EvolveCollective - Beyond the Blueprint - October 2026 Cohort
Beyond the Blueprint
Leadership for engineers is a different problem.
This is where you solve it.
A 27-week programme for mid-career engineers and STEM professionals.
Cohort-based. Complexity-grounded. Coaching-supported. Built for the way technical professionals actually think.
All expressions of interest received before applications open in August will be eligible for the Founding Cohort Early-bird 10% discount.
The leadership gap for technical professionals isn’t what most programmes assume
You were promoted because you are exceptional at what you do. The systems you build work. The problems you solve, others have given up on. And then, somewhere along the way, the work changed. Most of what now lands on your desk is not, in the strict sense, a technical problem at all. It involves people. Politics. Competing priorities. Decisions that have to be made with information you don't have and might never get.
The instinct that made you excellent now works against you.
Technical work rewards rapid convergence on the right answer. Leading in complex environments often requires staying with the question longer than feels comfortable, and trusting a process rather than chasing closure.
Most leadership programmes weren't built for you.
MBA-derived curricula were designed for commercial generalists, not for people whose professional identity is built on rigour, precision, and analytical method. The case studies don't fit. The vocabulary feels alien. The frameworks rarely survive contact with a real engineering organisation.
Becoming a leader does not mean becoming a different person.
You don't need to be replaced by a more polished version of yourself. The technical mindset that got you here is a foundation to build on — not a deficit to overcome. But it does need new capability around it, learnt deliberately, in conditions that are realistic about how complex human systems actually behave.
Beyond the Blueprint was designed for exactly this situation.
A 27-week leadership programme designed from the ground up for engineers and STEM professionals.
Beyond the Blueprint is a cohort-based development programme for mid-career engineers and STEM professionals who are approaching, or recently established in, substantive leadership roles. It runs entirely online over twenty-seven weeks — nine three-week module cycles plus integrating bookends — and combines live facilitation, structured peer exchange, individual 1:1 coaching, and the Emergenetics psychometric foundation.
It is not adapted from a generic management curriculum. It was designed, from the first conversation, to take seriously the specific situation technical professionals find themselves in when their career stops being about technical excellence alone, and starts being about leading other people through conditions that no engineering training has ever prepared them for.
Built for engineers
Every concept is translated into the STEM professional context. No MBA case studies, no "transformation journeys", no leadership archetypes drawn from professional sport.
A sustained programme, not a workshop
Twenty-seven weeks is long enough for real shifts in habit and identity. Short courses don't change how you lead; they change how you talk about leadership.
Three 1:1 coaching sessions
Embedded throughout the programme — before, mid-point, and after. Each session is delivered by a qualified HancockHamlin coach and focused on your specific development goals.
Complexity-grounded
The Cynefin framework and systems thinking are not optional reading — they are the intellectual foundation. You learn to distinguish complex from complicated, and to respond appropriately to each.
Cohort learning
You develop alongside a small group of technically-minded peers. The conversation never has to be translated. Challenge and recognition come from people who understand your context.
Emergenetics psychometric foundation
Every participant completes an Emergenetics profile before the programme begins. The runs as a thread throughout the 27 weeks — providing structured language for self-awareness, peer understanding, and team dynamics.
The 27-week development arc
Before you start | Module 0 - Preparation
Before the programme formally begins, every participant completes the Emergenetics psychometric assessment and meets with a HancockHamlin coach for their first 1:1 session. The conversation is yours: where you are now, what you are carrying into the programme, and what you most want from the next 27 weeks.
Nine three-week modules organised into four phases, with a structured preparation period and a post-programme coaching session. Each phase deepens and integrates what came before.
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The first phase establishes the shared intellectual language of the cohort. You meet your Emergenetics profile in the context of the group, and you encounter the central distinction at the heart of the programme: complex versus complicated. By the end of this phase, you are beginning to see your own professional situation through a lens that explains why some of the things you have been doing have been working against you, not for you.
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Insight becomes intention. You examine what genuinely motivates you, where your real sphere of influence lies, and how to construct a leadership identity that is authentically yours rather than a performance of someone else's model. A complexity-based approach to strategy replaces the linear frameworks that fail in dynamic environments.
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The most practically applied phase. You develop a coherent framework for understanding, managing, and measuring change in systems that do not respond to linear management approaches. Tools are applied directly to challenges you are currently navigating in your own organisation. The mid-programme 1:1 coaching session is embedded here to consolidate the first half and reset intentions for the second.
