Beyond the Blueprint
Programme Details
On This Page
The full programme details are included below - scroll down to get a complete picture, or use the links to navigate to specific sections.
The Leadership Gap
The instinct that made you excellent now works against you
The Problem
You were recruited and promoted for your exceptional technical problem-solving skills, but leadership fundamentally changes the nature of your work. It becomes about making decisions with incomplete information, weighing trade-offs where no single solution exists, and managing human politics and consequences that reach far beyond your immediate project.
Where Generic Programmes Fall Short
Most leadership training is designed for commercial generalists using MBA-style curricula. For those whose professional identity rests on rigour and precision, the vocabulary feels alien and the methods rarely survive contact with the real world.
These programmes often focus narrowly on business performance ignoring the deeper motivation of many STEM professionals who came into this work to make things better, not simply to make things. They want to do well for their employer, their family and the wider world at the same time, rather than treating those as competing demands.
Our Approach
Beyond the Blueprint addresses these shortfalls. We refuse the trade-off. Doing well for your employer, building a life you actually want, and contributing to something wider are not competing goals; led well, your leadership is how they start to reinforce each other.
Your technical mindset is the foundation, not the problem. We are not here to replace you with a slicker, more generic version of yourself, or to have you perform someone else’s idea of leadership. Our aim is a leader who is unmistakably you.
We build on how you already think. The rigour, structured problem-solving and analytical discipline that made you a strong engineer are exactly the raw material of good leadership. We help you put them to new use, addressing the new challenges you’re now facing.
We take complexity seriously. Instead of linear management tools, we ground the work in systems thinking and the Cynefin framework, the same rigour you would expect from any serious technical discipline.
Learning by doing. You did not learn to ride a bike by studying angular momentum; you got on, wobbled, and built the skill through practice. Leading in complexity is no different. It is a practice, not a theory, so the programme is built around doing the work, not just understanding it.
Is this for you?
Built for smart, ambitious experts who refuse to settle for ‘generic’
This programme was designed for technical professionals who:
Worry about losing technical credibility as they move into management
Are tired of ‘fluffy’ leadership theory and want pragmatic, complexity-grounded methodologies that actually work
Refuse to conform to inauthentic leadership styles and want to lead as their true selves, not a performance of someone else’s model
Want a career that is sustainable and purposeful: not a version of success defined by a commercial generalist.
Are looking for peers who get it: a community of technically-minded professionals where the conversation never needs to be translated, and one that continues long after the programme ends.
The Practical Fit
To ensure the cohort remains high-impact and relevant, we primarily look for:
STEM Professionals: Engineers, scientists or technical experts with 5+ years of experience who are:
In Transition: You are approaching, recently appointed to or established in a substantive leadership role
Ready for Rigour: You want frameworks and evidence, not just ‘inspiration’, and are ready to invest in a 6-month evolutionary process.
Move beyond the blueprint. Step into leadership.
The 6-month Journey - In Detail
A structured arc for sustained growth
Real shifts in leadership identity don’t happen in a weekend workshop. Beyond the Blueprint is a 6-month evolutionary process, moving you from technical excellence to systemic leadership through four distinct phases.
Module 0: Preparation
The Foundation of Your Development Before the first live session, you will establish the technical and psychological baseline for your journey:
Emergenetics® Assessment: Complete your psychometric profile to map your cognitive and behavioural preferences.
Initial 1:1 Coaching: A 60-minute diagnostic session with a HancockHamlin coach to define your specific development goals and audit the "leadership baggage" you are carrying into the programme.
Module 0 Access: Onboard to the EvolveCollective digital environment and your cohort’s WhatsApp exchange: your first step into the community you will be joining.
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Establishing the Intellectual Foundation The first six weeks focus on building a shared technical language. You will encounter the central distinction between complex and complicated systems, learning why technical tools fail when applied to human politics. You will interpret your Emergenetics profile through the lens of the cohort, identifying precisely which of your "technical excellence" instincts are currently working against your leadership effectiveness.
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From Linear Frameworks to Dynamic Strategy This phase moves from insight to intentional action. You will strip away "generic" leadership models to construct an authentic leadership identity grounded in your actual sphere of influence. You will replace failing linear strategy frameworks with complexity-based approaches designed for dynamic environments, ensuring your leadership is a foundation you build on, not a deficit you overcome.
