcome hindrances to implementation of your development plan
- Understand resilience and practical suggestions on how to sustain it
- Prepare for an audit of your personal agenda and time commitments to focus your leadership on your most critical activities
Modules or course content marked as optional are indicative and may be subject to change. Please note, constraints in timetable scheduling may mean you are unable to take some optional modules at the same time as others.
Faculty
Leadership Futures
Grounded in insight from Henley experts, our Leadership Futures series offers a practical guide for leaders who want to build more human, sustainable and resilient organisations in an era of uncertainty and rapid change.
Advancing into Industry 5.0
This first report in our series introduces Industry 5.0 and explores how leaders can leverage human-machine collaboration, engage Gen Z talent and drive social responsibility.
Building a People-First Future
Our second report examines how to build workplaces that are inclusive, sustainable, and ready for Industry 5.0.
Harnessing Technology for Human Progress
This report looks at technology's role in Industry 5.0, focusing on human-machine collaboration, ethical AI, and strategies for automation.
Purpose in Practice: Transforming Business for Sustainable Success
This fourth report encourages leaders to harness sustainability as a source of innovation, growth and competitive advantage.
Location and facilities
Set in sweeping parkland on the banks of the River Thames, Henley Business School's Greenlands campus provides an inspiring and reflective environment for focused work and study.
Why choose Henley?
4th
in the UK overall for executive education programmes
(Financial Times Executive Education ranking 2025)25th
in the world overall for executive education open programmes
(Financial Times Executive Education 2025 )Executive Education at Henley
For 80 years, Henley Business School has developed confident and resilient business leaders. Executive Education at Henley is:
- Practical: we combine academic rigour with a strong practical focus, so you can immediately apply what you have learned back in your organisation.
- Relevant: Henley faculty are experienced practitioners who can support you in exploring solutions to your organisation’s challenges.
- Collaborative: Open programmes enable you to expand your network, gain new perspectives and share ideas with peers from a range of backgrounds and sectors.
- Personal: deliberately small learning groups allow you to benefit from individual attention and a confidential environment. We encourage you to understand your unique strengths, leadership style, and areas for development.
Contact us
Open Programmes
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about the programme, please contact our programme advisors.
Email: exec@henley.ac.ukTelephone: 01491 418767
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