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The final phase integrates everything. You examine the personal and collective energy required to sustain complex leadership over time, and you build a personal integrating framework — grounded in the Viable System Model — that connects the personal, professional, and organisational dimensions of your development. The programme closes with a Knowledge Share: a structured act of generous leadership communication.
After you finish | A final 1:1 coaching session
A structured conversation, several weeks after the programme ends, to consolidate progress, name what is still hard, and agree commitments for the months ahead. The end of Beyond the Blueprint is the start of continuing development inside the EvolveCollective alumni community.
What participation actually looks like.
A clear, predictable rhythm, designed to be sustainable alongside a demanding professional role.
Week 1 — Concept.
A two-and-a-half to three-hour live online session on Wednesday afternoons (14:00–17:00 UK time). New material is introduced and explored, an implementation tool is worked, and a narrative is shared that can be used to explain the concept to others.
Week 2 — Application to self.
Personal reflection and synthesis. Self-guided work on your Living Learning Case — a real challenge from your own professional context — plus peer and individual coaching and optional Depth Library exploration. Guided by WhatsApp prompts from your facilitators.
Week 3 — Application to others.
Structured peer exchange. Shared accountability and collegial challenge — practising the leadership work, not just discussing it.
Practical details
Cohort format
A small cohort, delivered entirely online — no travel required. Live sessions run on Wednesday afternoons, UK time, from October 2026 to April 2027 for each week 1 of each module cycle (includes a 2 week break over Christmas).
Coaching
Three 1:1 coaching sessions with a qualified HancockHamlin coach: (1) pre-programme; (2) mid-programme, around Module 5; (3) post-graduation.
Emergenetics profiling
Every participant completes the Emergenetics psychometric assessment before the programme begins. The cost is included in the programme fee.
Time commitment
Approximately 3 hours of live session time plus 2-4 hours of reflection and peer activity per module. Total participant time across 27 weeks: 60-80 hours.
This programme has been deliberately designed for a specific kind of professional
We have built Beyond the Blueprint for engineers and STEM professionals who are serious about leadership development — and who have either tried generic programmes and been disappointed, or want to skip that step entirely. The clarity below is intended to help you decide quickly whether the programme is the right fit. If it is not, we would rather you know now.
Designed for you if…
You are an engineer, scientist, or STEM professional with five or more years of technical experience looking to prepare for future leadership positions
You are approaching, recently appointed to, or established in a substantive leadership role
You have recognised that the skills that made you technically excellent are necessary, but not sufficient, for leadership effectiveness
You are ready to invest sustained effort — 27 weeks is a serious commitment
You are interested in frameworks and evidence, not generic inspiration
You want to develop alongside a cohort of people who share your technical context and professional pressures
May not be the right fit if…
You are looking for a short course, a single workshop, or a certification rather than a sustained development programme
You are primarily seeking a management qualification or CPD credits rather than a shift in leadership capability
You work in a non-technical sector and the STEM professional context does not resonate with your experience
You are not currently in a professional role where you can apply and test what you are learning in real time
Sponsoring an engineer or technical professional?
We work directly with organisations sponsoring high-potential engineers, scientists, and technical leaders. We can support a single nominated participant, a small group across multiple cohorts, or — for larger commissioning organisations — a closed private cohort.
Beyond the Blueprint is structured to give L&D and engineering directors a measurable, evidence-based development pathway that engineers will engage with seriously — rather than tolerate. If you are considering sponsoring a participant or would like to discuss a group booking for your team, please contact Chris Hamlin directly: chris@hancockhamlin.co.uk
Who delivers the programme.
Chris Hamlin
Chris is the architect of the programme. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering , an active contributor to IChemE, a trained Co-Active Coach and Viable System Model (VSM) certified Coach and Designer and a long-term adopter of the Cynefin Framework having been trained in the method more than 20 years ago. A chartered engineer with three decades of practice at the intersection of technical systems and human complexity, he has worked with process industries, in government policy contexts, and large multi-stakeholder transformation programmes. He has spent enough time inside engineering organisations to know precisely what generic leadership development gets wrong about them — and has been designing what gets it right.
Penny Hamlin
Penny is the operational and facilitation partner of the programme. A Certified Emergenetics Associate and VSM Coach and Designer, with an MSc in Sustainable Development and a long professional background in strategy, innovation, and business development, she leads the cohort experience and contributes directly to the programme's design. Her role across the 27 weeks is to ensure the programme is not just intellectually rigorous, but humanly grounded and practically usable.
