Guiding Leaders to Foster Inclusive and Thriving Work Environments

The Rahma Leadership Programme is a 12-week programme designed for leaders who want their team members to work better together, thrive, and achieve positive outcomes for their team and organisation.

The programme provides you with the knowledge, tools, and skills to implement compassionate and inclusive practices, and helps you create a work environment where everyone contributes, belongs, and thrives.

This inclusive environment will boost productivity and drive positive outcomes for your team and organisation. Throughout the programme, you will be guided by experienced facilitators and professionals who combine practical experience with research expertise and best practices from Aotearoa New Zealand and abroad.

What You'll Learn

The Rahma Leadership Programme is a deep dive into understanding the essential factors that contribute to creating a welcoming, inclusive, and safe work environment. It covers:

• Compassionate Leadership: Discover how compassionate leadership enhances team dynamics, collaboration, and productivity.

• Psychological Safety: Learn to create an environment where team members feel safe to express themselves, voice their concerns, and learn from their mistakes.

• Whanaungatanga (Connections): Foster meaningful connections from onboarding and throughout the employee journey.

• Learning Culture: Promote continuous development and knowledge sharing within your team.

• Addressing Bias: Understand and mitigate conscious and unconscious biases to create an inclusive workplace.

• Enhancing Productivity: Learn strategies to boost productivity and achieve positive outcomes for your team and organisation.

Practical Steps and Action Plans

• Best Practices: Gain insights from New Zealand and international contexts based on research, practical, and lived experiences.

• Action Plan Creation: Identify strengths and opportunities within your workplace and develop a tailored plan for improvement.

Programme Benefits

• Guided by Experienced Facilitators & Professionals: Gain valuable insights from experts who will share their knowledge and experiences. They combine practical experience with research expertise and best practices from Aotearoa new Zealand and abroad.

• Interactive Workshops: Participate in 6x2 hour online workshops designed to build your leadership capabilities.

• Reflective Practice Sessions: Engage in two online sessions to review and reflect on your learnings.

• Community Platform: Access a private online platform to share experiences and insights with your cohort.

• Buddy System: Paired with a buddy throughout the programme to connect, support and learn from one another.

Outcomes

By the end of the programme, you will:

• Adopt compassionate and inclusive leadership practices.

• Create an environment where team members feel valued, respected, and supported.

• Identify and leverage strengths within your team.

• Develop a tailored action plan to meet your team's unique needs.

• Contribute to positive organisational outcomes, productivity, and culture.

Why Choose the Rahma Leadership Programme?

In today's diverse workplaces, creating a welcoming, inclusive, and safe environment is not just a "nice to have" but a "must-have." This programme will help you:

• Gain Comprehensive Knowledge & Skills: Gain the tools and insights needed to implement compassionate and inclusive practices.

• Create an Inclusive Work Environment: Learn to create an environment where everyone contributes, belongs, and thrives.

• Enhance Productivity and Creativity: Boost your team's productivity and drive positive outcomes for your organisation by leveraging diverse perspectives to drive creativity and efficiency.

• Improve Staff Retention Rates by creating a supportive environment that encourages team members to stay and grow.

• Save Money and Resources by reducing turnover and associated costs.

Embarking on this journey will provide you with the knowledge, tools and skills to lead with compassion, inclusivity, and create a thriving environment for your team and achieve positive outcomes for your organisation.

Let's start this journey together!

When: Thursday 1 May 2025 11:00am to 1:00pm (Fortnightly workshops)

Cost: $1950 NZD (Special price for May 2025 cohort)

To register: Please visit the Registration Page

Customisation for organisations: The programme can be tailored to your organisation’s needs and delivered in-house.

For more information, please contact us.

Facilitators & Guest Speaker

Dr. Hend Zaki - Founder and Lead Facilitator Dr Zaki has over 15 years of experience working in government, regional, and international organisations. She supports leaders in creating more welcoming, inclusive, and safe work environments. She has extensive experience in the inclusion, diversity, refugee, and migrant spaces. As a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) accredited professional, she specialises in issues of intersectionality, identity, and belonging. To find out more about her, please visit our about page.

Dr. Fatima Junaid - Facilitator and Senior Lecturer, School of Management, Massey University Dr. Junaid is an experienced consultant and educator with over a decade of experience in the public and private sectors. She specialises in organisational behaviour and HR. Her work focuses on wellbeing and stress, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mental health, and psychosocial risks at work. Her current research projects include migrant and refugee wellbeing, women's exclusion and marginalisation, PTSD and its outcomes in the organisational context, and health and safety and psychosocial risks in New Zealand in the wake of COVID-19. Dr. Junaid publishes in both academic journals and non-academic media.

Hansini Gunasekara - Facilitator and Principal Consultant, Upthrive Leadership, Doctoral Researcher, Business School, Auckland University of Technology  Hansini is an organisational behaviour specialist, researcher, and leadership consultant with expertise in psychological safety, wellbeing, and equity and inclusion. With nearly a decade of experience in organisational development, she focuses on leadership capacity building, cultural competency, and inclusion strategies. Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in management at Auckland University of Technology, her research explores fostering psychological safety within ethnically diverse teams.

Associate Professor Dr. Katherine Smits, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Arts and Education, University of Auckland, Dr Smits has held numerous leadership roles. She has previously served with the Australian foreign service. She is currently working on projects exploring multiculturalism, biculturalism and national identity in New Zealand, and comparative multiculturalism policies in New Zealand, Australia and Britain. She has published several academic articles and books.