There is a better way to lead.
Join us and transform the whole basis of how you lead, in two days, in person, with Shari Elle.
Leading with Connection – next dates
Sydney
Crows Nest5 to 6 November 2026
18 to 19 February 2027
Melbourne
TBC26 to 27 November 2026
11 to 12 March 2027
Brisbane
TBC3 to 4 December 2026
22 to 23 April 2027
Times: 8:30 to 5pm, both days
What's included: Comprehensive workbook
Group size: Small group (up to 20 people)
Can't make your date? Transfer to another date at no cost within 12 months.
Paying through work? We can invoice your organisation directly.
See what changes when you lead with connection
Shari explains how the training works, and leaders who have done it share what changed for them.
“Working with Shari has been a game changer, both in my personal life and in how I show up as a leader. I honestly wouldn’t be where I am now without this experience.”
Troy Methorst — Founder and Director, Veteran Mentors
Ditch the hierarchy! Lead from connection, not position. In two days you will transform the power of your leadership, draw out the intelligence within your team, and get to the heart of what is really going on… every time.
AND go home energised and connected with the people you love.
Break the cycle
Stop doing what doesn't work, and learn what does.
Get to the root of what is really going on, remove the bottlenecks, and focus on what is meaningful.
Bring your team together
Give your team a common language, and watch it come alive.
Unearth what is not being said, give feedback that aligns rather than divides, and bring the glue of appreciation.
Enjoy your life again
Go home energised, not empty.
The skills you use at work are the same ones you use at home, so you come home with energy to spare for yourself and the people you love.
Research – Merck Pharmaceuticals workplace study
When Merck Pharmaceuticals studied the workplace impact of this methodology, its research showed:
Efficiency:
More efficiency for themselves and others.
Time to resolve issues:
Less time to resolve issues, an estimated reduction.
Meetings needed:
Fewer meetings needed to address an issue.
Staff meeting time:
Less staff meeting time, roughly halved.
Research participants cited greater trust, clarity, alignment and accountability, with decisions that stuck, and long-unresolved issues finally reaching resolution.
What the two days involve
Day one
Lays the foundationsCreate trust and engagement in teams.
Separate observation from judgment (the skill Krishnamurti called the highest form of intelligence).
Find your actual feeling beneath the noise.
Locate what matters for you and for the people you find difficult.
Make powerful requests that shift the dial in every project and collaboration.
Work with willingness for higher intelligence results, rather than compliance and “management”.
You will discover, as I once did, whether you are running on four feeling words: mad, sad, glad, bad.
Day two
Takes it into the fireBuild trust through honesty, instead of depleting it.
Hear hard things without collapsing or armouring.
Hear others so they feel “heard” and “got”, and new solutions emerge.
Review what leadership is, and how “traditional” leadership disempowers everyone, including you.
Make requests that get real agreement rather than compliance.
Understand the critical role of appreciation.
Give powerful feedback from a new understanding of partnership and sharing critical information.
Resolve conflict deeply, so it becomes simply another leadership task, not something to be nervous around.
You leave with a practice you can use in Monday's hardest meeting and at Sunday's dinner table, because the skills we use at work and at home are the same.
Numbers are kept small so everyone works on what is real for them. Everything shared in the room stays in the room.
The practice is based on well-researched principles and four interacting pieces that change everything.
The facts
What actually happened, stripped of judgment.
The internal signal
What you actually feel, because we are sentient beings, even in the workplace.
What matters
The human needs underneath, which is where people stop being opponents.
The forward step
A clear request or action, because insight without action changes nothing.
Who you become
You lead from purpose, rather than just doing leadership tasks.
You stop managing from your title and start leading from who you are and what matters.
You have power to effect meaningful change.
You have self-responsibility for what is going on inside of you and can clearly see what is happening in the room.
You can say the hard thing.
With love and respect, so it lands and nothing breaks.
People feel truly heard by you.
At work and at home, they know they matter and feel met rather than managed.
Ditch the hierarchy!
How hierarchical leadership shows up in your organisation
Conflict in the team that keeps coming back.
Meetings that go round in circles.
Hard conversations you keep putting off, or dread having.
Feedback that is hard for you and your team to give, or to hear.
Engagement levels in your team sitting lower than they should.
People waiting to be told, instead of taking initiative and trusting their own judgment.
Resignation around some issues: “it’s just the way it is.”
Team members competing for credit instead of pulling together, with political talk and manoeuvring.
People doing things for reward, rather than because they care.
People staying silent for fear of blame or retribution.
Good people going quiet, then leaving.
Working from hierarchical leadership makes your job
10X harder.
Transform the way you lead
Take action from your authentic power.
Read what is really going on in your team, beneath what people say.
Get to the root of issues fast, instead of circling them.
Say what you really mean, and mean what you say.
Get your whole team seeing the same picture, not twenty pieces of it.
Surface what is not being said, before it costs you.
Clear the bottlenecks that slow your team down.
Give feedback that lifts people and aligns them, instead of dividing them.
Build appreciation into the way your team works.
Give your team a shared language for the conversations that matter.
Create a team that feels safe and performs at its best.
Build a place people want to come to work.
