Steople > News & Articles > Leadership Development
In today’s rapidly advancing technological environment, online assessment security has never been more important. The rise of AI tools has introduced new challenges in recruitment and talent evaluation, prompting assessment providers to take proactive steps to safeguard their platforms.
No matter which assessment platform you’re using, leading providers are continually enhancing online assessment security to ensure you can confidently trust the outcomes of your hiring and development processes.
Here’s a look at the current protections in place across many leading assessment platforms — and some emerging innovations you can expect to see.

Key Protection Measures in Place Today

Most reputable assessment providers have already introduced a multi-layered approach to maintain the integrity of their platforms and prioritise online assessment security

Disabled Copy and Paste

Candidates are restricted from copying questions or pasting responses into the assessment platform, minimising opportunities to share or outsource answers.

Timed Assessments

Strict time limits are applied to each section or question, reducing the likelihood that candidates can consult external resources during an assessment.

Dynamic Question Banks

Many platforms now use large and randomised question pools, ensuring that each candidate receives a unique assessment experience.

Live Proctoring Options

Some providers offer live proctoring as an additional layer of verification, significantly reducing the risk of unauthorised assistance or resource use.

Candidate Declarations

Candidates are typically required to acknowledge a commitment to ethical behaviour, reinforcing the importance of honesty during the assessment process.

Emerging Innovations in Online Assessment Security

Assessment providers continue to innovate in response to evolving risks. New features being rolled out include:
Screen Capture Prevention
Many systems now offer screen capture blocking, preventing candidates from taking screenshots or sharing questions externally — a key development to protect against AI misuse.

Steople’s Approach: Tool-Agnostic, Purpose-Driven Solutions

At Steople, we are committed to delivering assessment solutions that are fit for purpose, secure, and scientifically valid.
We are proudly tool-agnostic, meaning we are not tied to any single provider. Instead, we partner with a range of globally recognised assessment providers — including Saville, LSI, ACER, Testgrid, and others — selecting the most appropriate tool based on the specific needs of each client and project.
This ensures we:
  • Customise solutions to match the role, industry, and organisational context
  • Maximise predictive validity by aligning methods with required competencies
  • Stay ahead of emerging security threats
  • Maintain flexibility to deliver the best technology and insights available

 

At Steople, it’s not about using the most popular tool — it’s about using the right tool to achieve the best outcomes for our clients and candidates alike.

Why Online Assessment Security Matters

Protecting the integrity of online assessments ensures that:
  • Results are valid and predictive
  • Candidates are evaluated fairly and consistently
  • Organisations make better, more informed decisions
In a competitive environment where securing top talent is critical, strong online assessment security is essential to maintaining trust and driving success.

Staying Ahead: What Organisations Should Do

When selecting or reviewing assessment providers, organisations should ask:
  • What security measures are in place today?
  • How is the provider adapting to emerging technologies like AI?
  • Are there additional options like live proctoring or dynamic question sets?
By choosing platforms – and partners – that prioritise online assessment security, innovation, and candidate fairness, organisations can ensure that assessments remain a trusted foundation of their hiring and development strategies.

Why Untapped Potential Isn’t a Talent Problem—It’s a Leadership Opportunity

In nearly every organisation we work with, there’s a familiar story: a team full of smart, capable people who aren’t quite firing on all cylinders. It’s not that they lack the skills. The problem is subtler – and more frustrating. There’s talent, but not momentum. Energy, but not focus. Ambition, but not alignment.
So, what’s the missing piece?
At Steople, we believe the answer often lies in coaching – specifically, coaching that unlocks self-awareness, psychological safety, and sustained behaviour change. When done well, coaching doesn’t just improve individual performance. It transforms teams and shifts organisational culture.

Coaching Isn’t Just for the Struggling Few

There’s a lingering myth that coaching is a remedial tool, something offered only when an individual is underperforming. But in reality, coaching is most powerful when used proactively.
Modern organisational psychology shows that coaching is one of the most effective ways to:
  • Build resilient, self-aware leaders
  • Develop high-performing teams
  • Strengthen culture and connection across silos
  • Improve goal clarity and accountability
In fact, a meta-analysis published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology found that coaching has significant positive effects on performance, wellbeing, coping, and self-efficacy. It’s not just helpful, it’s strategic.

The Psychology Behind Coaching Success

So, why does coaching work? The answer lies in what psychologists call self-determined change. Unlike traditional training, where information is passively absorbed, coaching invites participants to actively reflect, explore, and take ownership.
Here are a few psychological principles at play:

1. Self-Awareness Fuels Growth

Great coaching surfaces hidden strengths, blind spots, and assumptions that shape our decisions. Through tools like 360° feedback and psychometric assessments, Steople coaches help individuals make sense of the “why” behind their behaviours and create a plan for change.

