Activate Leaders
Programme

Activate empowers you to step up from emerging to game-changing leader

START

March 2026

DURATION

1 day each session
4 workshop days total
spread over 4 months

SIZE

Maximum size is up to 30 people with two facilitators

INVESTMENT

$5,500* – Standard registration
$5,000* – NZGW Partners registration
Principal and major partners receive complimentary

Created by women, for women, Global Women’s Activate Leaders Programme is designed to lift participants from middle management to the next phase of their career – driving a mindset shift and inspiring their career trajectory.

The four-day programme is run over four months in five locations, limited to 30 places for each cohort. Women get the opportunity to learn from experienced senior leaders and each other, while enhancing their leadership skills and building their career networks.

At the heart of this programme is peer learning, exploring together useful leadership principles and evidence based tools.

Next dates

  • Wednesday, 18 March 2026
  • Tuesday, 21 April 2026
  • Tuesday, 19 May 2026
  • Thursday, 18 June 2026
  • Tuesday, 5 May 2026
  • Thursday, 11 June 2026
  • Tuesday, 4 August 2026
  • Monday, 21 September 2026
  • Tuesday, 11 August 2026
  • Tuesday, 15 September 2026
  • Tuesday, 20 October 2026
  • Tuesday, 17 November 2026
  • Thursday, 23 April 2026
  • Wednesday, 27 May 2026
  • Wednesday, 24 June 2026
  • Thursday, 30 July 2026
  • Wednesday, 25 March 2026
  • Wednesday, 29 April 2026
  • Monday, 8 June 2026
  • Wednesday, 1 July 2026

The Workshops

Activate is a four-month series of motivating leadership sessions. At the heart of this programme is peer learning, exploring together useful leadership principles and evidence-based tools.

1

Leading with Purpose

  • Importance of self-awareness and having an agile mindset
  • Leveraging the strengths of your style and adapting to get the best from others
  • Discover and develop a personal purpose – explore how that contributes to leadership actions and impact
  • Power of reflection to strengthen effectiveness
2

Influencing and Presenting with Impact

  • Develop the tools to influence and get great results – thinking, planning and action
  • Enhance your executive presence and presentation skills with a wide range of audiences
  • Grow your confidence and capability to present in a broader range of situations
  • Get your message across so that you are taken seriously – Strategies to manage how we show up
3

Purposeful Leadership Conversations

  • Supporting others to thrive – through more effective coaching, delegation and impactful feedback
  • Creating safe/supportive and inclusive environments/cultures – a check in on what great looks like
  • Getting the best from a team – keeping them above the line, resolving conflict
  • Leveraging value from meetings – what matters in today’s world and way of working
4

Leading Impactful Change

  • Learn to mobilise and engage people
  • Gain the skills to understand and manage resistance to workplace change
  • Develop your ability to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity
  • Learn from some experienced leaders on what it takes

Programme Overview

The Activate Leaders Programme blends learning, reflection, and collaboration across four sessions held over four months — in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, and our virtual classroom.

Our virtual option ensures accessibility for women based in regional areas, those who travel frequently, or who prefer an online learning environment.
Each cohort is limited to 30 participants, ensuring an intimate and supportive environment where women learn from experienced senior leaders — and each other.

For women who are

  • At a middle management level
  • New managers looking to expand their leadership capacity
  • Looking for a wider external network to be part of
  • Considering a transition back into the workplace from maternity leave and career breaks

Programme Benefits

  • Be inspired, challenged and provided with strategies that and a best practice leadership toolkit that will last a lifetime
  • Create a clear purpose and define the difference you want to make
  • Learn from leading business leaders and their experiences
  • Be part of a wider group of women leaders – invaluable in an often male-dominated work culture

See What Our Leaders Are Saying

Global Women Activate Leaders Programme 2025 Scholarships

  • Are recognised as high-potential leaders or valuable employees.
  • Demonstrate strong motivation and community contribution.
  • Advocate for women’s advancement and leadership.
  • May come from non-profits, entrepreneurship, or be returning from a career break.
  • Are New Zealand citizens or permanent residents.

We are now accepting scholarship applications for the Global Women Activate Leaders Programme 2025 and we are delighted to announce that we currently have partial scholarships available to emerging entrepreneurs, women who are underrepresented leaders to help drive diverse participation in the programme.