A 12-Month Leadership Cohort · Pittsburgh & the Northeast
The Townsend Leadership Program: A Year That Changes How You Lead
A 12-Month Leadership Cohort · Pittsburgh & the Northeast
The Townsend Leadership Program: A Year That Changes How You Lead
A 12-month leadership cohort for people who are responsible for more than themselves and ready to invest in how they lead.
The Townsend Leadership Program (TLP) brings a small group of leaders together for one full day per month for a year. Together with that group, you’ll work on the things that move leaders forward: clearer goals and the strategies to meet them, healthier relationships, and the kind of self-awareness that changes how you show up.
Heidi Sadecky is the only certified TLP Director in the state of Pennsylvania and across the Northeast U.S., so this caliber of program is rare anywhere near Pittsburgh.
Leadership Development That Goes Beyond the Workshop
Most leadership development programs come in a single dose. A conference, a workshop, a book that lights a fire for a week. Then the inbox fills back up and very little changes.
Meanwhile, as you rise higher, it gets lonelier. Fewer people tell you the truth. More people want something from you. And the problems that reach your desk are the ones nobody else is solving.
TLP was built for this reality. Instead of one more information burst, it gives you a full year of structured support. And it comes with a coach plus a group of peers who understand your situation, who are genuinely invested in your success, and who help you carve the path to get there.
Change takes time, repetition, and people who will be honest with you. A year makes room for all three.
What Is the Townsend Leadership Program?
The year-long TLP is a leadership program created by psychologist and leadership expert Dr. John Townsend. Once a month, a small group of leaders, usually six to ten, drawn from different industries and environments, meets for a full day with a Director. During each month between those days, you pursue your goals with the group and your Director in your corner.
Think of it as your own personal board of directors, with all the investment, advocacy, and guidance that brings.
This isn’t a networking circle or a generic mastermind, but a committed group of leaders who come to know your business and your blind spots, hold you accountable, and help you work through conflict, hard decisions, and everything else that comes with being in charge. What is said in the room stays in the room, which is exactly why leaders are willing to bring their real challenges to it.
How the Townsend Leadership Program Works
Each training day follows a rhythm refined over many years, so every month moves you somewhere. Here is what a day typically looks like.
Work Group
You put a challenge you’re wrestling with in front of the group and draw on their combined experience in a focused, confidential working session.
Check-In
Everyone reports on their goals and last month’s assignment. This is accountability with people who follow up with you.
Didactics
A practical teaching session on a specific leadership skill, drawn from Dr. Townsend’s model. Topics range from building a high-performing culture, to facing hard truths, to the surprising payoff of forgiveness at work.
Process Group
The group helps you see what is getting in your way and offers candid input and solutions from the perspective of understanding the spot you’re in.
Homework
You leave with a specific assignment tied to your goals, so the day becomes action rather than a page of notes.
One-on-One Coaching
Time alone with Heidi, focused entirely on you and where you are headed.
The structure is consistent. What you bring to it is yours.
The Leadership Model at the Core of TLP
TLP rests on a handful of Dr. Townsend’s frameworks. They are what make it more than a support group.
The heart of the year. You set three big-picture goals that would meaningfully change your work or your organization, then spend the year pursuing them with your own personal advisory group.
Strong leadership takes the skills to set strategy and hit goals, the emotional intelligence to bring people with you, and the character that makes them want to stay. TLP develops these traits together.
This is the term for a set of specific elements that every person needs in their relationships in order to function at their best. They are the foundation the program is built on. Learning to give and receive them changes how you lead, how you live, and how people respond to you.
Lasting change comes from a simple combination: grace (real acceptance), truth (honest feedback), and time (room to grow). It is a quietly profound idea, and it shapes how the group works with each other.
Here’s What Changes After a Year in TLP
Leaders come to TLP for different reasons, but the year tends to produce a familiar set of changes.
- You set and reach goals that haven’t seen movement for years.
- Your team understands where you’re going, and shows an eagerness to go with you.
- You handle conflict and hard conversations with more confidence and less dread.
- Your organization runs better, and you have the results to show for it.
- You lead with more presence and less second-guessing.
- You stop running on empty. This is a quieter, more internal change. But it’s the one that makes the most difference in your life.
Many leaders find the year more than pays for itself in things like goals reached, results delivered, team members retained, and promotions landed.
Who the Townsend Leadership Program Is For
TLP cohorts bring together men and women from every kind of organization: business owners and CEOs, executives and directors, ministry and nonprofit leaders, and professionals serious about the next stage of their work.
What they all share is not a title. It is a willingness to be honest, to be coached, and to keep growing. It is a readiness to dedicate a year to getting better. And it is the work ethic to show up one day per month to lay it all on the table.
TLP is also not for everyone. It is a commitment of time and money. If you are looking for a quick fix, this is not it. If you are ready to do the work alongside people who will do it with you, there may be a seat for you.
WHY HEIDI
Your Townsend Leadership Program Director in Pittsburgh
Every TLP Director is hand-selected and trained by Dr. John Townsend. Heidi Sadecky is the only one in the entire Northeast region of the U.S. who has undergone the TLP training and certification process.
For leaders near Pittsburgh, that puts a rare opportunity close to home.
Heidi also brings a toolkit few coaches anywhere can match: more than 30 years of leadership experience, plus certifications in CliftonStrengths, The Working Genius, and the EQ-i 2.0 and EQ360 emotional-intelligence assessments, among others. Your TLP year is not built on a single framework. It is built on the right tool for what you are facing.
And it is led with a clear set of values: servant leadership, honest relationships, and faithful stewardship of the people in your care.
How to Join a TLP Cohort Near Pittsburgh
Joining starts with a conversation, not a contract. You and Heidi talk through where you are, what you are after, and whether the program and the timing fit. If they do, she’ll invite you into a cohort and walk you through the details: meeting dates, what to expect, and how to prepare.
TLP is a meaningful investment, and Heidi is straightforward about that. You can learn more about how the investment works and what is included on the investment page. Ministry and nonprofit leaders, please ask about reduced pricing.
Leaders Who Took the Year, and What Came of It
Some of the leaders and organizations Heidi has worked with have shared their stories, from a founder-led firm rethinking how it operates, to a nonprofit working through deep workplace conflict, to a company developing its next generation of leaders.
Townsend Leadership Program FAQs
How long is the program?
A full year, with one full-day session each month.
How big is the group?
Usually six to ten leaders from different fields.
What happens in the sessions?
A mix of teaching, group problem-solving, accountability, and one-on-one coaching. The specific discussions stay confidential within the group.
Is there a virtual option?
The program is built around in-person days, which is where much of the value lives. If a full day in person is not workable, ask about virtual options.
What does it cost?
It is a significant investment in your future. See the investment page for how pricing works, and ask about ministry and nonprofit rates.
How do I start?
With a discovery call.