FAQ. WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW.

What is SSC?

Single Session Coaching. One 90-minute intervention that delivers what most leadership development programmes take six to twelve months to attempt.

Our methodology — Surface, Decode, Resolve — works in sequence. We surface the pattern driving the behaviour, decode its root, and resolve it. In a single session.

We don't circle the problem. We go straight to it.

Who is this for?

Leaders and teams who are stuck. Not "looking to develop." Not "exploring options." Stuck.

If you've got a decision you can't make, a pattern you can't break, or a dynamic that keeps repeating no matter what you try — SSC is for you.

We work with CHROs, CPOs, CFOs, CEOs, and transformation directors who need results now, not in twelve months.

Does SSC replace coaching or leadership development programmes?

No. SSC is not a replacement. It's a behavioural change.

Most organisations already run leadership development, culture work, diagnostics, or coaching. SSC sits alongside what you already have.

Where those programmes create insight and direction, SSC turns that insight into immediate behavioural movement.

Some clients bring data from 360s, engagement surveys, or culture assessments. We use it as context and go straight to the pattern shaping behaviour. Others come without prior diagnostics. Our intake process surfaces what's actually driving stuckness in real time.

In practice, SSC often compresses months of analysis into one focused intervention — without adding layers, complexity, or disruption.

How does one session work?

Most coaching circles the problem for months. SSC goes straight to it.

45-minute prep call — We sharpen the focus together. What's stuck? What's the pattern? What needs to shift? By the time the session starts, we already know where we're going.

90-minute session — We surface the pattern, decode it, and resolve it. Leaders leave lighter and clearer — not because we gave them a framework, but because something actually moved.

Written report — Within 48 hours, a clear record of what happened and what to carry forward.

No homework. No six-week arc. One focused intervention — and then you get back to work.

Is this therapy?

No. It's business-focused coaching with a systemic edge.

We work with psychological depth — but the application is strictly organisational. The methodology draws on neuroscience, systems thinking, and organisational psychology. What we're doing in the room is behavioural, not clinical.

If someone needs therapeutic support, we'll say so clearly and point them in the right direction. If your leadership team needs to get unstuck, call us.

Is what’s discussed in an SSC session confidential?

Yes. SSC sessions are confidential and psychologically safe.

Nothing shared in a session is reported back to the organisation without the participant's explicit consent. The focus is on supporting meaningful behavioural shifts — not creating evaluation or performance data.

Where organisations choose to scale SSC across teams, we share only high-level pattern themes — never personal detail — to support learning and improvement.

What if I need more than one session?

One session is usually enough. That's how SSC is designed.

We go straight to the root pattern. When that shift happens, it holds. You don't need six months of follow-up to maintain something that's actually changed.

If a second session would genuinely serve you, we'll say so. If it wouldn't, we'll say that too. We don't build programmes around dependency.

And if after an honest conversation it's clear SSC isn't the right fit at all, we'll point you somewhere that is.

What kinds of issues does SSC work for?

Most of what slows organisations down isn't a skills gap or a strategy problem. It's defensive behaviour — the patterns people run when the stakes feel high. Avoidance. Over-control. Withdrawal. Pleasing instead of deciding.

Those patterns show up as:

Decisions that keep getting delayed
Conflict that loops without resolving
Leaders who micromanage or disappear under pressure
Teams that perform in the room and stall outside it
Talent that quietly disengages before it quietly leaves

If the pattern is human and it's getting in the way of performance, SSC works with it. If it's a skills gap — "I don't know how to build a P&L" — it's not the right tool and we'll tell you that.

How much does it cost?

A pilot session with 3 leaders costs €7,500 (SG$11,000 or AU$13,000).
That's three leaders, three core behavioural shifts

After the pilot, our pricing structure is based on scale. The more sessions you run, the better the rate.

Want to talk volume pricing? Book a scoping call or contact Ben or Lana directly.

Book A Call

Or call:
Ben Wickham: +31 638 638 067
Lana North: +61 439 998 824

What's the ROI?

Start with what silence is already costing.

