Leading with Love: Building Trust, Meaning, and Results
A six-month leadership cohort for people who lead people — grounded in the belief that love-centered leadership isn't in tension with results. It's what makes them possible.
Fear is the default. It doesn’t have to be.
Most leadership habits were built under pressure — to control, to avoid conflict, to look like you have it together. Over time, fear becomes the operating system of a workplace, even when no one intends it. It shows up as silence in meetings, avoidance after mistakes, and people who are technically present but not really there.
Leading with Love: Building Trust, Meaning, and Results is a six-month cohort for leaders ready to build something different — not by abandoning accountability or results, but by leading with both care and courage, leading to responsibility and results.
A Structure Built for Real Leaders
Six months, two live sessions per month — 1st and 3rd Wednesdays, 8–10am Pacific / 4–6pm UK
Small peer pods — self-facilitated small groups who learn and practice together between sessions
Led by CLW's leaders — Renee Smith, Founder and CEO, and Joanne Lee, Chief Learning Officer, with guest instructors bringing their expertise.
Grounded in the 10 Loving Workplace Principles — CLW's framework for what love-centered culture actually looks like in practice
A Love in Action Plan — every participant leaves with a concrete love-in-action plan, not just ideas
LIVE SESSIONS —> PEER PODS —> PRACTICAL APPLICATION —> LOVE IN ACTION PLAN
Built for outcomes you can actually use
Practical tools for building trust, psychological safety, and belonging on your team
A stronger handle on your own leadership habits under stress — what triggers you, and how to lead from choice instead of reaction
Real practice with responsibility, conflict, and repair — not avoidance dressed up as niceness
A peer network of leaders outside your own organization
A completed Love in Action Plan you can bring back to your team immediately
What you’ll learn:
Real skills for how you actually lead
By the end of six months, you'll be able to:
Recognize how fear, stress, and old habits shape your leadership decisions — and choose a different response in the moment.
Build psychological safety, trust, and belonging on your team, on purpose rather than by accident.
Have the honest conversations you've been avoiding — about conflict, harm, or broken trust — with more skill and less dread.
Hold people responsible without sacrificing their dignity, or yours.
Navigate competing priorities and complex team dynamics without oversimplifying people or problems.
Bring more joy, recognition, and renewal into your team's daily rhythm.
Walk away with a concrete Love in Action Plan — not just ideas, but a meaningful, doable plan you'll put into use right away.
What We’ll Cover:
Six Months of Activating Love
Months 1–3: Build a Loving Foundation
Start with the fundamentals — what is love, why it wins over fear, and how to make it a habit. Deepen your practices of psychological safety, trust, and honest self-awareness. You'll look at your own leadership habits under pressure, practice emotional intelligence tools, and work on applications that matter to you.
Months 4–5: The 10 Loving Workplace Principles
Go deep into the powerful Loving Workplace Principles — from honoring the whole person to cultivating joy and pursuing continuous learning. With structured guidance, you'll teach a principle to your peers, not just study it, and apply each one to a real situation on your team.
Month 6: Put It Into Action
Turn what matters most to you into a plan. You'll leave the cohort with your own Love in Action Plan, a peer accountability partner, and a follow-up coaching session 60–90 days later to keep you honest about following through and making progress.
Who’s It For:
Built for People Currently Leading People
This cohort is for supervisors, managers, directors, and executives currently leading a team, program, or organization — in the US or UK — who are choosing this experience for themselves, not attending because someone told them to.
This isn't the right fit for:
Aspiring leaders not yet managing people
Consultants or coaches whose primary work is external facilitation or training
Anyone required to attend rather than opting in
Learn more: Email us at CEO@lovingworkplace.org to ask questions.
Program Details
Format
Live virtual sessions (Zoom) + self-facilitated peer pods
Schedule
1st & 3rd Wednesdays, October 2026 – March 2027, 8–10 am Pacific / 4–6 pm UK with adjustments for daylight saving time
Cohort Size
Fee
Application Due
Minimum of 8 and a maximum of 16 participants
$239 for the full six months (special introductory price)
By September 7, 2026
“Is it possible to lead with love? We say Yes!”
“We didn't build this program because love-centered leadership is easy. We built it because fear-based leadership is exhausting — for the people leading and the people being led. This is six months of practical work: real tools, real practice, and a community of leaders who are done pretending that care and accountability are opposites.
If you are ready to put love at the center of your leadership, join us!”
~ Joanne Lee and Renee Smith, Instructors and Leaders with the Center for a Loving Workplace
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this therapy or coaching?
No. This is leadership development. It draws on emotional intelligence and self-awareness, but the focus stays on your leadership practice, not personal therapy.
What if I can't make every session?
Live attendance is part of the design — these will not be recorded. We know life can happen, but please only apply if you plan to make your best effort to be at scheduled sessions.
Is the fee refundable?
No, the $239 fee is non-refundable once you're accepted and enrolled.
Will my organization know what I share in the program?
No. What you share in sessions and pods stays confidential. Any research use of program-wide learnings is anonymized and aggregated, and we'll never use your name, quotes, or image in marketing without asking you first.
What happens after the program ends?
You'll leave with a completed Love in Action Plan and a follow-up coaching touchpoint 60–90 days after the cohort ends.
