PERFORMANCE COACH FOR BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS
Back yourself to go for more
For owners and leaders going through a merger, an acquisition or a new partnership
Kia ora, I’m Cleo Shortland. Performance coach and founder of the Wā Programme.
You're stepping into something bigger. You already have a strong work ethic. That’s what got you to this point. An now it’s time to build better tools and strategies to create an enormous life.
My coaching programme offers devoted sessions, where I bring deep listening, sharp questions, and techniques that will strengthen your mindset, challenge your relationship with your life and work, and help you take the right level of risk to set a clear direction, with the resilience to hold it when plans change.
We don’t pretend that we want less here. This is where you stop hiding and step into your full self.
"Working with Cleo is alchemical. I feel deeply held and understood, which is a natural gift of hers. She has helped me build strategic partnerships and collaborations, and create multiple income streams alongside my fundraising and advocacy work, and I have more brewing in the pipeline.
Our sessions give me space to get everything out, and through ritual, deep inquiry and her frameworks, Cleo reflects my ideas and decisions into a clear picture so I can take decisive action for the fortnight ahead, with clarity and confidence. She holds my vision with me with unwavering faith, and I have made so much progress over the years. Cleo is the real deal."
RHEA JAMES FOX · FUNDRAISING & ADVOCACY · MELBOURNE · AUSTRALIA
INTRODUCING THE WĀ PROGRAMME
Coaching to back you to go big, at a pace you can sustain
01
Before the partnership
You can see the opportunity. Now you want to know if it is right for you. We get clear on what you truly want, test whether you go alone or in partnership, and build a strategic plan you can stand behind.
02
As it forms
Negotiations, new partners and long days put pressure on everything, including home. We work on how you handle conflict, ask for what you need, and stay steady while the partnership takes shape.
03
As it grows
The business is bigger and so is your role. We build the leadership rhythm, habits and partnerships that let the new structure grow, with energy left for the life around it.
The self you built to succeed in the past is still running the show. It was enough. Now it’s time for a more focused version of you, built for what’s next.
WHO I WORK WITH
One leader, partners, or a whole team
You, one to one
For the owner or partner at the centre of the change. A private space to think clearly, make the call and lead the change with steady energy.
Partners, together
For business partners and co-founders building something new. We shape a shared vision, clear roles and a way of working through conflict that keeps the partnership strong.
Bringing together leaders
For two leadership teams becoming one. We build trust, agree how decisions get made, and set the rhythm the new team leads by.
"Cleo's positivity is uplifting and empowering. She helps me see what's possible and recognise my own strengths and potential. Working with her gave me greater confidence in my abilities, and I always leave our calls feeling energised, capable and ready to back myself to take the next step. The lasting impact for me was a stronger belief in what I could achieve in my work, and the confidence to go after it."
AIME CARTER · SOUTH ISLAND SUPER YACHT SERVICES · CHRISTCHURCH · NEW ZEALAND
The experience
Whether we work one to one, with partners or with your team, you have support the whole way through. Sessions run weekly, fortnightly or monthly, matched to your pace and what you’re moving through. Each one is ninety minutes held entirely for you.
We open with karakia and a short guided meditation so you arrive settled, with room to think. From there you speak and I listen closely, and together we turn what’s true right now into a plan for the time ahead.
Between sessions the line stays open. Plans shift and disruptions arrive, so you can message me as things land, and we jump on a call whenever something needs talking through. Wins get celebrated as they happen, and I stay close to your journey, so each session picks up right where you are.
What changes
You make decisions you stand behind
You sort what matters from what’s simply loud
You build habits that hold their shape when the week is busy
You ask for what you need
You leave every session with commitments that stretch you
The questions and techniques belong to me. The answers, the direction and the pace belong to you
Wā
(noun) time, season, period of time, interval, term, duration.
Step into the experience
Begin with a curiosity call with Cleo.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Performance coaching is dedicated space to look inward and understand what's really driving your decisions.
It helps you work through what's getting in your way, and make better decisions as a leader.
Often what's really going on is people get stuck on one way of solving a problem, without seeing that what they actually need underneath could be met a completely different way. Just seeing that clearly changes what's possible.
Most founders are so deep in the day to day that they never get time to step back and see it. That's what these sessions give you, room to think properly with someone who has the expertise to support you to get there.
This is a dedicated profession, with its own methodology.
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You're moving into new territory. Something is ending. Priorities are shifting. Your body and energy levels may be changing shape too. You may be:
Stepping up in your role
Stepping out of your industry
Restructuring your role or business to match your life
A bomb has gone off and you need support as you ride this next wave
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No, just like you don't need a nutritionist or a fitness coach. But this journey you're on, or about to start, is bloody tough. The value of the programme is having an expert coach and facilitator there with you throughout, for as long as you need, placing strategy and focus into the actions you take toward your next chapter.
If the cost would strain your business or family, wait until it won't.
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This is where the prepared thinking work happens. We reflect, reset your focus areas, and challenge unhelpful beliefs while promoting healthy, innovative ideas. From there we move into fortnightly planning, breaking down and prioritising what matters most.
You leave with a clear focus for what's ahead. And the communication line stays open between calls, for disruptions, celebrations, and re-setting yourself.
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Unlimited messages, voice notes and phone calls between the fortnightly video call.
Plans will always be disrupted. When something big comes up, we get on a call. When you don't have it, because you won't always have it in territory you haven't been before, this is a non-judgemental space to work through that.
Wins don't wait for the next fortnight either, let's celebrate them as soon as they happen. It also means I can stay immersed in your journey, rather than needing to be brought up to speed every time we meet.
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Coaching moves you forward. We work with where you are now, capable and ready, and build toward transformation, your vision, and what's next. Therapy looks back, working through past experience and emotional healing with someone trained to hold that ground.
Both matter, they just serve different moments. If something surfaces in our work together that calls for therapeutic support, I'll raise it with you.
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The length is tailored to you and your journey.
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Everything shared stays between us. This is a private container for thinking something through, held with the same discretion you'd expect from your own profession.
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The methodology draws on a few different frameworks. There's a goal-setting structure called GROW, which helps map out where you are now and what you actually want.
There's work drawn from CBT, cognitive behavioural approaches, which looks at the thought patterns driving your decisions.
Mindfulness is woven through, building your ability to notice what's happening in the moment rather than reacting on autopilot.
I also offer karakia, a Māori incantation, which helps set a clear intention and frequency for the work we're doing.
And there's Nonviolent Communication, which helps you get clear on your real underlying needs versus the strategies you've been using to meet them.
This is coupled with my own experience starting and growing businesses, and working in the regulatory change space as a professional project manager, leading and advising teams of two to two hundred.
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Yes. We'll agree your monthly rate together upfront, converting from USD to your local currency where needed, NZD, AUD, CAD, and others available. That fixed amount is then billed as a regular subscription, and you can cancel at any time from your account.
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Yes. Sessions run over video, so you can be anywhere in the world. Clients are currently based across New Zealand, Australia, and North America, and your monthly rate is billed in your local currency where needed.