Eleven live sessions across fourteen weeks. Twenty-five school leaders from around the world. Live online with me. We systematise the fundamentals so you finally have mental space to be the leader you actually are.
Many brilliant educators become overwhelmed when they step into leadership roles. Not because they lack the ability; they're cognitively overloaded by basic leadership tasks they haven't systematised. The result is imposter syndrome, decision fatigue, and an authentic leadership style they can't access because they're drowning in mechanics.
The Intensive doesn't teach you to be someone else. It clears the basics so the leader you already are has room to show up.
Each lesson is one research-backed system you build into your daily practice. Evidence from 100+ peer-reviewed studies, stripped of every framework that doesn't change Monday morning.
Use your values as automatic decision-shortcuts, not abstract posters on a wall. When values are clear and practised, they become the filter that cuts decision fatigue.
Draw on the teaching expertise you already have. Stop treating leadership as a blank slate; map what you already know and use it on purpose.
The three communication routines (paraphrase, check questions, concrete examples) that close the gap between what you said and what they heard.
Five meeting types, one design pattern for each. You redesign two of your own during the week.
SBI and future-focused feedback. Conversations that develop people rather than wound them, and that you stop dreading.
Trust triangle, micro-affirmations, and naming the potential in your team you've been seeing but not yet said out loud.
The STEAMS handover model and the five levels of delegation. Build team capacity without creating new monitoring work for yourself.
Tuckman, PLCs, and one piece of professional development you'll design and run using the EEF model.
WRAP, Cynefin, the pre-mortem. Match the process to the size of the decision. Protect the work only you can do.
Kotter, ADKAR, Switch. Map your change, design the narrative, anticipate resistance. Finalise your Personal Leadership Playbook.
The problem isn't that you lack leadership ability. The problem is cognitive overload from basic leadership tasks you haven't systematised.Shane Leaning · Programme founder
This is a Teams call from the January 2026 cohort, mid-programme. Heads, directors of learning, principals and middle leaders from schools around the world, all on the same Tuesday call. Cohort 2 starts 15 September 2026.
11 live sessions across 14 calendar weeks, Tuesdays 5:00–7:00 PM China Standard Time. Three breaks are built in around the major school holidays (Japan Silver Week, China Golden Week, UK / Hong Kong half-term) so the cohort never collides with what your school is doing.
1-hour kick-off. Meet the cohort, set up your coaching trio, agree the rhythms, lock in the daily voice-note practice.
One leadership lever per week. 2 hours live on Tuesdays, with daily practice between. Coaching trio meets between sessions.
The final lever and the celebration combined. 2.5 hours to consolidate your Personal Leadership Playbook, certify, and open The Circles access.
Optional in-person Masterclass: Fri 20 – Sat 21 November 2026 in Shanghai. Two days of “Leading as a Coach”, capped at 12 people. £500. Open to cohort members and the wider community.
"This is super important. It's much more important than the two hours we spent today. Each day, a quick message, just 60 seconds. I want you to be absorbed in the idea of thinking your values all week."
Shane Leaning, Week 1, Cohort 1Most leadership programmes ask you to trust that change happened. We measure it.
Daily tracking via voice notes. Real-time monitoring of foundational behaviours. Course correction in the moment, not at the end.
Structured accountability-partner observation (93% correlation with self-reports). Optional 360-degree feedback using validated instruments.
Monthly correlation analysis against your school's KPIs, staff engagement, retention, leadership effectiveness measures.
Optional add-ons: “Leading as a Coach” 2-day workshop in Shanghai, £500. Four 1:1 coaching sessions with Shane, £600. Ask about both.
Every session opens with Shane sharing a real leadership failure or struggle before introducing any framework. The research follows the story, not the other way round.
The traditional CPD ratio is flipped. You spend most of the session applying, not listening. Every concept gets immediate paired or small-group practice.
The scenarios in each session come from the cohort's actual situations (anonymised, with permission). Nothing generic. Nothing borrowed from a corporate slide deck.
One-to-one with Shane. Your coaching circle. Whole-cohort announcements. Designed to reduce noise, not add to it. AI summaries on Tuesday and Friday so missing a day doesn't mean missing the thread.
Cameras optional. Get up, get coffee, move around. Some participants are starting their day, some ending it. Health and life acknowledged without judgement.
This is a programme that changes based on what works for participants. Week 1 feedback shapes Week 2. Every cohort makes the next one better.