Intellectual foundations and Advisory Board
Advisory Board
Beyond the Blueprint is supported by a small Advisory Board of practitioners, researchers, and educators drawn from the Royal Academy of Engineering, British and European university complexity research, executive coaching, sustainable engineering, and process industry senior leadership. Their role is to challenge and enrich the programme's intellectual foundations, and to ensure that what we build remains grounded in the realities of technical professional life.
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Kimberly A. Jackson, PhD MCC
Founder and CEO, Coach Kimberly International
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Houda Benjelloun, MBA MIA PCC IRCA
Founder and chief catalyst officer, K2C2 STRATEGIES
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Alistair Bowden, PhD
Assistant Professor, Leadership & Strategy, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University
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Emerit. Prof. Jarka Glassey FREng CEng FIChemE PFHEA
President, European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE)
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Moazzam Shamsi, FREng CEng MInstMC
Director, Global Solutions Architect, Emerson Automation Solutions
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Professor Jonathan Cullen, PhD
Professor of Sustainable Engineering, University of Cambridge
Intellectual foundations
Complexity Science
A deep understanding of complex systems has underpinned much of our work. An interest that began more than 20 years ago when first introduced to and trained in the Cynefin methodology.
Emergenetics
Psychometric profiling for cognitive and behavioural diversity. Penny & Chris are Certified Emergenetics Associates
Viable System Model
Stafford Beer's systems-thinking framework for organisational and individual design. Both Penny & Chris are certified VSM Designers & Coaches.
Integral and Positive Psychology
Evidence-based development frameworks, including the Positive Intelligence model (Sage and Saboteur) and integrative psychology models.
The practical details
Key facts
Duration
27 weeks — October 2026 to April 2027
Module format
Nine modules, each running over a three-week cycle
Delivery
- Module Week 1: Live online via Zoom — Wednesday afternoon, 14:00–17:00 UK time
- Module Week 2: Offline reflection and coaching prompted through WhatsApp
- Module Week 3: Offline structured peer exchange
First live teaching date
Wednesday 7 October 2026, 14:00-17:00, UK Time
Cohort size
Small group — final size confirmed at booking
Coaching
Three 1:1 sessions per participant, included
Profiling
Emergenetics psychometric assessment, included
Application Process
Submit your expression of interest (EoI) using the form below.
Chris or Penny will be in touch within 2 working days to answer any questions you may have.
EoIs received before applications open in August will be eligible for the early bird discount.
Each application will be reviewed by Chris & Penny.
Accepted participants will receive an offer and a request for the booking fee.
On payment of the booking fee, your place is secured.
Submitting an expression of interest:
makes you eligible for the Early Bird booking discount
does not obligate you to proceed
does not guarantee a place on the programme
Pricing
UK organisations
£3,250 + VAT at 20% = £3,900 total
£2,925 + VAT at 20% = £3,510
UK self-funded individuals
£3,250 total, including VAT
£2,925 inc VAT
Overseas organisations
£3,250 — outside scope of UK VAT, reverse charge
£2,925 — outside scope
Overseas self-funded individuals
£3,250 total, including UK VAT
£2,925 inc UK VAT
Standard Course Fee: £3,250
Founding-cohort early-bird: 10% discount
10% discount eligibility
The founding-cohort early-bird discount of 10% applies to all participants — individual and organisationally sponsored — who submit an Expression of Interest before formal applications open in August. It applies uniformly across all pricing segments. Self-funded payment-plan participants are equally eligible.
Registering your interest now allows time for a conversation prior to applications opening and eligibility for the discount if you are successful in applying.
Booking fee — what to expect
On conditional acceptance, you will be asked to pay a booking fee to secure your place. This is not an additional charge — it is deducted from your total programme fee when the cohort is confirmed.
• Individuals (UK and non-UK): £250 inc VAT.
• UK organisations: 20% of the programme fee + VAT │ £650 + VAT standard rate │ £585 + VAT early-bird rate.
• Non-UK organisations: 20% of the programme fee (outside scope of UK VAT).
You have 14 days from the date of booking to cancel and receive a full refund. After 14 days, the booking fee is non-refundable — with three exceptions: (a) if we cancel or postpone the programme, all booking fees are returned in full; (b) you may transfer your place to a colleague up to 14 September 2026; (c) in defined exceptional circumstances such as serious illness or redundancy, deferral to a future cohort is available at our discretion. Full terms and conditions are provided with your booking confirmation.
