WHY? Employee Engagement is at an ALL-TIME Low
How do we address this crisis?
According to Gallup’s 2024 survey, employee engagement globally has plummeted to a staggering 23%. This alarming statistic underscores a widespread issue affecting organisations worldwide.
The culprits?
Firstly, direct experienced leadership behaviours and secondly, a lack of meaningful goals for employees, leading to a feeling that they can't contribute strategically

Leading Excellence is a framework that will tackle this crisis head-on.
Chris Butterworth, Stephen Dargan, and Brad Jeavons have penned a groundbreaking book, "Leading Excellence," which aims to help organisations tackle this crisis head-on.
Drawing from nearly a century of combined experience in organisational transformation, they outline the crucial role leaders play in fostering high-performance, safe cultures.
Their research highlights that the key to success lies in developing leaders who serve the growth of others rather than their own emotions.

The Core Belief System
IS the foundation of effective leadership
To create leaders who serve effectively, they need to understand their Core Belief System (CBS). This involves recognising what drives them emotionally and behaviourally, which in turn helps them remain in conscious thought and choose behaviours that aid their team's growth and improvement.
Neuroscientist Dr. Mark Williams and Organizational Psychologist Lawry Scandar collaborated with the authors to develop the CBS model. This model enables leaders to discover their core drivers, purpose, and values, helping them stay conscious and adaptable to everyone they serve.
We cover this in both the half day and full day workshop!
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The 5 Hats of the Adaptive Leader
A critical insight from "Leading Excellence" is that adaptive leaders must be versatile and able to switch between different behaviours depending on the person and context surrounding them. They need to be skilled at pausing, thinking about the person and context surrounding them and then choosing the right hat to help them grow. The authors have identified five key behaviours, or "hats," that leaders can adopt to support their teams effectively:
Coach
Guiding others to think independently, discover solutions and grow.
Inspire
Understanding a person's purpose, goals and core values and aligning them with the team and organisation. Leaders must fill their team's motivation bucket rather than deplete it.
Teach
Imparting new skills and capabilities
Direct
Steering someone away from harm, or directly addressing contradictory behaviours.
Support
Building competence in new skills and providing emotional support when needed.

Implementing Adaptive Leadership
The concept of the Five Hats underscores the necessity for leaders to be adaptive and capable of switching between these roles as the context demands. This adaptability is simple in theory but challenging in practice. "Leading Excellence" delves into numerous case studies to explore these behaviours in action, offering a comprehensive guide on how leaders can cultivate a high-performing, continuously improving, and innovative culture. You can download these case studies below.
Supporting Systems and Processes
Attending a Leading Excellence workshop is just the beginning of a transformative journey toward achieving Leading Excellence. Supporting systems and processes are essential to ensure participants can successfully implement and sustain Leading Excellence in their organisations. Here’s how we help:
1. Leadership Coaching & Support
The journey toward operational excellence requires strong and adaptive leadership. With Brad and other experts from the Enterprise Excellence Group, participants gain access to ongoing guidance and expertise.
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Customised Coaching Plans: Tailored coaching sessions to address specific challenges within your organisation.
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Leadership Alignment: Facilitation of leadership discussions to align vision, strategy, and actions.
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Mentorship Programs: Support leaders at every level in creating a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Example: After the workshop, leadership teams can engage in quarterly strategy reviews to ensure alignment and maintain momentum toward their ideal future state. Check out the Leadership Coaching offer here
2. Kaizen Blitz Events
Turn concepts into action with targeted, high-impact improvement initiatives. Our team can collaborate with yours to organise and execute Kaizen Blitz events, focusing on areas critical to reliability and productivity.
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Tackling Bottlenecks: Identify and address the most pressing pain points in operations.
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Cross-Functional Collaboration: Break silos and foster innovation with collaborative team efforts.
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Visible Wins: Drive immediate, measurable improvements to build momentum and trust in the process.
Example: A manufacturing team could host a three-day Kaizen Blitz to reduce downtime in a critical production line, achieving measurable gains in both throughput and team engagement.
3. Implementation & Accountability Systems
Sustaining excellence requires a systematic approach to translating learning into action.
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Action Plans: Participants leave the workshop with a clear roadmap for immediate next steps.
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Ongoing Check-ins: Regular progress reviews to measure results and refine approaches.
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Digital Dashboards: Track key metrics and ensure visibility of progress across teams and leadership.
Example: A digital dashboard highlights performance improvements in key areas like cycle time, quality, or customer satisfaction, helping teams stay focused on their goals.
4. Continuous Learning & Development
To ensure operational excellence becomes embedded in the organisational DNA, we provide tools and opportunities for continuous growth.
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Workshops and Webinars: Specialised sessions to dive deeper into advanced techniques.
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Resource Libraries: Access templates, tools, and case studies to inspire and guide your journey.
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Peer Learning Networks: Connect with like-minded professionals for shared insights and best practices.
Example: Teams can participate in our monthly community meetups on topics like leadership, enterprise excellence, safety, culture.
By integrating these supporting systems and processes, the Enterprise Excellence Group ensures that participants can transition from learning to action, driving sustainable improvements that lead to measurable results.
We have 6 Enterprise Excellence Podcast that can help.
Click on the images below to listen :)

180 Leading Excellence: The 5 Hats of the Adaptive Leader with Chris Butterworth and Stephen Dargan, Part 2.

180 Leading Excellence: The 5 Hats of the Adaptive Leader with Chris Butterworth and Stephen Dargan, Part 2.

#157 How to achieve cultural change through leadership behaviour with Mr Rob Telford of BHP.



#43 I-driven visual leadership with Gwendolyn Galsworth
Leading Excellence Training and Workshops
Build a culture of excellence through aligned leadership, systems, and behaviours.
At the Enterprise Excellence Group, we believe sustainable success begins with leadership. The Leading Excellence – Your Way program empowers your leaders to create clarity, alignment, and engagement across your organisation—driving meaningful outcomes for people, planet, and performance.
What the Training Provides
This program blends best-practice leadership frameworks with your unique purpose, values, and strategic goals. Through highly engaging, practical workshops, leaders build the confidence and capability to lead cultural transformation from the inside out.
Participants work through a structured, tailored process to:
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Define a compelling organisational purpose.
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Clarify values and translate them into observable leadership behaviours.
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Align systems and leadership practices to consistently reinforce the culture you want to build.
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Create a clear, shared vision for long-term excellence.
What You’ll Learn
Throughout the program, your leadership team will learn how to:
- Develop and articulate a strong cultural foundation.
- Role model values through everyday decisions and behaviours.
- Lead with systems thinking and intentional design.
- Empower teams through aligned accountability and recognition.
- Embed continuous improvement and innovation into daily operations.
Course Format
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Tailored Workshop Series: Delivered on-site or virtually to suit your schedule
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Facilitated by Experienced Practitioners: Real-world leaders in enterprise excellence
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Outcome-Driven: Every session results in tangible tools, strategies, and action plans
Who Should Attend?
This program is ideal for executive teams and senior leaders looking to:
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Align leadership behaviours and systems to drive strategy
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Build an intentional culture of performance, engagement, and improvement
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Empower their people to create lasting, sustainable results
Why It Works
Our proven approach has helped leadership teams across Australia and beyond transform culture and performance. By combining powerful leadership models with your unique context, we support you to lead excellence—your way.
We don't currently have a workshop available, but you can request one using this form.
Take the Next Step
If you're looking to align your leadership team and build a culture that drives sustainable results, we'd be honoured to support you on that journey.
Reach out for a conversation—we’d love to learn more about your goals and explore whether this program is the right fit for your organisation.