2. Psychological Safety Creates Space to Stretch

For coaching to be effective, people need to feel safe – emotionally and psychologically. That’s why we build trust first. When leaders and teams feel safe to speak candidly, take risks, and try new behaviours, they become more adaptable and innovative.

3. Clarity and Accountability Sustain Momentum

Insight is only useful if it leads to action. That’s why we structure coaching around clear, measurable goals – whether it’s improving a leadership style, navigating complexity, or lifting team engagement. We also focus on habit formation and accountability to embed lasting change.

Coaching at the Team Level: Where Culture Shifts Happen

While individual coaching is powerful, team-based coaching has the potential to reshape culture at scale.
We often work with intact leadership teams to:
  • Unpack interpersonal dynamics
  • Align on vision and values
  • Build trust and commitment
  • Navigate tough conversations
  • Shift from siloed to shared thinking
In high-performing teams, coaching facilitates the transition from “working in parallel” to “working in sync.” It’s no longer about individual brilliance – it’s about collective intelligence.
And here’s the exciting part: when team coaching is integrated with assessments – like our Steople High Performance Teams Survey™ or Leading for Performance & Wellbeing Survey™ – we can measure progress, identify levers for change, and track ROI.

When Coaching Works Best

We’ve seen coaching unlock incredible transformation, especially when it’s:
  • Timed with a step-up in leadership responsibility
  • Embedded in culture or transformation programs
  • Paired with diagnostics that provide meaningful insight
  • Designed to support team alignment and cohesion
And most importantly? When there’s genuine commitment from leaders to do the work, not just tick a box.

The Steople Approach to Coaching

At Steople, we take a pragmatic and evidence-based approach. Our coaches are organisational psychologists and seasoned leaders who know how to navigate complexity, challenge with care, and translate insights into action.
Whether it’s one-on-one executive coaching, team coaching, or a leadership development program, our goal is the same:

To help individuals and organisations thrive by unlocking the potential that already exists—but hasn’t yet been fully realised.

We don’t do cookie-cutter coaching. Every engagement is tailored, strategic, and aligned with your broader business objectives.
Ready to unlock your team’s potential?
Let’s talk about how coaching can lift performance, deepen engagement, and build future-fit leaders.
In Episodes 15 and 16 of the Leadership and Wellbeing podcast, Carolyn Creswell, the owner and CEO of Carman’s, shares her unique approach to leading with purpose and leveraging data to support wellbeing. From using wearable technology to deepening self-awareness, Carolyn’s leadership style is a blueprint for creating healthier, high-performing organisations.

Episode 15: The Power of Data in Wellbeing

Carolyn believes that data-driven wellbeing is the future of leadership. From tracking sleep and stress patterns to encouraging health check-ups, she emphasises how data can empower leaders and employees alike to make more informed choices about their wellbeing.
This aligns with the principles of personalised healthcare and psychology, which advocate for tailored interventions based on individual needs. At Carman’s, data isn’t just about business metrics—it’s also about supporting employees in building sustainable habits for health and resilience.
Research supports this approach. When organisations use data to better understand their people, they can develop targeted, impactful wellbeing programs. These proactive efforts improve engagement, reduce absenteeism, and enhance workplace culture.

Episode 16: Bringing Your Whole Self to Work

In our follow-up conversation, Carolyn shares how purpose and self-awareness play a pivotal role in effective leadership. Leaders who reflect on how they show up every day—and how they impact others—create space for authenticity, empathy, and meaningful culture.
Carolyn encourages leaders to embrace small, intentional practices. These might be as simple as taking a proper lunch break, setting boundaries between work and home life, or acknowledging a colleague’s great work. When repeated consistently, these actions compound to shape a healthy, vibrant workplace.
She also speaks candidly about navigating self-doubt and the pressure to always have it together. Like many high performers, she has moments of impostor syndrome. Her solution? Reconnecting with purpose and trusting in her values.

Situational Leadership and Flexibility

Carolyn’s leadership style embodies the situational leadership model—adapting her approach based on team needs and changing business contexts. Using real-time data, she knows when to step in and when to step back, creating the space for her team to grow and lead.