Thirty years of research across healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and professional services puts the average cost of a single avoided conversation at $1,500 (USD) and one full working day. One in three employees estimates their silence has cost their organisation at least $25,000 (USD). Broken promises and missed commitments can sap up to 50% of organisational performance (Crucial Learning) — not through strategy failure, but through the conversations that never happened around it.

That is the baseline. The cost is already running. SSC doesn't create the ROI — it stops the drain.

In concrete terms:

A team of ten, each avoiding one crucial conversation per month, is losing a minimum of ten working days and $15,000 (USD) every four weeks. Conservatively.
A single unaddressed leadership pattern — conflict avoidance, over-control, withdrawal under pressure — typically generates 1–3% annual drag on revenue or payroll through delayed decisions, disengagement, and attrition.
For a €20M organisation, that's €200K–€600K leaving the table every year. Silently.

Shifting one pattern in one leader — unblocking one decision, retaining one key person, resolving one dynamic that's been running for months — typically returns that investment many times over in the first quarter alone.

For organisations running SSC across a leadership cohort, the numbers compound. Research from Crucial Learning found that every 1% improvement in accountability behaviours generates $1.5 million (USD) in productivity gain. At a manufacturing organisation, that translated to $40 million per year in profitability improvement. These are not projections. They are measured outcomes.

Where does the $1,500 per day figure come from?

It comes from Crucial Learning, one of the most cited research organisations in the field of workplace dialogue and communication.

Their published research states directly that organisations save $1,500 and one working day per crucial conversation held rather than avoided. That figure is independently corroborated by a second derivation: in a 2021 study of 1,100 employees, one in three reported that their inability to speak up had cost their organisation $25,000 or more in a single incident.

Dividing that by a conservative median avoidance period of 15 working days yields $1,667 — which we round down to $1,500 as the conservative floor. Five independent sources — including Gallup, the Leadership Circle, and McKinsey — all arrive at figures in the same range. $1,500 is a floor, not a claim.

Do you offer team sessions?

Yes.

A team is not a group of individuals who happen to share a P&L. It is a living system — with its own logic, its own loyalties, and its own invisible rules. Team SSC works at that level.

Your organisation has probably already seen the pattern. In the data from BRITE, Hogan, Barrett, or your culture survey. You can name it. It's still running.

That's not a failure of your diagnostic. It's the gap SSC fills.

We make the system visible in the room. And then we move it.

Online or in person. If you want to know what that looks like for your team, the first conversation will tell us both.

Who facilitates team sessions?

Yes.

A team is not a group of individuals who happen to share a P&L. It is a living system — with its own logic, its own loyalties, and its own invisible rules. Team SSC works at that level.

Your organisation has probably already seen the pattern — in data from Hogan, Barrett, or your culture survey. You can name it. It's still running.

That's not a failure of your diagnostic. It's the gap SSC fills.

We make the system visible in the room. And then we move it.

Online or in person. If you want to know what that looks like for your team, the first conversation will tell us both.

Is it online or in person?

All individual coaching is online. Fast, focused, no travel required.

Team sessions are available online or in person — whichever creates the right conditions for the work. If you're not sure, we'll help you figure that out.

How quickly can we start?

Fast. We work across six time zones and five languages.

Once you've signed, we'll be in touch within 48 hours to schedule intake calls. Sessions typically happen within 10–14 days.

Want an early morning slot before the board meeting? Done.
Need a lunchtime reset across time zones? Easy.

We move when you need us to move.

Do you work globally?

Yes. We're distributed across Melbourne, Sydney, London, Paris, Helsinki, and beyond.

We work in English, Dutch, Spanish, French and Finnish (at the moment). If you're in APAC, talk to Lana. If you're in the EU, Nynne.

What if SSC isn’t the right fit — for an individual or the organisation?

Then we’ll be clear about it.

SSC works best when people are willing, open, and ready to look honestly at what’s shaping their behaviour. If someone isn’t there yet — or if the organisation is looking for skills training, long-term development, or structural redesign — SSC isn’t the right tool.

