TRUSTED LEADERSHIP CAPABILITY IMPROVEMENT
Improving the leadership capability of your social housing organisation
Empowering leaders and transforming teams across the housing sector
Is your executive team fully aligned — or are disconnects creating friction at the top?
How confident are you in the consistency of people management across your organisation?
How much senior time is being absorbed by issues that confident managers could handle earlier?
Compassionate Leaders is led by Hayley Gillard, a leadership specialist who has supported housing organisations for more than 15 years to strengthen management capability and build psychologically safe, high-performing teams.
With a Master’s degree in Psychology and a background spanning both business and leadership development, Hayley and her associate team bring a psychologically informed, commercially grounded approach to leadership capability.
Through consultancy, fractional OD appointments, ILM Level 5 accredited programmes, team dynamics work and strategic leadership support, Compassionate Leaders partners with organisations to improve leadership capability where it matters most - across teams, culture and organisational performance.
An effective and versatile leadership development facilitator
Hayley began her career within a housing association, holding business development and innovation roles that gave her first-hand insight into the operational and strategic pressures facing the sector.
Over six years in-house, she led volunteer training, facilitated staff engagement forums and managed skills and employment support services — building a deep understanding of how leadership capability, culture and performance intersect within housing organisations.
With a Master’s degree in Psychology and more than 1,000 hours of leadership coaching experience, Hayley brings a strongly psychologically informed approach to leadership development. Since leaving her role as Business Innovations Manager in 2015, she has supported housing organisations to strengthen management capability and build the psychologically safe conditions in which high-performing teams can thrive.
Hayley is the trusted Leadership Development expert for Women in Social Housing (WISH), delivering regular sector-focused development that supports hundreds of women across the housing sector each year.
She also brings significant strategic insight from Board-level roles across the not-for-profit sector, having served as Chair of the Board, Non-Executive Director and currently as a Trustee. This governance perspective strengthens Compassionate Leaders’ ability to align leadership development with organisational priorities, regulatory expectations and long-term strategic goals.
A leadership development facilitator blending leadership with psychology
"Hayley is, without doubt, an expert in strategic thinking, team dynamics, leadership development, psychological safety and coaching - not only that, she has a kind heart that shines through and I love that! I guarantee you will gain invaluable knowledge from her."
Kaylee Smith, Senior L&D, Sanctuary Housing
But, what is psychological safety?
Psychological safety is the bedrock of high-performing teams, and the key to unlocking your team’s full potential so they can achieve outstanding results. Developing and maintaining psychological safety across your department or organisation isn’t always easy, and is often misunderstood as being nice or friendly. It can involve tackling some complicated challenges, and developing the ability to challenge your teammates.
As a talented, experienced leadership development facilitator with a background and qualifications in psychology, Hayley understands that psychological safety principles are incredibly effective in enabling business leaders like you to cultivate an environment where your team can communicate openly, take risks, innovate, learn from mistakes, trust one another, and collaborate effectively with confidence.
Feedback
Bobbie Kondakoova
Category Manager, Thirteen Group
“Hayley is an authentic, energetic and extremely knowledgeable coach and trainer. She helped me understand and overcome many of my fears and shortcomings. I feel I am a better, more aware and insightful person after I’ve attended her course. Thank you, Hayley! What you do makes a difference!”
Lindsey Platt
Property Safety Manager, CIOB
“Had the pleasure of working with Hayley Gillard for a management workshop focusing on our five year plan. Hayley is such an empowering facilitator with psychological safety principles at the heart of everything we did. I would highly recommend Compassionate Leaders to anyone who strives to grow and improve no matter what level of the business you are.”
Alona Malinovska
Managing Director, Webgains UK
“We were a big group of 17 people, and Hayley managed to keep us engaged and open to collaborating with each other. She acted as an enabler for us all to feel safe to share our experiences and opinions. During the day, Hayley guided us through several very challenging tasks, ensured we stayed on track and produced tangible results by the end of the session.”
Hayley Cross
Property Safety Officer, Orbit Group
“This programme has had an incredible impact on myself personally and in the work place, with the help of everything Hayley has taught me and shown me I have managed to get 2 promotions and self confidence that has improved massively.”
Jade Distant
Wolverhampton Homes
“It is almost a week and I am still buzzing with excitement from everything Hayley taught me while attending Building High-Performing Teams. Highly recommended for anyone needing support or guidance on this. Really looking forward to working with you again. ”
Imran Khalifa
Head of People and OD, The Pioneer Group
“If you're looking for someone who will make a real impact to your organisation, I would strongly recommend Hayley...
From the first conversation, her passion, enthusiasm and knowledge really shone through.”