Key Takeaways for Leaders

  1. Leverage Data for Insight – Track what matters: not just KPIs, but health, rest, and personal energy levels.
  2. Prioritise Purpose – When in doubt, reconnect with your deeper “why.” Purpose fuels sustainable performance.
  3. Adopt Small Habits – Wellbeing is built through consistent, intentional practices.
  4. Be Self-Aware – Reflect often on your presence, mindset, and the impact you have on others.
  5. Stay Flexible – Adapt your leadership style based on data, feedback, and your team’s evolving needs.

Why This Matters

Whether you’re a wellbeing champion like Alex, a strategic leader like Simone, or a performance-focused CEO like Andrew, Carolyn’s insights are immediately applicable. Data and purpose are not opposites—they’re complementary forces that can drive truly human-centric leadership.

Take the Next Step

Listen to Episodes 15 and 16 of the Leadership and Wellbeing podcast to discover how integrating purpose and data can elevate your leadership and empower your people.
In high-pressure environments, it’s natural for leaders to double down on decisiveness, lean into laser focus, and rely on the clarity of having “the right answer.” After all, strong opinions and quick calls are often seen as leadership gold.
But here’s the tension: that same confidence – when overused – can become a barrier to the very things high-performing teams need most: openness, collaboration, and psychological safety.
We’ve seen it time and time again, leaders with good intentions who inadvertently shut down conversation, diversity of thought, or innovative problem-solving because they don’t pause to ask or listen. And in today’s world of complexity and change, command-and-control leadership just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Openness Isn’t Soft – It’s Strategic

At Steople, our work with high-performing (and struggling) teams shows a consistent theme: the healthiest, most productive environments are those where people feel safe to speak up, ask questions, challenge assumptions, and share ideas, even when they’re uncertain.
This isn’t about endless debate or indecisiveness. It’s about creating a culture where curiosity is valued, and diversity of perspective is seen as a strength, not a threat.
And it all starts with cultivating an open mindset – especially in leadership.

An Open Mindset: The Cornerstone of Psychological Safety

Psychological safety, made popular by Harvard’s Amy Edmondson and reinforced by Google’s Project Aristotle, is the shared belief that “this is a safe place to take interpersonal risks.” But let’s go deeper: what helps people feel that safety?
One critical ingredient is openness.
An open mindset isn’t just about being willing to hear new ideas – it’s about actively seeking them out, listening deeply, and creating space for others to be heard, even when their views challenge our own.

Here’s What Happens When We Lead with Openness:

1. Curiosity becomes a culture.

When leaders ask more than they tell, teams engage. As psychologist Todd Kashdan’s research shows, curiosity fuels learning, reduces defensiveness, and increases innovation – all key to managing psychosocial risk and building resilience.

2. Adaptability becomes a norm.

Openness makes continuous improvement part of the day-to-day. Teams are more willing to experiment, reflect, and pivot. They don’t fear failure – they see it as a path to progress.

3. Empathy is part of decision-making.

Taking the time to understand someone else’s perspective strengthens connection and collaboration. It reduces “us vs. them” thinking and enables healthier discussions and more inclusive decisions.

4. Fear of judgment diminishes.

When openness is modelled by leaders, people stop worrying about looking foolish. They’re more willing to say, “I’m not sure,” or “Can we talk this through?” and that’s exactly where better decisions and stronger relationships are born.

5. Teams thrive.

Open-minded leadership helps create teams where feedback flows, people feel respected, and contributions are valued. These teams are not only more productive, they’re also more enjoyable to be a part of. And that matters.

The Leadership Role in Fostering Openness

As much as psychological safety is a shared team dynamic, leaders play an outsized role. A single dismissive comment, unpredictable reaction, or unwillingness to hear dissent can undo months of trust-building.
This is why, in our Steople Psychological Safety Assessment and workshops, we often focus on how leadership behaviour either fosters or unintentionally hinders psychological safety. An open mindset in leadership sets the tone for everything that follows.

What Can You Do Next?

If you’re leading a team, reflect on this:
  • Do people feel comfortable challenging your ideas or asking questions?
  • Are different views encouraged—or just tolerated?
  • When was the last time someone changed your mind?
If these questions feel uncomfortable, that’s a good sign – because openness isn’t about having the answers. It’s about staying curious enough to ask better questions.

Let’s Make Openness a Competitive Advantage

At Steople, we help leaders and teams build cultures where openness and safety aren’t just abstract values—they’re daily behaviours. Through assessments, coaching, and team development, we guide organisations in embedding openness into leadership, communication, and collaboration.
Ready to strengthen your team’s ability to innovate, connect, and perform – together?
Let’s talk about how fostering psychological safety and an open mindset can shift what’s possible for your people.

Incivility in the workplace isn’t just about rude behaviour, it’s a silent drain on engagement, productivity, and trust.