"A powerful course to be a part of. It has clearly been set up with practicality and applicability in mind. Each week builds on the last, and the weekly tasks give you a clear opportunity to practise what you learned. I feel emboldened to apply what I have learned."
Jerome Lally · Instructional Coach, Daystar Academy
"The content is highly relevant to the realities of leadership, grounded in practical application rather than theory alone. What has impressed me most is the immediacy of impact. The strategies and techniques can be implemented straight away. Shane delivers the programme with clarity, challenge and precision."
Kristan Proudman · Deputy Headteacher Pastoral, Wycombe Abbey International
"I've been listening to Shane's podcast for a long time, and was not surprised by the quality of the Leadership Intensive. He cares deeply about the content and the quality of whatever he delivers. He embodies authenticity, and his book Change Starts Here should be read by every leader, not just those in schools."
Leigh O'Hara · Founding Headmaster, SPGS International School Bangkok
Quotes lightly edited for clarity. Source: LinkedIn recommendations, 2026.
If your question isn't here, email shane@shaneleaning.com or book a 30-minute call. Shane reads every message.
Every level of school leadership. Cohort 1 included middle leaders stepping into formal leadership for the first time, deputies and heads running single-site schools, and executive leaders responsible for multiple campuses. The unifying thread isn't seniority. It's that you're in the work, leading other people, and you want a way to keep getting better at it that fits inside a real week. State, independent, international, bilingual, anywhere in the world. All welcome.
Three ways. First, your peers are school leaders from other contexts, not your own colleagues, so the conversations are properly honest. Second, the curriculum is built around behaviours you practise inside your job that week, not theory you absorb and forget. Third, it's small and live: 25 people, taught in real time by Shane, not a recorded library you self-pace through alone.
Tuesdays, 5:00–7:00 PM China Standard Time (GMT+8). That maps to ~10:00 AM UK / 11:00 AM Western Europe / 1:00 PM Middle East / a comfortable evening across Asia.
The Americas are the tough zone. For US- and Latin-America-based leaders, the live slot sits in the early morning. Many still join live; others rely on the recordings and the coaching circle. If time zones are a deal-breaker, mention it on the discovery call and we'll talk through whether this cohort works for you or whether a future one would be better.
Every session is recorded and available within 24 hours, with an AI summary so you can scan the gist in five minutes. Your coaching circle (a small group of 3–4 peers you meet weekly outside the live session) catches you up on what you missed.
We don't penalise missed sessions. But if you can foresee missing more than three of the eleven, the next cohort is probably the better fit, and we'd rather have that conversation now than later.
Roughly 5–6 hours, including the live session. About 2 hours live with the cohort, 1 hour with your coaching circle, and 2–3 hours of in-week practice.
It's designed to fit inside a real leadership week, not displace it. Most of the "homework" is work you'd be doing anyway, running a meeting, having a difficult conversation, designing some feedback, just done with one new lever in mind.
It's about cohort quality, not exclusivity. One half-engaged participant changes everyone else's experience, because so much of the value is peer-to-peer.
The application takes about 30 minutes in total and the discovery call is honest both ways. Sometimes we recommend a different programme. Sometimes we recommend you wait a cohort. We'd rather decline a few than dilute the experience for everyone.
A Personal Leadership Playbook, your own document built session by session, of exactly how you'll lead going forward. Three months' free access to The Circles, the private alumni community where the work continues. And a small group of peers from other schools you'll stay in touch with, often the part graduates value most.
Yes to both. We invoice schools directly in GBP, USD or EUR, and provide whatever documentation your finance team needs.
If your school wants to send more than one leader, the group rates kick in: 5% off per person for two, 10% off plus a group coaching webinar for three or more, deeper discounts for larger groups. Email shane@shaneleaning.com with your context and we'll send a tailored proposal.
The Intensive is application-only. Not because we're precious, because the cohort is the product, and one half-engaged participant changes everyone's experience.
Your role, leadership experience and development goals, plus a short written response and a brief video introduction. About 20 minutes, all in one form. Open the application form →
Honest both ways. We talk about fit, about what you'd be giving up to be here, and about whether this cohort is the right one for you. If it isn't, we'll say so. Book the call →
Cancellation policy: Full refund if you cancel more than 6 weeks before programme start. 50% refund up to 1 week before. Transfer to a future cohort available for a small administration fee.
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