What past participants noticed
“Working with Shari has been a game changer, both in my personal life and in how I show up as a leader. I honestly wouldn’t be where I am now without this experience.”
“This training has positively influenced how I show up as a leader and communicate with my colleagues and clients… Since the training, I find my leadership approach and social work practice to be more empathetically and authentically attuned.”
“This training helped to have hard conversations in a more connecting way… It empowers your communication.”
“Shari’s trainings transformed my life from top to bottom… The advanced Peer Leadership and Masters programs supported me to reconnect with my inner being and what I truly desired in life.”
“Has changed my entire perspective on relationship to my own feelings and needs and that of my love, family and work relationships.”
“I realised so many things over just 2 days and how I would love to implement it more in my life. I highly recommend this course.”
“Working with Shari has been a game changer, both in my personal life and in how I show up as a leader. I honestly wouldn’t be where I am now without this experience.”
“This training has positively influenced how I show up as a leader and communicate with my colleagues and clients… Since the training, I find my leadership approach and social work practice to be more empathetically and authentically attuned.”
“This training helped to have hard conversations in a more connecting way… It empowers your communication.”
“Shari’s trainings transformed my life from top to bottom… The advanced Peer Leadership and Masters programs supported me to reconnect with my inner being and what I truly desired in life.”
“Has changed my entire perspective on relationship to my own feelings and needs and that of my love, family and work relationships.”
“I realised so many things over just 2 days and how I would love to implement it more in my life. I highly recommend this course.”
Shari Elle
Shari has spent more than 30 years teaching authentic communication, and has trained 10,000+ people. She's a CNVC Certified Trainer, studied directly with Dr Marshall Rosenberg, the founder of Nonviolent Communication, and was one of the four original trainers to bring NVC to Australia.
She created The Living Work, the approach you'll learn in these two days, and has worked with leaders at CommBank, CSIRO, PwC, Sydney Water, NSW Government, Bridgestone Australia and Videri.
30+ yearsteaching authentic communication.
10,000+people trained, from executives and founders to families.
1 of 4original Nonviolent Communication trainers in Australia.
I see you. You want the best for your people and your results, and you can feel there's another way.
I've spent thirty years in rooms like yours. I've watched leaders stop bracing for hard conversations and start having them, with care and candour. I've watched teams stop arguing about twenty versions of the problem and finally see the same one. And I've heard, again and again, what changed when they got home.
You don't need another framework. You need a new way of seeing what is really going on, and the skills to act from it. That is what these two days are for. I'd love to see you in the room.
Shari Elle
Ready to join us?
Frequently asked questions
Who is this training for?
This is for you if:
You are leading, whether you are in the C-suite or about to lead a team for the first time.
You know you want to make a difference in the world.
You are here for a bigger purpose, and you know that standing in your leadership is part of the bigger purpose you are bringing.
You want to make a difference with the people you lead.
You know the humans you work with matter, and that mentoring and developing their capacities matters too.
You want to lead in a way that enriches life, and people’s experience of work and what they are achieving, rather than depletes and diminishes it.
You want to mentor and bring out the best in your people, building a team of leaders and setting them up to create great leadership wherever they go.
You want to magnify your results in a way that holds your team with care, rather than seeing them as a machine that has to be milked.
You genuinely care about the humans you work with.
Is this Nonviolent Communication (NVC) training?
At its foundations, yes, and it goes well beyond them. I am a CNVC Certified Trainer; I studied directly with Dr Marshall Rosenberg, and I was one of the four original trainers to bring NVC to Australia. Over the past 30 years, I have evolved that foundation into The Living Work, a practice built for the real conditions of leadership and family life. If you have been searching for how to learn NVC in Australia, this is the most experienced place to start.
Who attends Leading with Connection?
Mostly leaders: executives, founders, senior managers and professionals, along with people who simply want to be better with the humans in their life. The mix is deliberate. The dynamics are the same in every room, and hearing them named across contexts is part of what makes the two days land.
Do I need any prior experience or preparation?
No. You need no background in NVC, psychology or personal development. Come as you are, ideally with one or two real situations you would like to be different. A short pre-course email will help you arrive ready.
Can I bring my partner or a colleague?
Yes, and we encourage it. Your second registration is $600 inc GST. A shared language is the single biggest factor in whether this work continues to live after the training ends. Your relationship will be richer for what you experience and learn together.
Can my organisation pay for this?
Yes. We can send an invoice to your organisation. Choose “Paying through work” at checkout, or email us and we will arrange it.
What if I can’t make my date?
You can transfer to another date at no cost, up to 14 days before the training. Refund policy: full refund up to 30 days before, less a small admin fee within 30 days, and no refund within 7 days — but you can always transfer.
What times does it run, and what’s included?
Both days run 8:30am to 5pm. A comprehensive workbook and course materials are included. Groups are small, up to 20 people.
Will this help me in my personal relationships?
Yes, of course. The same principles apply in every part of life – we’re the same human at home and at work, and bring who we are into any situation. The same principles that build trust with colleagues also enrich the relationships, trust, and closeness in our family.
Still have a question?
Get in touch on our contact page →
There is a better way to lead.
Join us and transform the whole basis of how you lead, in two days, in person, with Shari Elle.
Next: Sydney, 5 to 6 November 2026