Tools, templates and playbooks to download and apply in your everyday leadership.
Expert-led webinars exploring leadership, team development, organisational effectiveness and wellbeing.
Leadership Whispers – short, thought-provoking insights to encourage reflection and fresh perspectives.
Monthly Nudges and challenges to help you turn learning into action.
Recommended reading, listening and watching to inspire your continued development.
Welcome to NCCSI Thriving Leaders Programme
Your space to connect, learn and grow as a leader.
Find everything you need for your programme journey in one place.
Your leadership journey starts here.
Welcome to the NCCSI Thriving Leaders Programme. We're delighted to have you joining us.
Over the coming months, you'll have the opportunity to step back from the day-to-day demands of leadership, explore new ideas, develop practical skills and learn alongside leaders from across Ireland.
This page is your programme hub. Here you'll find everything you need throughout your Thriving Leaders journey, including workshop dates, onboarding surveys, programme information, reading materials, presentations and practical leadership resources.
Bookmark this page and check back regularly as new materials are added.
Let's Get Started – Fill in Your Onboarding Survey
Help us shape the programme
Before we begin, we'd love to understand a little more about you, your leadership experience and what you'd most like to gain from the programme.
Your responses will help us tailor the workshops to the needs of each cohort and ensure that we focus on the challenges and opportunities that matter most to you.
The survey should take approximately 8–10 minutes to complete.
Please complete the survey for your cohort before XXX November 2026 as your answers will help us shape the workshop design.
Your Thriving Leaders Journey
What you can expect
The programme combines three facilitated leadership development workshops with practical tools, peer learning and opportunities to explore the wider challenges facing leaders working in social innovation.
Our workshops will follow three connected stages:
01. The Problem – Understanding the Challenge
Explore your leadership journey, identify current challenges and reflect on the wider conditions affecting leadership and organisational effectiveness.
02. The Solution – Exploring What Works
Build practical leadership skills, learn from peers and explore different approaches to the challenges identified.
03. What Next? – Turning Learning into Action
Bring your learning together, develop practical actions and use Mantra's DREAM framework to explore solutions that can contribute to wider recommendations for the social innovation sector.
Throughout the programme, you'll be encouraged to bring real experiences and challenges into the conversation, test new approaches and reflect on what works.
Two Cohorts. One Shared Leadership Journey.
Every leader's journey is different
The challenges you face, the responsibilities you carry and the support you need will evolve as you grow in your leadership role.
That's why the NCCSI Thriving Leaders Programme brings together two distinct cohorts, designed to meet leaders where they are in their leadership journey.
Growing as a Leader focuses on building confidence, strengthening leadership skills and making the transition from doing and managing to leading effectively through others.
Leading at Scale is designed for experienced leaders navigating greater complexity, organisational responsibility and the challenge of creating space for strategic and sustainable leadership.
While each cohort has its own focus, both offer the same opportunity: protected time to step back, learn from peers, explore real leadership challenges and develop practical approaches you can bring back to your organisation.
Explore your cohort below to find your workshop dates, programme information and learning resources.
Your Voice. Shaping the Future of Social Innovation.
Your experience matters beyond this programme.
The NCCSI Thriving Leaders Programme is about more than developing individual leadership capacity. It's also an opportunity to influence how social innovation leaders and organisations are supported across Ireland.
The programme builds on Action Research undertaken by NCCSI, which explored the challenges and opportunities facing social innovation in Ireland, including leadership capacity, organisational sustainability, funding, collaboration and the barriers to sustaining and scaling impact.
Throughout our workshops, we'll invite you to reflect on these findings, share your own experiences and explore what needs to change.
In our final workshop, we'll use Mantra Strategy's DREAM framework to work collaboratively on practical responses to some of the challenges identified.
From Your Insights to Government Recommendations
The learning and insights gathered across both cohorts will contribute to a recommendations paper for government and funders, highlighting what is needed to strengthen leadership, support sustainable organisations and create better conditions for social innovation to thrive in Ireland.
Together, we'll explore three important questions:
What can leaders do differently? The skills, approaches and practices that can strengthen leadership and organisational effectiveness.
What support do organisations need? The resources, structures and investment needed to build capacity and sustain impact.
What needs to change at a systems level? The policies, funding approaches and partnerships that could create a more supportive environment for social innovation.
Your participation will help ensure that these recommendations are grounded in the real experiences of people leading social change.
By sharing your experiences, challenges and ideas, you're helping to shape not just your own leadership journey, but the wider future of social innovation in Ireland.
Your Mantra Thrive Membership
Your leadership development doesn't stop when the workshops end.
As part of the NCCSI Thriving Leaders Programme, you'll receive six months' complimentary access to Mantra Thrive, our online leadership development platform designed to help purpose-led leaders and organisations thrive.
Through the Thrive portal, you'll have access to a growing library of practical resources to support you throughout your leadership journey, including:
Whether you're Growing as a Leader or Leading at Scale, Thrive offers practical support you can dip into whenever you need it, helping you put your learning into practice between workshops and beyond.
You'll receive your login details separately from Mantra Strategy.xt here.
About the Thriving Leaders Programme & Partners
The NCCSI Thriving Leaders Programme is an initiative of the National Competence Centre for Social Innovation (NCCSI), delivered by Genio, Rethink Ireland and Mantra Strategy, in partnership with the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.
The programme forms part of NCCSI's wider work to strengthen Ireland's social innovation ecosystem by supporting the people and organisations driving positive social change. Alongside developing individual leadership capability, the learning and insights generated will help inform future approaches to leadership development, funding and investment across the sector.
Together, we're investing in the leaders who are creating lasting social impact.
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