Incivility can look like things that happen every day in the workplace such as ignoring people, talking behind people’s backs, dirty looks, not listening. The list is long.

Organisations that fail to address incivility experience higher turnover, reduced innovation, and disengaged employees. It can also lead to work cover claims, which are financially costly for an organisation and emotionally costly for those involved. Workplaces that foster respect and trust on the other hand, consistently outperform those that allow toxic behaviours to fester.

One of our clients, Sarah, a talented marketing manager loved her job. But when a new manager started dismissing her ideas in meetings, sending emails with passive-aggressive remarks, eye-rolling and creating an environment where teamwork felt more like a battle than a collaboration, everything changed. Over time, Sarah disengaged, stopped contributing at her usual high level, and ultimately left for a competitor, taking with her the immense amount of knowledge and talent she had.

Sarah’s experience is not unique. In fact, research confirms just how damaging incivility can be. A study from Rely Platform highlights the alarming impact: when employees experience disrespect, 66% reduce their effort, 80% lose time worrying about the incident, and 25% take their frustration out on customers. The consequences? Lower productivity, poor collaboration, a culture of fear and a loss of business.

On the flip side, organisations that actively build trust and civility see remarkable benefits. Employees in high trust workplaces report 74% less stress, 50% higher productivity, and 76% more engagement. With numbers like these, it’s clear that trust and civility can’t be ignored.

The Role of Positive Leadership

Addressing incivility isn’t just about stopping bad behaviour, it’s about proactively creating an environment that fosters understanding, acceptance and respect which leads to engagement, commitment. Research on Positive Leadership provides key insights into how leaders can build such environments.

Leaders set the tone for their team. The energy, expectations and attitudes a leader brings, has enormous influence on others. We recently worked with a General Manager of Sales (let’s call him John) who inherited a disengaged and resistant team. In the beginning, John took a “toughen up and push on” approach with his new team, but he could see that his leadership style was making things worse. In our executive coaching sessions, we explored how John could take a strengths-based leadership approach. John began recognising his team members for their contributions, encouraging collaboration, and checking in on their wellbeing. Within a few months, the shift was visible. His team were feeling energised, motivated, and more connected to their work and each other. Performance improved, turnover dropped and John was even nominated for an award in his organisation, by members of his team!

John’s experience reflects what research has found: leaders who prioritise trust, wellbeing, and positive leadership create engaged and high-performing teams. A study of 282 employees

in a German finance and insurance company found that positive leadership directly increases employees’ emotional connection to their organisation (affective commitment). More importantly, it uncovered the mechanisms behind this effect:

  1. Satisfying Employees’ Psychological Needs. Employees need to feel competent, connected to their colleagues, and have a sense of control over their work.
  2. Boosting Wellbeing. When psychological needs are met, employee wellbeing improves, leading to greater commitment to the organisation and performance.
  3. Creating a Trust Based Culture. Trust is the foundation of a healthy organisation. Without it, engagement and productivity suffer.

These findings confirm what we at Steople see time and time again: leaders have the power to shape workplace culture in ways that drive both individual and organisational success.

Trust: The Cornerstone of Engagement and Productivity

Trust isn’t a soft concept; it’s a business imperative. It’s hard to build and easy to break. When employees trust their leaders, they are more likely to:

  • Speak up about issues rather than engage in gossip or passive resistance.
  • Collaborate effectively, leading to higher innovation and better decision making.
  • Stay committed to the organisation, reducing costly turnover and knowledge loss.

But trust doesn’t happen by accident. It requires consistent positive leadership behaviours, clear communication, emotional intelligence, and the ability to address conflict constructively. This is where many leaders struggle.

How Steople Helps Organisations Build Trust, Civility, and Engagement

At Steople, we partner with leaders to embed positive leadership principles into workplace culture. Everything we do is evidence-based and easy to learn and implement in the workplace. Our approach includes:

  • Developing Self-Awareness & Emotional Intelligence
    • We help leaders understand their impact through assessments, feedback tools (e.g., HBDI, 360-degree reviews), and executive coaching. A self-aware and emotionally intelligent leader will always out perform others.
  • Strengthening Psychological Safety & Trust
    • Through culture and engagement programs, we equip leaders with strategies to create safe, inclusive environments. This encourages open dialogue, collaboration, and respectful workplace interactions, reducing issues like gossip, incivility, and distrust.
  • Applying Strengths-Based Leadership
    • We teach leaders and teams how to leverage strengths, embrace change, and navigate challenges. Our programs focus on resilience, adaptability, and continuous learning to drive innovation and high performance.
  • ·Prioritising Wellbeing & Sustainable Performance
    • We guide leaders in embedding wellbeing into leadership and team development, ensuring long-term engagement, motivation, and productivity.