Self-funded payment plan
Self-funded participants may request to pay by monthly instalments:
• Standard rate: £250 booking fee + 5 monthly payments of £600 inc VAT (total £3,250 inc VAT)
• Early-bird rate: £250 booking fee + 5 monthly payments of £535 inc VAT (total £2,925 inc VAT)
The monthly mandate is set up at booking, not at the start of the programme.
Download the programme overview here
Taster Webinar
We will be running a free taster webinar for prospective participants and their sponsors. The date will be announced shortly. Register your interest below and we will let you know as soon as it is confirmed.
Common Questions
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If you are an engineer or STEM professional with five or more years of technical experience, and the description on this page resonates, you are probably a good candidate. The longer answer comes from the conversation that follows your expression of interest. We would rather discover misalignment in a 30-minute conversation than after you have committed to 27 weeks — and we will tell you honestly if we think you would be better served by something else.
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Yes — and many participants are partly or fully organisationally sponsored. We provide a separate Sponsor Briefing document on request, written specifically to help you make the case internally to L&D or your line management. Email chris@hancockhamlin.co.uk and we will send it through.
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Each module cycle runs over three weeks. In the first week, you attend a live online session of approximately three hours (Wednesday, 14:00–17:00 UK). In the following two weeks, you engage with guided reflection and peer activity — typically one to two hours per week. Total participant time across the programme is approximately 60-80 hours over 27 weeks.
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Beyond the Blueprint is primarily designed for engineers approaching or in their first significant leadership role. That said, a number of more experienced leaders find the complexity-grounded frameworks valuable precisely because their existing development has not addressed these dimensions. If you are in a senior role and curious whether this fits, the right next step is a direct conversation. We are honest about whether we are the right fit.
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Chris or Penny will contact you within 2 working days to answer any questions. There is no obligation at that stage. It is an opportunity for us to understand your context and for you to ask anything that the website does not answer, before you decide whether to complete a formal application.
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Programme terms and conditions, including the cancellation and refund policy, are provided with the formal booking documentation. In summary: a booking fee secures your place; the booking is fully refundable for 14 days; thereafter, transfer to a colleague (up to 14 September 2026) and exceptional-circumstances deferral are available. If we cancel or postpone the programme, all booking fees are returned in full.
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The programme is delivered online, so participants can join from anywhere. Live sessions run on UK time (Wednesday, 14:00–17:00 GMT/BST), and pricing is in GBP. We welcome international participants — particularly those working in English-language technical environments in Europe, the Middle East, and North America.
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Submitting an expression of interest before applications open makes you eligible for the founding-cohort 10% discount on the programme fee if you complete your booking. The early-bird applies whether you are self-funding or organisationally sponsored, and whether you pay in full or in monthly instalments. The discount is automatic — you do not need to apply a code. Registering your interest now allows time for a conversation and application before the deadline. There is no obligation at the expression of interest stage.
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Once you have been conditionally accepted onto the programme, we will invite you to pay a booking fee to secure your place. For individuals (UK and non-UK): £250 inc VAT. For UK organisations: 20% of the programme fee + VAT (£650 + VAT standard, £585 + VAT early-bird). For non-UK organisations: 20% of the programme fee (outside scope of UK VAT). The booking fee is deducted from your total fee when the cohort is confirmed — it is not an additional charge. UK consumers have a statutory 14-day right to cancel and receive a full refund; we extend this right voluntarily to all participants. After 14 days, the booking fee is non-refundable, with three exceptions: HH cancellation (full refund), substitution to a colleague (until 14 September 2026), and exceptional-circumstances deferral. Full terms and conditions are provided with your booking confirmation.
Register your interest in Beyond the Blueprint.
Cohort 1 opens in October 2026. We are building a small group of technically-minded leaders who are ready for a different kind of development. If that is you — or if you think it might be — we would like to hear from you.
Registering your interest now also gives you the best opportunity to complete the application conversation and secures your eligibility for the founding-cohort early-bird discount.
We will not share your details with anyone outside HancockHamlin Ltd. You can withdraw your interest at any time. Our full Privacy Notice is available here.
Prefer to speak directly? Email chris@hancockhamlin.co.uk or connect with Chris on LinkedIn.