This Is More Than a Model. It’s a Movement.

The Performance Pendulum™ is a sector-specific leadership framework built for the challenging, complex, contradictory world of the social-profit sector. It is based on deep research, grounded in practical experience and delivered by accredited coaches all over the world.

Learn how
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What is the Performance Pendulum™?

A leadership framework supported by a 360° assessment tool designed exclusively for mission-driven leaders. It captures the constant, high-stakes balancing act of modern leadership—between advocacy and compliance, innovation and governance, compassion and resilience, global thinking and local action.

What Makes It Different?

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This is a leadership framework for those who lead with purpose—and are pulled in multiple directions at once. It reflects the complexity and unique challenges of the social-profit sector, honouring your leadership demands and opportunities.

  • Built specifically for leaders in the social-profit sector

  • Research-informed, 360° assessment tool

  • Rooted in real-world experience

  • Identifies your individual leadership behaviours

  • Delivers insights for immediate action

Why It Works

The Performance Pendulum™ framework reflects eight critical leadership requirements:

Diagram showing contrasting words: 'Advocate' vs 'Adhere', 'Drive' vs 'Defer', 'Human' vs 'Hardened', and 'Planetary' vs 'Parochial' with connecting lines.

Leadership in the non-profit sector for when the stakes are high and the path isn’t clear.

  • Get your Board aligned. Fast.

    Introduce your Board of Directors to the Performance Pendulum™ and build shared understanding of the real-world leadership tensions your executive team navigates daily. A compelling presentation for orientation sessions, annual reviews, or as a standalone lens for better governance.

  • Use the framework to fuel your next retreat.

    Designed for strategic planning, Board retreats, or senior leadership offsites, these facilitated workshops embed the Pendulum directly into the work of your organization. Build stronger alignment. Surface leadership blind spots. Translate values into decisions.

  • A new kind of leadership program for a new kind of leader.

    This 8-week online experience delivers 16 hours of facilitator-led learning in intimate cohorts that prioritize reflection, discussion, and action.

    Ideal for:

    • High-potential social profit leaders looking to grow

    • New or emerging CEOs and Executive Directors

    • Teams ready to speak a shared leadership language

    This program delivers:

    • Weekly sessions

    • Actionable tools

    • Sector-specific insight

    • Built on the Performance Pendulum™

    Enrollment opens Fall 2025

    Join the waitlist

  • Measure what matters. Reflect what’s real.

    Based on the core behaviours and competencies embedded in the framework, the Performance Pendulum™ 360° Assessment is built for leaders in motion.

    Use it:

    • On its own

    • As part of your executive coaching journey

    • Or as a follow-up to the Leadership Development program

    Find a coach who works with the Pendulum

Putting the Performance Pendulum™ to work in your organization

The Performance Pendulum™ is a framework that works. Whether inside boardrooms, strategic retreats, or leadership journeys, here is how you can bring it to life.

Download the White Paper

Want the full story behind the Performance Pendulum™ framework?

DOWNLOAD OUR EXCLUSIVE WHITE PAPER:

Cover page of a report titled 'The Neglected Sector: Leadership Development in Social-Profit Organizations', published by Lake and Associates, May 2025, authored by Rashmi Biswas and Perri Termine, with research team members listed.

“The Performance Pendulum™: A Contemporary Leadership Framework for the Social-Profit Sector”

YOU’LL GET:

  • Key findings from extensive leadership research

  • Insights into the unique characteristics of the social-profit sector

  • An overview of the eight leadership requirements within the Performance Pendulum™

  • Implications for individual growth and organizational impact