Investing in people to inspire and develop their capability to lead change
We know that to bring about change that can make things better for our communities, we sometimes need to change the approaches, behaviours and mindsets of those who work to support those communities.
By helping people to think differently whilst working alongside them to build the skills and capabilities to lead change, we have an opportunity to change the systems those people connect with.
We know that we can create an optimistic vision for the future by building on what’s strong and our strengths-based leadership work will help us to deliver on this.
Our aim is to inspire conversations and actions towards tackling physical inactivity across the systems and places where we all connect.
Throughout our Accelerator funding phase (2023–2025), these principles were developed and refined, enabling us to build a strong evidence base alongside valuable learning and insight into what effective, system‑wide leadership looks like for our places and systems.
This learning now underpins our transition into the Deepening funding phase (2026–2028), where our focus is on embedding and sustaining impact across TaAF and our partners, strengthening collaborative leadership, and accelerating progress in tackling physical activity inequalities across our communities.
Going Deeper, Building Further
At its core, our Deepening Leadership programme includes:
- A 12 month System Leadership Development programme for the TaAF team, involving up to 25 people, with six full day collective learning sessions per year focused on collaboration, peer learning, and tackling real system challenges.
- Strengths based coaching for both the TaAF team and senior system leaders across priority sectors, providing individual and group coaching to embed new ways of thinking and working.
- A Train the Trainer programme to upskill local leaders to become facilitators of systems leadership in their own places, creating a sustainable, locally owned model.
- Strategic Deep Dives with key organisations or networks to support deeper application of systems leadership to complex problems related to physical inactivity and inequalities.
Systems change is at the heart of the programme. We continue to build on our people-led approach, recognising that lasting system change happens through supporting leaders to adopt new behaviours, mindsets and ways of working that can influence complex systems over time.
The leadership offer focuses on behaviour change among system leaders in key positions, supporting them to work across organisational boundaries and sectors. It applies systems thinking directly to complex challenges such as physical inactivity, health inequalities and active environments, and builds distributed leadership capacity through the Train the Trainer model, reducing reliance on external expertise over time. Rather than delivering isolated leadership development, the programme intentionally shifts relationships, decision making and ways of working across the system, creating the conditions for sustainable change.
Clifton Strengths
Clifton Strength Videos
Watch a short explainer video about each of the 34 CliftonStrengths.
Strengths Posters
These 4 Strengths posters summarise the categories of the Clifton Strengths.
Strengths Toolkit
A range of resources and tools to help support embedding change into your workplace.
Team Strengths Matrix
Map your team’s strengths to explore your collective strengths.
Embedding Strengths
Download these resources for ideas on how you can start embedding strengths. It includes ideas on how to get more familiar with your own strengths and know more about your team’s strengths.
Best of Us
Download the Gallup ‘Best Of Us’ grid and some prompts to help you when completing it.
Love, Frustrate, Appreciate
Explore and discuss your CliftonStrengths themes by identifying ones that you love, ones that frustrate you or others, and ones that you’d like to see more of in yourself.
Talents in Action
Perfect for when you are coaching others. Explore unique talents by reflecting on Signature Themes, identify key strengths, and share real-life examples of how these talents are applied in action.
The Strengths Wheel
The Strengths Wheel activity encourages you to explore how your top themes interact and combine. This exercise aims to deepen your understanding of how your unique strengths can work together to create results and overcome obstacles.
Strengths Bingo
This activity helps participants connect with others and gain a deeper understanding of different strengths, especially those that may be less familiar or interpreted differently. By sharing and discussing each other’s strengths it can help to broaden perspectives and appreciation for diverse talents.
Strengths Questions
These Celebratory and Growth Questions encourage reflection on your strengths, helping you appreciate your successes while identifying areas for improvement. The Celebratory Questions focus on how your strengths impact your work and relationships, while the Growth Questions explore challenges and opportunities for development. Together, they promote self-awareness and continuous growth.
If you would like to learn more about our work please contact Beth Kay our Leadership Workstream Lead at leadership@taaf.co.uk