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Matrix leadership.

Helping leaders thrive in complexity.

At People Untapped, we specialise in helping leaders to thrive in complex, matrixed organisations. Our targeted leadership development programmes use cutting-edge learning methods to deliver sustainable results, tailored to your organisation’s unique structure and goals.

In today’s fast-moving environment, matrix leaders must influence without authority, communicate inclusively, and make swift, confident decisions. We help leaders to master these capabilities while role-modelling the culture and behaviours your organisation needs to succeed.

As Matrix Capability Catalysts, we redefine what it means to lead in complexity, ensuring that your leaders build trust, align across boundaries, and deliver outstanding results.

How we build matrix capability:

Live, practical workshops facilitated by leadership development experts.

Online blended learning and reflective learning journals.

Diagnostics, including 360 feedback and psychometrics.

Peer support through small group discussions and coaching.

Proven results that you can measure:

Organisations we have worked with experienced on average a 21% improvement in key Matrix leadership capabilities, including:

  • Influencing without authority.
  • Leading with a growth mindset.
  • Building inclusive and aligned teams.
  • Nurturing resilient relationships.
  • Driving accountability.
Impact pledge

We guarantee measurable behaviour change within 60 days – backed by our Impact Pledge.

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Programme approved by the Institute of Leadership.

The impact we create together:

The entire course was wonderful, and each section had things in it that will help me moving forward. I think I got the most out of Influence without authority.
What really stood out to me was learning to build inclusive and aligned teams, which deepened my grasp of leading effectively in complex settings. The focus on fostering trustful relationships was eye-opening, giving me practical tools to handle team dynamics better.
Workshops were by far the most valuable - very engaging and good mix of learning as a group and breaking out into tables for smaller conversations. Appreciated the limited role-play exercises and focus on real-life scenarios/challenges that people were facing.
The course provided valuable insights into communication skills, stakeholder identification, and the various tools available to influence decision-making. These elements were particularly enlightening for me. Additionally, the coaching sessions offered a useful refresher, helping me apply these concepts in my daily role. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the diverse courses and materials.
Since completing the programme, I've actively started to apply my learning by regularly seeking diverse perspectives when tackling project challenges, which has led to more innovative solutions. I've also used techniques from the module on resilient relationships to improve team dynamics by fostering open communication and resolving conflicts constructively.
This training will help me navigate the matrix to get alignment between a wide range of stakeholder more effectively. This is a crucial element in my role.
The learning helps me to more efficiently and effectively collaborate with others in the matrix project team, which can reduce the unnecessary resource (time/effort) cost by reducing the frictions and barriers. With ambitious goals within our organisation, it's critical now to improve productivity of each person and project team.
Thank you for this precious training. Through the overall training, I have learned the theory of matrix leadership and have become more and more confident what I need to do to improve myself as matrix leader. I will promise to keep on trying what I have learned into my daily work.

Ready to see matrix leadership in action?

Influence without authority. Thrive in complexity.

Explore our case studies.

Marisa Knowles | CEO | UK

Marisa is the heart and soul behind People Untapped. As CEO, she brings 20+ years of HR leadership – from global corporations to scaling start-ups – and is a Qualified Executive Coach, TMSDI accredited, and a Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses UK Programme alumna on a mission to help leaders and teams unlock their full, untapped potential.

🎓 Her expertise spans organisation design, strategic talent management, cultural transformation, and building high-performing teams. Marisa blends big-picture strategy with a down-to-earth, creative style that makes transformation feel thrilling (not terrifying).

💡 Her leadership is equal parts straight-talking and supportive – she’ll ask the tough questions and champion you as you discover breakthrough answers. Expect bold conversations that shift perspectives and drive real change.

☕ Fuelled by coffee, curiosity, and carefully curated playlists that energise any room, Marisa lives for lightbulb moments. Her philosophy? Think bigger. Be bolder. Go further – together. Watch out world!

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