Only 1 in 5 employees is genuinely engaged at work — and the single biggest reason is the manager standing in front of them. This program teaches leaders the science of motivation, how to read it in others, and how to use it to build teams that actually want to perform.
82% of managers step into leadership with no formal training. The cost shows up everywhere: on the P&L, in exit interviews, and in the quiet check-out of people who used to care.
of managers enter leadership with no formal training
of annual salary lost replacing a single disengaged employee
higher profitability from highly engaged teams
less likely to leave when employees are engaged
Developed at Harvard and validated across decades of research, McClelland's model breaks human motivation into three core drivers — each with 16 specific "motivation buttons" underneath. Learners map their own profile first, then learn to read it in everyone else.
Driven by reaching goals, ownership, and mastery. Under stress, slides into perfectionism. Needs feedback that is specific and measurable.
nAchDriven by belonging, harmony, and connection. Under stress, slides into avoidance. Needs feedback that is relational and appreciative.
nAffDriven by influence, respect, and impact. Under stress, slides into dominance and control. Needs feedback that is direct and respectful.
nPowFrom understanding the engagement gap, to reading your own profile, to running real coaching conversations with your team — the program moves in a deliberate order, from insight to action to proof.
Only 20% of employees are truly engaged at work. This module unpacks the engagement gap — what engaged teams look like in behaviour, the eight reasons people quietly check out, and what disengagement costs the business.
Replaces guesswork with neuroscience — how the rational, emotional, and reptilian brain shape every decision, and why carrots-and-sticks management produces resentful, checked-out teams.
Before learners can read their team, they see themselves clearly — through their own Motivation Buttons Leadership Profile report, built on McClelland's three drivers and the 16 buttons beneath them.
Motivation is invisible, but its clues are everywhere. Learners train on real video case studies to form an accurate read on a team member's profile within a single conversation.
Reading motivation only matters if you know what to do with it. Learners walk through a structured 5-step coaching framework and practise it on real Motivation Buttons reports.
The same message, correctly aimed, lands completely differently depending on who's hearing it. Learners leave with a working toolkit of scripts and conflict frameworks.
Great leaders don't just inform — they shift how people feel and act. Drawing on techniques from theatre actors, political leaders, and applied psychology, built on real experience coaching senior executives.
Consolidation and proof. Learners run real coaching conversations, deliver a team presentation, retake the Motivation Buttons assessment, and close with a 30-minute before-and-after review with their coach.
"A manager who informs and a leader who shifts how people feel and act are not doing the same job."
— Module 7, The Art of Moving People
Most manager training stops at "communicate clearly." This program goes further — teaching the same emotional-landing techniques used by theatre actors and political speechwriters, applied ethically to team presentations, change announcements, and moments of crisis. It's the difference between a manager people listen to and a leader who moves them.
Explain the business case for engagementin language a CFO will accept, backed by real cost-of-disengagement figures.
Read your own motivation profileand identify which of your everyday instincts are helping your team — and which are quietly undermining it.
Form a working read on anyone's motivationwithin a single conversation, without needing them to take an assessment.
Run a real motivation coaching conversationusing the 5-step framework — not just a scripted mentoring chat.
Deliver a team presentationthat brings your people into the motivation framework and shifts how they feel about the work.
Measure what actually shiftedwith a before-and-after reassessment and a defined next action plan.
A short call to walk through the program, answer your questions, and get your assessment scheduled.