Search:
Your team opens up.Your team works it out.Your team gets better.
Off the shelf, or built from scratch. Choose a ready-to-run workshop below, or hand me the problem and I will build one around it. Either way, nothing is canned: every session is shaped to your team, your context, and your goals.
1,000+Sessions delivered
10–200People per session
6Books of material
BothFace-to-face & virtual
Built from scratch for, among others
Off the shelf
The workshops leaders ask for.
Ten ready-to-run sessions. Tap any one for what it covers, how long it runs, and the full outline to share with your team.
01Better Thinking in the Age of AINew for 2026
AI does the doing. You do the thinking.
AI is absorbing more of our doing every day. The differentiator left is our thinking. Rooted in Dan Pontefract’s research on thinking and artificial intelligence, this workshop helps teams and individuals rebuild the muscles automation cannot replace, while using AI as a complementary tool.
Covers the Open Thinker Cycle, the Four Thinking Faces, the four AI warnings and guardrails, and time investment over time management.
02The Keys to an Age-Ready TeamNew for 2026
Turn age into your advantage.
Careers are stretching longer and workplaces hold a wider mix of ages than ever, yet most teams still operate without ever discussing it. Based on Dan Pontefract’s book, The Future of Work Is Grey, this workshop helps teams find the age debt hiding in their practices and convert it into an experience dividend.
Covers the demographic reality, where bias hides, Career Canvas versus Ladder, and Wisdom Wheel knowledge transfer, with the Age Awareness assessments completed as pre-work.
03The 4Ds of a High-Performing TeamNew for 2026
Direct. Deliver. Develop. Dignify.
Being busy is easy. A high-performing team takes deliberate habits. Rooted in Dan Pontefract’s work on team culture, including his not-yet-released 2027 book, this workshop centres on the four leadership disciplines that separate busy from high-performing.
Teams run an honest diagnostic across all four Ds, then leave with commitments they own, plus the norms and processes to make them stick.
04Collaboration Principles and Practices
Networks are your net worth.
Collaboration does not happen by accident. Rooted in Dan Pontefract’s books, including Flat Army and Lead. Care. Win., this workshop equips teams with the principles and the day-to-day practices that make working together the default rather than the exception.
Covers the Collaborative Action Model, collaborating “Up, Down and Around”, connected leadership behaviours, and setting Team Norms that hold.
05The Power of Purpose
Personal. Role. Organizational.
Based on The Purpose Effect, this session works through three kinds of purpose: personal, role, and organizational. Team members and leaders alike assess where they stand on each, leave with a definition of their personal and team purpose, and build an action plan for the purpose mindset.
06Ready to Learn
Build teams that grow their people.
Helps leaders and team members alike move from passive to proactive in how they foster learning, for themselves and for the team. Participants begin operating like “Captains”: people who build teams committed to learning and growth.
Frameworks include Mindset vs. Attitude, Will vs. Ability, the Learning Leader Matrix, the Tourist/Passenger/Captain personas, and the CRAFT model.
07The Calendar Way
Your calendar is your leadership in plain sight.
A practical workshop that helps teams and their leaders reclaim time for what actually moves the business: strategy, coaching, and execution, while shrinking firefighting and busywork.
Using a five-part lens, participants audit a real month of their calendars, compare it to an ideal, and map the behaviour shifts needed to work through others with clarity and discipline.
08Work-Life Bloom
Twelve factors that help teams flourish.
Work-life balance is outdated, and engagement scores are not the point. Based on Work-Life Bloom: How to Nurture a Team That Flourishes, this session helps teams put in place the work-life factors that let people bloom, individually and collectively.
Participants can complete the free Work-Life Bloom personal assessment as pre-work.
09How to Become a Leader Who Matters
Nine lessons from Lead. Care. Win.
There are only two kinds of leadership: leading self and leading others. Based on Lead. Care. Win., this engagement works through nine key lessons that make up a leader who matters, and it applies to anyone on the team who wants to build meaningful, respectful relationships with colleagues, customers, and stakeholders.
10Mastering How to Be an Open Thinker
Dream. Decide. Do. Repeat.
We have become experts at doing and have forgotten creative and critical thinking. Based on Open to Think: Slow Down, Think Creatively, and Make Better Decisions, this session shows teams and individuals how to become better thinkers and how to build time back into the calendar so there is space to dream up ideas, make better decisions, and still get things done.
The flagship
Tailored and Timely.
My most-booked engagement is not off the shelf. Organizations hand me a challenge and I build the program around it: four to nine modules, virtual, face-to-face, or blended, drawn from six books, hundreds of exercises, and 25 years of running the very things I teach.
Tell me what your leaders are wrestling with. I will build the rest.
Looking for a leadership keynote to go with it? See the leadership keynote speaker and workshop page. Planning a culture or purpose session? See the corporate culture and purpose speaker page.
01DiscoverWe talk about your team, your context, and what needs to change.
02DesignI shape the session from six books and hundreds of exercises. Nothing canned.
03DeliverFace-to-face or virtual. Honest, hands-on, and occasionally hilarious.
04DriveTools and commitments your team actually uses after the sticky notes come down.
Dan accomplished what we set out to do, which was not only to be inspirational, but also to leave everyone with tools and food for thought / self-reflection to improve their personal and professional lives.
Hermann HandaFCT
Good questions
Before you book.
How many people can attend a workshop?
Groups run from 10 to 200. The sweet spot for hands-on work is 20 to 60, and larger groups are handled with table-based activities and breakouts.
Are workshops face-to-face or virtual?
Both. Face-to-face is ideal for the hands-on exercises, and every workshop has a virtual version built for it, delivered from a purpose-built home studio.
How long is a typical session?
Off-the-shelf sessions are half-day, running 3.5 hours or 2 x 90-minute blocks. We can cut the content down to 2 hours for virtual if need be. For the Tailored and Timely option, sessions can run across four to nine modules, in various lengths and formats.
Can a workshop be customized to our organization?
Yes. Every off-the-shelf workshop is shaped to your team, context, and goals. If nothing on the shelf fits, the Tailored and Timely program is built from scratch around your challenge.
Where does Dan Pontefract deliver workshops?
Dan is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and delivers workshops across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, plus virtually anywhere in the world.
What does a workshop cost?
Fees are flat and agreed after a short conversation about your goals, group size, and format. Travel and incidentals are included in the quoted fee.
How far in advance should we book?
Ideally eight weeks or more, since the calendar fills up and it leaves time to tailor the material properly. Shorter timelines can sometimes be accommodated, so it is always worth asking.
Let's get your team even better.
Tell me about your team, your context, and what needs to change. That is enough to tell you which workshop fits, or whether we should build one from scratch.
Planning a conference or an all-hands instead? See the keynotes.
Planning a session?Off the shelf, or built from scratch.Start the conversation →
