Leadership in Practice | Formal CPD Series

Leadership in Practice is a practical webinar series for architects and forward-thinking practitioners who want stronger leadership and better commercial outcomes – without compromising design integrity. Across four focused sessions, participants will connect personal values to life-first goals and develop the mindset required to lead well under pressure. This includes learning decision tools to reduce overload, protect what matters during busy periods, and build simple resilience habits for individuals and practices.

Leadership in Practice
5 Sessions | 5 Formal CPD Points | On-Demand

The skills that built your career won't always run your business.

Leadership in Practice is a 5-part formal CPD webinar series for architects and practice leaders who want stronger commercial outcomes without compromising design integrity.

Attend live on Tuesdays, 21 April–19 May at 1:00pm AEST, or watch the replays in your own time.

About the Series

Lead your practice. Grow your mindset.

Excelling at architecture and excelling at running a practice are two different things.

Leadership in Practice addresses that gap directly. Across five focused sessions, you will connect your personal values to clearer goals, build decision tools to reduce overload, and learn how to lead a team that gets things done without everything bouncing back to you.

This is practical, direct, and built specifically for the realities of architectural practice.

“Winning great work is not the hard part. Winning the right work, profitably, is.”
– Glenn McHardie, Registered Architect & Series Facilitator

The Five Sessions

A series built around real practice pressure.

Session 1 | On-Demand
The Inner Architect: Goals and Mindset for Practice Leaders

In a demanding market, practice leaders need more than ambition; they need clarity and steadiness. This session helps you set life-first goals that align with your values, then build the mindset and resilience to stay steady when pressure rises.

Values-to-goals framework you can apply straight away
Prioritisation tools to protect focus during busy periods
Resilience habits to stay steady under real pressure

Session 02 | On-Demand
Practice Profit Formula: Five Profit Levers

Winning great work is not the hard part. Winning the right work, profitably, is. Learn how to improve client fit, protect margin, and build repeat work without discounting fees or relying on luck.

How to identify and qualify better-fit work earlier
Simple margin checks to prevent scope drift and fee leakage
Conditions for building profitable repeat work

Session 03 | On-Demand
Sales Without Selling: Win Work Authentically

If winning work feels uncomfortable, it is usually because you are pitching instead of diagnosing. This session gives you a clear, authentic approach – one that feels like a professional conversation, not a sales performance.

Question frameworks that uncover real need and decision drivers
Handling objections calmly: budget, timing, competing quotes
How to ask for commitment without cringe or pressure

Session 04 | On-Demand
Financial Clarity: Numbers for Creatives

Financials should help practice leaders decide, not switch them off. This session makes the numbers more visual, practical, and easier to use, so financial management feels less like accounting and more like leadership. You will learn how to focus on the few measures that matter, run a simple monthly management rhythm, and use clearer reporting to protect margin, improve visibility, and make better month-end decisions.

Define the few financial measures that matter most for month-end control
Use a simple dashboard to improve visibility and support better decisions
Interpret gross profit more accurately by understanding basic P&L correctness
Run a practical monthly management meeting rhythm that drives faster correction
Make clearer commercial decisions around margin, utilisation, and cash

Session 05 | On-Demand
Lead Your Team: Vision to Execution

Most practice leaders do not need a better plan, they need consistent execution from the team. Learn how to create clear ownership, remove bottlenecks, and lead follow-through without becoming the constant middleman.

Clarify ownership and decision rights so decisions stay with the team
Delegate with clarity: outcomes, standards, escalation rules
An operating cadence that turns intentions into action

Your Facilitator

Glenn McHardie is a Registered Architect, Certified Business Coach, and founder of The Business Architect. He works with architecture and design-led practices to strengthen their commercial engine – pipeline, delivery rhythm, margin, and cashflow without compromising design integrity.

In 2025, Glenn acquired Proconsult Engineering in Auckland, keeping his advice stress-tested in a live practice environment. The pressures he teaches around are the same ones he navigates.

His Ultimate Practice Blueprint – Promote → Produce → Profit is the spine of this series: a practical, repeatable framework built from real wins and hard lessons across practice ownership and general management.

“This is not theory. Everything in this series has been tested in practice – including the parts that failed first.”
– Glenn McHardie

NSCA 2021 Performance Criteria

Session 1 – The Inner Architect: Goals and Mindset for Practice Leaders

PC2: Implement practice resources and apply ethical employment practice methods and quality assurance systems to facilitate efficient, consistent and timely delivery of architectural services.
PC4: Be able to apply principles of project and staff planning and resource costs to establish realistic and achievable timeframes.
PC7: Apply and follow processes for clear and consistent communication with clients and relevant stakeholders throughout the project, including obtaining approvals from clients and stakeholders.
PC16: Be able to apply risk management and mitigation strategies – including safety in design, project risk, requirement for resilience from the impacts of climate change and appropriate insurances – across architectural services.

Session 2 – Practice Profit Formula: Five Profit Levers

PC2: Implement practice resources and apply ethical employment practice methods and quality assurance systems to facilitate efficient, consistent and timely delivery of architectural services.
PC6: Be able to apply appropriate processes for reporting and varying the scope of services provided by an architect.
PC7: Apply and follow processes for clear and consistent communication with clients and relevant stakeholders throughout the project, including obtaining approvals from clients and stakeholders.

Session 3 – Sales Without Selling: Win Work Authentically

PC1: Comply with the regulatory requirements and obligations pertaining to practice as an architect, including legislation, professional codes of conduct, obligations for continuing professional development and professional indemnity insurance.
PC2: Implement practice resources and apply ethical employment practice methods and quality assurance systems to facilitate efficient, consistent and timely delivery of architectural services.
PC7: Apply and follow processes for clear and consistent communication with clients and relevant stakeholders throughout the project, including obtaining approvals from clients and stakeholders.

Session 5 – Lead Your Team: Vision to Execution

PC2: Implement practice resources and apply ethical employment practice methods and quality assurance systems to facilitate efficient, consistent and timely delivery of architectural services.
PC4: Be able to apply principles of project and staff planning and resource costs to establish realistic and achievable timeframes.
PC7: Apply and follow processes for clear and consistent communication with clients and relevant stakeholders throughout the project, including obtaining approvals from clients and stakeholders.

Learning Outcomes

Session 1 – The Inner Architect: Goals and Mindset for Practice Leaders