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Practical Systemic Application This is the most applied phase of the programme. Using your Living Learning Case, you will develop a coherent framework for managing and measuring change in systems that do not respond to top-down, linear management. Your mid-programme 1:1 coaching session is embedded here to pressure-test your application of these tools to your current organisational challenges.
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Integration & Sustained Operation The final phase focuses on the personal and collective energy required to sustain leadership over time. You will build a personal integrating framework—grounded in the Viable System Model (VSM)—that connects your personal development with organisational design. The programme concludes with a Knowledge Share, a structured act of leadership communication that translates your 27-week shift into a resource for your organisation.
The 1:1 Coaching Specification
Strategic Technical Support Leadership development is not a solo endeavour. You are supported by three structured 1:1 sessions with a qualified HancockHamlin coach, scheduled at critical transition points:
Session 1 (Pre-Programme): Goal setting and diagnostic audit.
Session 2 (Mid-Programme): Consolidation of Phases 1 & 2 and reset of intentions for the Change phase.
Session 3 (Post-Programme): Final consolidation of progress, identifying ongoing "hard points," and setting your continuing development path as a member of the EvolveCollective community.
The Rhythm of Growth Explained
The Learning Mechanics
Beyond the Blueprint is designed with a clear, predictable rhythm specifically structured to be sustainable alongside a demanding professional role. We avoid the "workshop drop-off" by ensuring that new concepts are immediately integrated into your actual technical context through a three-phase cycle
Duration: 6-months, running from October 2026 to April 2027 (with a break in December)
The Cadence: Nine modules, each following a three-week cycle
Week 1 — Concept & Tool Installation (The Live Session)
The cycle begins with a three-hour live online session (Wednesdays, 15:00–17:00 UK time).
The Content: We introduce high-level frameworks—such as Complexity Science (Cynefin) or the Viable System Model—translated into a STEM professional context.
The Tool: You aren't just given theory; you work through a specific implementation tool designed to apply the concept to a real-world engineering environment.
The Narrative: We provide a structured narrative you can use to explain these complex ideas to your own teams and stakeholders immediately
Week 2 — Application to self (Personal Synthesis)
During the second week, the focus shifts to internalisation and context-specific reflection, guided by WhatsApp prompts from your facilitators.
The Living Learning Case: You apply the week’s concept to a real challenge from your own professional context. This ensures the programme is not an academic exercise but a live problem-solving engine for your current role.
The Depth Library: For those who value rigour and evidence, you have access to an optional Depth Library for further exploration of the module’s intellectual foundations.
Week 3 — Application to others (The Peer Exchange)
The final week of the cycle is dedicated to structured peer exchange and collective challenge.
Shared Accountability: You develop alongside a small group of technically-minded peers who understand your context and professional pressures.
Practising the Work: This is where you move from "discussing" leadership to "practising" it through collegial challenge, ensuring the new capabilities are humanly grounded and practically usable.
Total Investment: Approximately 60-80 hours over the full 6 months
Why this structure works for STEM Professionals:
Sustained Effort, Not a Workshop: 6-months (nine cycles) is long enough for real shifts in leadership capability. Short courses change how you talk; this programme changes how you lead.
No Translation Required: Because the cohort is composed entirely of technically-minded peers, the conversation is always grounded in the reality of engineering and STEM organisations.
Integrated Support: This three-week rhythm is supported by three 1:1 coaching sessions—pre-programme, mid-point, and post-graduation—to ensure your personal development goals remain aligned with the cohort's curriculum.
A Community, Not Just a Cohort: the peers you practise with are the beginning of something permanent. Completing the programme entitles you to lifelong membership of the EvolveCollective community, connecting you with technical professionals at every career stage who share a single aspiration: to use their skills, knowledge and expertise to advance the wellbeing of society.
Membership, Not Just a Programme
Your entry point to the EvolveCollective community
Beyond the Blueprint is the entry point to something designed to last. Completing the programme entitles you to lifelong membership of the EvolveCollective community: engineers and STEM professionals at every level of experience, from new graduates to some of the most senior engineers in the profession, who share a single aspiration: amplifying the contribution of engineering and technology to the creation of a vibrant and sustainable world.
Membership carries a simple three way commitment:
supporting the development of others;
continuing your own development; and
drawing on the community’s support as you progress.
It is the beginning of a peer community where the professional context is shared and the conversation never needs to be translated.
And because this is the founding cohort, its members will be founding members of the community itself, with a genuine hand in shaping what it becomes.