A Call to Action for Leaders

The evidence is clear: leaders who actively build trust, foster civility, and support employees’ basic psychological needs create workplaces where people thrive. The cost of ignoring these elements is high, not just in dollars, but in lost talent, decreased performance, and a diminished reputation.

At Steople, we help leaders close the gap between where they are and where they need to be. If your organisation is ready to build a culture of trust, respect, and engagement, let’s start the conversation.

When Carla joined a new company, she quickly noticed something different. In meetings, people spoke up – even when they disagreed. Managers openly checked in on their team’s wellbeing. Project deadlines were ambitious, but there was support to match the pressure.
Carla had come from an organisation where burnout was the norm, silence was safer than speaking up, and wellness was only addressed after a crisis. Here, she found energy, openness, and trust.
This wasn’t luck. It was the result of an organisation that understood a critical truth: psychosocial safety isn’t just about avoiding harm – it’s the foundation of performance.
More and more businesses are recognising that workplace wellbeing is no longer a “nice to have” or an HR checkbox – it’s a strategic advantage. And those who act now are gaining the upper hand.

From Risk Reduction to Culture Transformation

Historically, psychosocial safety has been seen as a reactive measure – something to address only after employees burn out or lodge a formal complaint. But leading organisations have flipped the script.
Instead of asking, “How do we stay compliant?”, they’re asking:
“How do we create a workplace where people can truly thrive?”
That mindset shift – from risk management to performance enabler – is where culture change begins.

Why Proactive Psychosocial Safety Drives Results

When psychosocial safety is embedded into business strategy, it transforms more than employee wellbeing – it transforms how people show up and how work gets done.
Here’s what the best workplaces are experiencing:
✅ Higher Engagement & Energy
Employees who feel psychologically safe and supported are more motivated, take greater initiative, and care deeply about the organisation’s goals.
✅ Stronger, More Human Leadership
Leaders who champion psychosocial safety build trust and loyalty. They foster openness, clarity, and connection – even in challenging times.
✅ Reduced Turnover & Talent Drain
Burnout is one of the biggest drivers of attrition. Organisations that invest in psychosocial safety don’t just retain talent – they become magnets for high performers.
✅ Greater Innovation
When people feel safe to share ideas and challenge the status quo, creativity flourishes. This is psychological safety in action – enabling teams to experiment, fail, and grow.
✅ Sustainable Performance
Wellbeing isn’t about lowering the bar – it’s about sustaining high performance without burning people out. The result? Better outcomes, better culture, and a stronger business.

What Leading Organisations Are Doing Differently

Companies like Google, Atlassian, and Microsoft don’t treat psychosocial safety as a side project – it’s woven into leadership development, team dynamics, and day-to-day operations.
Closer to home, we’re seeing New Zealand and Australian organisations – from healthcare and education to emergency services—move beyond compliance by:
  • Conducting psychosocial risk assessments early, not just after issues arise
  • Building leadership capability around empathetic, human-centred management
  • Measuring both risk reduction and culture uplift
What unites these organisations? They understand that culture is built one behaviour, one conversation, and one decision at a time.

How Steople Helps Businesses Create Long-Term Change

At Steople, we partner with organisations to turn psychosocial safety into a competitive advantage.
Our proven four-step model supports organisations to build cultures where people—and performance—can thrive:
1️⃣ Discover & Engage
We start by listening—through conversations, data analysis, and surveys—to understand the unique risks and strengths in your workplace.
2️⃣ Assess
We use evidence-based tools to evaluate your leadership, structures, and culture, identifying the psychosocial factors that impact performance and wellbeing.
3️⃣ Develop an Action Plan
We co-design targeted strategies that drive behaviour change at the individual, team, and organisational level.
4️⃣ Implement & Monitor
We support leaders and teams to embed change, track progress, and build momentum for ongoing transformation.
We don’t just help you comply. We help you lead.

The Future Belongs to Psychosocially Safe Workplaces

The organisations that will thrive in the future are those that understand this simple truth: wellbeing and high performance are not in conflict – they go hand in hand.
By prioritising psychosocial safety, organisations can:
  • Build trust and resilience
  • Enhance collaboration and innovation
  • Strengthen their employer brand
  • Drive sustainable success
Now is the time to move beyond tick-box compliance and make psychosocial safety central to your leadership and culture.
Ready to lead the way? Let’s start the conversation.