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A Five engagement
One day that shapes the next six months.
A Traction Lab is a one-day, one-to-one coaching intensive for senior executives, run in person in Auckland and built on confidential stakeholder feedback. Six embed coaching sessions follow, so the clarity from the day turns into change. There are two tracks: leadership transition coaching for executives new to a role, and an established track for executive team members.
Four to six weeks from confirmation to Lab day. Fridays, in person in Auckland, one leader at a time.
Three stages to prepare, the Lab day itself, then six embed coaching sessions, usually monthly.
Why it matters
A leader might be stepping into something bigger, holding more than before, or wanting to be deliberate about the next six months. The pressure’s the same. Build new stakeholder relationships among competing demands, balance the tactical with the strategic, and lead a team through a shifting landscape.
Most senior leaders want more than a 360. A Lab sets stakeholder feedback inside a full day of structured reflection, challenge and planning, then monthly coaching that embeds it.
Stepping back to see what’s working and what’s not is the most valuable thing a senior leader can do. Almost nobody makes the time. The Lab does.
Two tracks
Every Traction Lab follows the same five stages and is designed around one leader. The track depends on where that leader is starting from.
For leaders who’ve stepped into a new executive role. The Lab runs once you’ve been in the role about two months. You leave with a stakeholder plan and a six-month roadmap for the role.
For established executive team members in organisations going through change and transformation. This track looks forward. It helps you shape the mindsets and leadership behaviours the organisation will need next, and decide where your energy goes. It often leads into Traction Lab Team, our premium option for a whole executive team: a Lab for each executive, then a team session that brings the insights together.
What we explore
Every Lab’s designed from scratch around one person and the organisation they’re leading. Six themes come up in almost all of them.
How you lead, and how that actually lands with the people around you.
Who matters to the work, where the friction sits, and what it’s costing.
What the role’s really for, against everything competing for the diary.
Whether the right people are pointed at the right things, for the strategy you’ve got.
What sustained pressure’s doing to your judgement, and what holds under it.
The half of the answer most leaders never get to: what to stop.
How it runs
Feedback’s the spine of the day. Everything before the Lab exists to gather it honestly; everything after it exists to make sure the day changes something.
We review your strategy, structure and leadership expectations to find where impact sits.
Two in-person interviews, always with your CEO and CPO (your board chair and CPO if you’re the CEO). Peers and a direct report give their input too.
We connect strategy to that feedback and design a bespoke Lab.
A full day, one to one, in person. Immersive and confidential, with insights captured live.
Six embed coaching sessions, usually monthly, with Sally or Nick. They drive accountability and lock the roadmap into how the leader leads.
The questions people ask before they commit a diary to it.
From confirmation to Lab day. That’s the runway interviews and bespoke design actually need.
One leader at a time. Around six hours, plus short pre-lab reflections.
Confidential and themed, never attributed. Thirty minutes each, with the questions sent ahead.
Typically monthly, in person or online, after the Lab.
Who leads it
Sally Schmall is Five’s Head of Executive Leadership Development, with more than 25 years of international experience in HR leadership and executive development. Her coaching presence is calm yet incisive. She creates real shift through structured reflection and evidence-based development. After the Lab, Sally or Nick Mackeson-Smith coaches each leader through the embed sessions.
Client lead
Sally SchmallStrategy
Performance
People
Client lead
Nick Mackeson-SmithStrategy
Performance
Culture
People
Technology
What leaders say
“Working with Sally over the past 18 months has been instrumental in shaping both my leadership and the performance of a new executive team. She has consistently brought insight, structure, and a deep understanding of executive dynamics, and has served as a trusted thought partner as I navigate the complexity and visibility that comes with leading a community-owned bank.”
Kerry Boielle
Chief Executive, TSB Bank
“Such an impactful day. You have certainly given me much to reflect on as well as some concrete actions which will lift my game immediately. Even if you are pretty comfortable with leadership there is always room for improvement, and often much your unconscious bias makes you overlook.”
Paul Littlefair
Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Kiwibank
“It is not often that leaders get to spend an entire day focusing on themselves with expert guidance, probing questions and a clear plan to enhance effectiveness. I am incredibly proud that we have been able to make this investment in our senior team.”
Kartik Natarajan
ANZ Managing Director, Getinge
Traction Lab Team is our premium option for a whole executive team. Each executive has their own Lab first. Then a team session brings the insights together into a shared view of the future, agreed ways of working and a cross-functional approach to priorities. The sponsor sees themes across the team, never individual findings. Those themes then feed back into each leader’s coaching.
See Traction Lab TeamQuestions
A Traction Lab is a one-day, one-to-one coaching intensive for senior executives in New Zealand, run by Five in Auckland. It’s built on confidential stakeholder feedback and designed around one leader. Six embed coaching sessions follow the day.
There are two tracks. The Transition track is executive transition coaching for leaders new to a role. The Established track is for established executive team members in organisations going through change and transformation.
About two months into the role. Allow four to six weeks from confirmation to Lab day, so it helps to start the conversation in your first few weeks.
Four to six weeks from confirmation to Lab day. That time covers the stakeholder interviews and the design of your Lab. Labs run on Fridays, one leader at a time.
We hold two in-person interviews, always with your CEO and CPO. If the Lab is for the CEO, we interview the board chair and CPO instead. Peers and a direct report also give input. Feedback is confidential and themed, never attributed.
You spend a full day one to one with Sally, in person in Auckland. It runs for around six hours, plus short pre-Lab reflections. You leave with a stakeholder and talent engagement plan and a six-month roadmap. You also get a clear read on where to focus and what to let go.
Six embed coaching sessions, usually monthly, in person or online. Sally or Nick Mackeson-Smith coaches you. The sessions keep you accountable and help turn the roadmap into how you lead.
Yes. Your EA can book the Lab on your behalf. They can get in touch through this page, and we’ll work with them on the details.
Yes. Traction Lab Team is our premium option for a whole executive team. Each executive has their own Lab, then a team session brings the insights together. The sponsor sees themes across the team, never individual findings.
Related reading
Tell us who the leader is and what they’re holding, and we’ll tell you honestly whether a Lab’s the right answer.
Labs run on Fridays in Auckland, one leader at a time.
Make delivery inevitable.
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