Investment
The fees below are all-inclusive, covering the full 27-week curriculum, your individual Emergenetics® psychometric profile, and all three 1:1 coaching sessions. Completing the programme also entitles you to lifelong membership of the EvolveCollective community.
| Category | Standard Investment | Early-Bird — 10% Discount |
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| UK organisations | £3,250 + VAT (£3,900 total) | £2,925 + VAT (£3,510 total) |
| UK self-funded individuals | £3,250 (includes VAT) | £2,925 (includes VAT) |
| Overseas organisations | £3,250 (outside scope of UK VAT) | £2,925 (outside scope of UK VAT) |
| Overseas self-funded individuals | £3,250 (includes UK VAT) | £2,925 (includes UK VAT) |
The Early-Bird 10% Discount is available to all participants who register their interest before 14 August 2026.
Sponsoring Organisations
Many participants are organisationally sponsored. For sponsoring organisations, the investment does not stop delivering at the end of 6-months: participants who complete the programme become lifelong members of the EvolveCollective community, an ongoing development environment that supports the retention and continued growth of your strongest technical people.
To help you demonstrate the ROI to your organisation, we provide a Sponsor Briefing document on request. Email chris@hancockhamlin.co.uk and we will send it through.
Self-funded payment plans
For individuals investing in their own development, we offer a monthly payment plan to spread the cost. The mandate is set up at the point of booking:
• 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 Booking Process
We use a structured approach to ensure each cohort is balanced and composed of peers who can effectively challenge and support one another.
The Booking Path
Step 1: Application Review. Every application is personally reviewed by Chris and Penny to ensure the programme is a strong fit for your current leadership context.
Step 2: Conditional Offer. If accepted, you will receive a formal offer and an invitation to secure your place.
Step 3: Securing Your Place. Your place is formally held only upon payment of the booking fee.
Step 4: Deduction. This fee is not an additional charge: it is fully deducted from your total programme fee when the cohort is confirmed.
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On conditional acceptance, the following fees apply to secure your place:
Individuals (UK and non-UK): £250 (including 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 the scope of UK VAT)
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We provide a clear "cooling-off" period to ensure you are confident in your commitment:
Statutory Guarantee: You have 14 days from the date of booking to cancel and receive a full refund of your booking fee.
Voluntary Extension: While this is a statutory requirement for UK consumers, we voluntarily extend this 14-day full-refund right to all participants, including international and organisationally-sponsored leads
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After the initial 14-day period, the booking fee is non-refundable. However, we provide three specific "technical exceptions" to protect your investment:
Programme Changes: If HancockHamlin cancels or postpones the programme, all booking fees are returned in full.
Colleague Substitution: You may transfer your place to a qualified colleague at any time until 14 September 2026.
Exceptional Deferral: In defined circumstances—such as serious illness or redundancy—deferral to a future cohort may be available at our discretion.
Advisory Board & Founders
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. They are also an early expression of the community that Beyond the Blueprint opens into: senior practitioners committed to building something that outlasts any single programme.
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Kimberly A. Jackson, PhD MCC
Founder and CEO, Coach Kimberly International
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Houda Benjelloun, MBA MIA PCC ITCA
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
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Professor Jonathan Cullen, PhD
Professor of Sustainable Engineering, University of Cambridge
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Ana González Hernández, PhD
Senior Director of Sustainability, Emerson
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Professor Gary Kass FIEnvSc, FRGS, CSci
Visiting Professor in Sustainability Science, Policy and Practice, Imperial College London
The Architects
Chris Hamlin
The architect of the programme, Chris is a Chartered Engineer with three decades of experience at the intersection of technical systems and human complexity. A Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and active contributor to IChemE, he has worked across process industries, government policy, and large-scale transformation programmes.
As a trained Co-Active Coach and certified Viable System Model (VSM) Designer, Chris has spent years identifying exactly what generic leadership development gets wrong for technical professionals. He has designed Beyond the Blueprint to provide the rigour and systems-thinking foundation that engineers require to lead effectively.
Penny Hamlin
Penny leads the cohort experience, ensuring the programme is as humanly grounded and practically usable as it is intellectually rigorous. With an MSc in Sustainable Development and a professional background in strategy, innovation, and business development, she focuses on the practical application of leadership tools in high-pressure environments.
Penny is a Certified Emergenetics Associate and a VSM Coach and Designer. Throughout the 27-week journey, she facilitates the "Concept-Application-Exchange" rhythm, helping participants translate complex frameworks into sustainable leadership habits that fit their professional reality
Join the Conversation
Experience the Philosophy
Before committing to a 6-month journey, we invite you to experience our approach first-hand. We will be hosting a set of free "In Conversation" webinars for prospective participants and their sponsors.