Not every problem needs an intervention. Not every leader needs SSC.

If we think you don’t need us, or that something else would serve you better, we’ll say so and point you in the right direction if we can.

Will I get a report or insight pack?

Yes — every session comes with a written report. It captures what surfaced, what shifted, and what to watch for next. It's designed for two audiences: the client, so they have a clear record of the work; and their coach or L&D lead, so the insight doesn't sit in a room and disappear.

The report is a handover document, not an evaluation. Nothing in it is used for performance assessment. It exists to make the shift stick — and to make sure the people around the leader know how to support what's changed.

When we run SSC across a cohort, we also offer aggregate pattern reporting — the themes, loyalties, and systemic dynamics we observed across the group. No individual detail. Fully confidential. Genuinely useful for L&D strategy.

How does SSC work with Leadership Circle, Hogan, or DISC?

SSC sits alongside existing leadership diagnostics. If you've already run Leadership Circle, Hogan, DISC, or Barrett assessments, SSC turns that insight into immediate behavioural shift.

You've got the data. We've got the activation.

See how SSC works with Leadership Circle →

What is single session coaching vs traditional executive coaching?

Traditional coaching works on behaviour over time — goals, reflection, incremental progress. For the right person at the right moment, it's valuable.

SSC does something different. It goes directly to the root pattern shaping behaviour — the belief, the inherited rule, the unspoken loyalty — and shifts it. Fast.

Most leaders who come to SSC already know what they should do differently. The insight isn't missing. What keeps repeating is the pattern underneath — the one that shapes how they react, decide, and lead when the pressure is on.

Traditional coaching tends to work on the symptoms. SSC works on the cause.

That's not a criticism of other approaches. It's a different tool for a different job. Many organisations run both — and find that SSC compresses months of development into a single focused session.

Where does SSC come from? What's the methodology?

SSC draws on three bodies of science: neuroscience, systems thinking, and organisational psychology.

The neuroscience matters because of what research on memory reconsolidation tells us — that deeply held beliefs and behavioural patterns aren't fixed. Under the right conditions, they can shift quickly and permanently. Not managed. Not worked around. Actually shifted.

The systems thinking matters because behaviour doesn't happen in isolation. Every leader operates inside a web of unspoken rules, inherited loyalties, and organisational dynamics. SSC makes that system visible — and then moves it.

The result isn't insight. It's change. Fast, grounded, and built to last.

How do I identify defensive behaviour in my organisation?

Look for conversations that aren't happening.

Defensive behaviour rarely announces itself — it shows up as rescheduled meetings, watered-down feedback, decisions deferred upward, ideas dismissed before they're heard. The signal is usually silence: the absence of challenge, the project that quietly goes off-track, the performance issue everyone knows about and no one addresses.

If you want a more structured approach, use our two-week observation scorecard to count the moments where a conversation that should have happened didn't. The number tells you more than any survey.

How widespread is defensive behaviour?

More widespread than most organisations want to believe.

Published research across more than one million leaders shows that 75% are operating from a reactive mindset — meaning their default response to pressure, challenge, or uncertainty is a defensive one.

Separately, research across 1,025 organisations found that 72% of people failed to speak up when a peer wasn't pulling their weight, and 68% stayed silent in the face of disrespect. These aren't edge cases. They are the norm. The cost isn't confined to a few difficult personalities — it's systemic, and it's running continuously across every team in your organisation right now.

Where does SSC sit in an organisation's learning and development strategy?

SSC works at a level most L&D programmes can't reach. Most development investment — training, workshops, coaching programmes — operates on the assumption that behaviour changes through knowledge and practice. Sometimes it does.

McKinsey estimates that around 10% of leadership development investment produces lasting behavioural change. The other 90% produces awareness.

SSC addresses what awareness can't: the unconscious pattern underneath the behaviour. It sits upstream of your L&D strategy — not as a replacement for it, but as the intervention that makes the rest of it work.

If your organisation is investing in leadership development and not seeing the change you expected, SSC is likely the missing piece.