Executive Traction Labs
One day that shapes the next six months. A bespoke, one-to-one executive intensive built on deep stakeholder feedback — always paired with embed coaching to turn the clarity into change.
Why it matters
Most senior leaders want more than a 360
A Traction Lab sets stakeholder feedback inside a full day of structured reflection, challenge and planning — then monthly coaching that embeds it. One day, one leader, built from what the people around them actually said.
At executive level, individual, team and organisational success are the same thing
Whether a leader is stepping into something bigger, holding more than they were before, or simply wants to be deliberate about the next six months, the pressure is the same: build new stakeholder relationships amongst competing demands, balance the tactical with the strategic, and lead a team through a shifting landscape.
Stepping back to discern what is working and what is not is the highest-leverage thing a senior leader can do. Almost nobody makes the time. The Lab makes it.
What we explore together
Tailored to the leader, anchored in strategy.
- Leadership stance and presence — and how it lands.
- Stakeholder relationships — who matters, where friction sits.
- Strategic priorities and role clarity.
- Talent alignment — aligning people to purpose and strategy.
- Adaptability and resilience under sustained pressure.
- Where to focus, and what to release.
Through gathering business insights from stakeholder interviews, each Lab was tailored for the individual functional leader with a cross-functional perspective. It’s not often that leaders get to spend a day focusing on themselves and their leadership challenges.
Kartik Natarajan — Managing Director ANZ, Getinge
How the process works
Five stages, entirely customised for each leader
Four to six weeks from confirmation to Lab day — the runway the interviews and the bespoke design need. The Lab itself runs on a Friday, in person, one leader at a time, for around six hours. Three to five stakeholder conversations feed it. Six monthly coaching sessions follow it.
Understand
We review your strategy, structure and leadership expectations to find where impact sits.
Explore
Confidential interviews with three to five critical stakeholders — peers, reports, chair or CEO. Around thirty to forty minutes each, themed and never attributed.
Design
We connect strategy to that feedback and design a bespoke Lab. The feedback is the spine of the day.
Lab
A full day, one-to-one, in person. Immersive and confidential, with the insights captured live rather than written up afterwards.
Coach
Monthly embed coaching that drives accountability and locks the roadmap into how the leader actually leads.
Who leads it
Every Lab is designed and led by Sally Schmall
Sally is Five’s Head of Executive Leadership Development. She partners directly with CEOs and executive teams to build leadership capability with intent and purpose.
She works with senior leaders navigating change, complexity and high-stakes environments — bringing clarity to ambiguity, helping leaders build resilience, recalibrate focus and grow their presence. Her coaching presence is calm yet incisive, creating real shift through structured reflection and evidence-based development.
Sally has over twenty-five years of international experience at the highest level in HR leadership and consulting, across strategic workforce planning, change management and executive leadership development. She brings deep human capital expertise from her time with Deloitte in the United States — executive team development, succession management and leadership frameworks — and in New Zealand led Deloitte’s leadership experience lab, The Greenhouse®.
Areas of expertise
- Executive and ELT coaching
- Leadership transitions and the first six months
- Resilience and leading through uncertainty
- Succession and leadership maturity frameworks
- Executive Traction Labs and team facilitation
- Strategic workforce planning
In their words
Working with Sally has been instrumental in shaping both my leadership and the performance of a new executive team. Her strategically focused approach has helped us build a cohesive, high-performing leadership group capable of navigating strong personalities and complex business challenges. Her impact has been both tangible and enduring.
Kerry Boielle — Chief Executive, TSB Bank
Such an impactful day. You’ve given me much to reflect on, as well as concrete actions that will lift my game immediately. Even if you’re pretty comfortable with leadership there is always room for improvement, and often much your unconscious bias makes you overlook. I’d unreservedly recommend Sally to everyone in my network.
Paul Littlefair — Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Kiwibank
Who else you will work with
Embed coaching following the Lab is delivered by Sally and Nick Mackeson-Smith, Five’s Founder and Chief Curiosity Officer.
From individual to team. Where we run Labs across a whole leadership group, we can add a bespoke Executive Team Workshop afterwards as a natural next step — building on what surfaced individually to create a shared view of the future, agreed ways of working and a cross-functional approach to priorities. Those insights then feed back into each leader’s coaching, bringing the experience full circle.
Where this sits
Executive Traction Labs are one of our Strategy and Leadership services, and they sit alongside our wider executive coaching work. If you are weighing up which is the right starting point, ask us — the honest answer depends on the leader.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is a Traction Lab different from a 360?
A 360 gives a leader a report. A Lab gives them a day. The stakeholder feedback is gathered in confidential conversations rather than a survey, themed rather than scored, and then used as the spine of a full day of structured reflection, challenge and planning. The output is a roadmap the leader has written, not a document they have received.
How long does the whole thing take?
Four to six weeks from confirmation to Lab day — that is the runway the stakeholder interviews and the bespoke design need. The Lab itself is a single day, around six hours, always a Friday. Embed coaching then runs for roughly six monthly sessions.
Who gets interviewed, and is it confidential?
Three to five critical stakeholders, chosen with you: peers, direct reports, a chair or a CEO. Each conversation is around thirty to forty minutes. Themes are shared with the leader; verbatims never are. That boundary is what makes the conversations worth having.
What does the leader walk away with?
A stakeholder and talent engagement plan, and a six-month strategic roadmap in their own words. Both are captured live during the day rather than written up afterwards.
What do you need from us?
Your strategy artefacts, stakeholder diaries booked early, and trust in the confidentiality of the experience. That last one matters most: themes are shared, verbatims never are, and the conversations are only worth having because the people in them know that.
Why is the coaching part not optional?
Because clarity is not change. The Lab surfaces what needs to move; the monthly sessions are what make it move. Pairing the two is the whole design.
Can the Lab be run remotely?
The Lab day is designed to be in person — it is full immersion, one leader at a time. The stakeholder interviews and the embed coaching work well online, and often are.
Can you run Labs across a whole leadership team?
Yes, and it is a strong way to use them. Where several leaders each go through a Lab, we can add a bespoke Executive Team Workshop afterwards to turn the individual insight into a shared view of the future, agreed ways of working and a common approach to priorities.
Where do you run them?
Across New Zealand and Australia.
One leader. One day. Six months of traction.
If you have a leader stepping up, holding more than before, or who simply needs the time to think, tell us about them. We run Labs across New Zealand and Australia.
Get in Touch →Our team
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