These sessions explore the question “What does it actually take for engineers and STEM professionals to lead in genuinely complex environments?”
These live conversations will be hosted by different Advisory Board members with one real story running through all of them:
The Case for Complexity
How Change Actually Happens
Almost Lost, Now Leading
Beyond the Technical
In these sessions, you will have the opportunity to:
Meet the Architects: Connect with Chris and Penny Hamlin and Advisory Board Members to discuss the foundations of the programme and why leadership for technical professionals requires a different set of tools.
Test the Foundations: See how complexity-grounded frameworks—such as the Cynefin framework and the Viable System Model—are translated into the STEM professional context.
Understand the Rhythm: Ask specific questions about how the "Concept-Application-Exchange" cadence and the 60–80 hour total investment practically fit alongside a demanding professional role.
How to join: We will be announcing the dates for our next webinars shortly. Because you have registered your interest, you are already on the invitation list.
Keep an eye on your inbox—we will send the registration links and session details directly to you as soon as they are confirmed.
Supporting Data & Common Questions
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If you are a STEM professional with 5+ years of experience and you’ve noticed that your technical excellence is no longer enough to solve the 'people and politics' problems on your desk, this is for you. We offer a 30-minute conversation following your registration to ensure alignment—we would rather discover misalignment now than mid-way through a 27-week commitment."
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The programme follows a predictable three-week cadence. You will spend 3 hours in a live online session during Week 1 of each module, followed by 2–4 hours of guided reflection and peer exchange over the next two weeks. Total investment is approximately 60–80 hours, designed to be sustainable alongside a full-time leadership role
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Yes. While designed for those in their first substantive leadership roles, senior leaders often join because their previous MBA-style development lacked the complexity-grounded rigour they need for technical environments. If your current leadership frameworks feel 'fluffy' or inadequate for high-stakes systems, a direct conversation is the best next step to see if this provides the challenge you're looking for.
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Chris or Penny will contact you within 2 working days to answer your questions and understand your professional context. There is no obligation at this stage, but registering now secures your eligibility for the 10% early-bird discount should you proceed with a formal application
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We welcome international participants, particularly those in technical environments in Europe, the Middle East, and North America. As the programme is entirely online, you can join from anywhere, provided you can attend the live sessions which run on Wednesdays from 14:00–17:00 UK time. All pricing is in GBP.
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The EvolveCollective community is the peer community that Beyond the Blueprint opens into. Completing the programme entitles you to lifelong membership. Members span every level of experience, from new graduates to some of the most senior and experienced engineers in the profession, and commit to three things: supporting the development of others, continuing their own development, and drawing on the community’s support as they progress. What binds the community together is a shared aspiration: amplifying the contribution of engineering and technology to the creation of a vibrant and sustainable world.
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Yes. Most participants are partly or fully organisationally sponsored. We provide a dedicated Sponsor Briefing document—a technical business case written specifically to help you demonstrate the evidence-based rigour and measurable ROI of the programme to L&D directors or line management. You can download this directly or email Chris Hamlin to have it sent to you.
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By registering your interest or applying before 14 August, you automatically secure eligibility for a 10% discount on the Founding Cohort fee. This applies across all segments—whether you are self-funding (including payment plans) or organisationally sponsored. There is no code required and no obligation to proceed at this stage.
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On conditional acceptance, you pay a booking fee to secure your place: £250 (inc. VAT) for individuals or 20% of the programme fee for organisations. This is not an additional charge; it is fully deducted from your total programme fee once the cohort is confirmed. All participants receive a 14-day voluntary cooling-off period with a full refund of this fee.
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Your booking is fully refundable for 14 days. After this period, the fee is non-refundable, with three specific technical exceptions:
Full Refund: If we cancel or postpone the programme.
Substitution: You may transfer your place to a qualified colleague until 14 September 2026.
Deferral: Available at our discretion for defined exceptional circumstances like serious illness or redundancy.
Still Exploring?
Learn More
Register Interest
Register before 14 August to secure your 10% early-bird discount and join our next 'In Conversation' webinar.
Submitting your details opens a conversation, it does not commit you to anything.
Ready to apply?
Start Your Full Application
Apply Now
Move straight to the technical review process for a place in the Founding Cohort.
10% discount applies until 14 August.