The four models we work with.
The shared language we hand back to your H&S, HR and people leaders. Built from neuroscience. Pressure-tested in NZ workplaces. Plain enough that anyone in your organisation can use them by week two.
The Iceberg · above and below the waterline.
Most workplace systems only see what sits above the waterline - behaviour. The shouting, the silence, the resignation, the meeting that went sideways.
Without language for what’s down there, psychological safety can’t form. The first job of the work we do is to give your leaders the language for what’s underneath - so the signals stop being invisible.
Little n / Big N - eight billion brains.
Every one is different.
The neurodiversity model in two parts.
If your H&S system is built for one type of brain - the others become hazards.
Not because they’re broken. Because the system was designed for someone else.
Little n / Big N - eight billion brains.
Every one is different.
The neurodiversity model in two parts.
If your H&S system is built for one type of brain - the others become hazards.
Not because they’re broken. Because the system was designed for someone else.
The nQuadrant Model · four ways brains organise themselves at work.
Built from twenty-five years of psychology and facilitation work with NZ leaders and teams. Used now in cohorts, in Clutha, in the card sort on your meeting room table.
Emotional Brain States · stress isn’t a feeling. It’s a system state.
Our states. Plain language. Anyone in your organisation can name where they are in any given hour.
Capacity is a system property — not a personality.
When a leader at an organisation says “I’m in high orange brain today,” the team knows what to do. That’s the model in the building.
“What energises one brain wiring can exhaust another.”
WHY THESE FOUR WORK TOGETHER:
Layered, not stacked.
→ The iceberg shows you where to look.
→ Little n / Big N shows you who you’re designing for.
→ The nQuadrant shows you how brains organise themselves at work.
→ Emotional brain states show you the cost — in real time.
Together they form the language. Then the psychological safety. Then the system.
Language first. Psychological safety follows.
That’s the pattern.
Where the models go to work
Psychosocial Risk Leadership Programmme
Leaders learn all four, and start applying them inside the eight weeks.
Neuro-Inclusive Performance System
Embedded into assessment, manager tools, and team practice over six months.
Brain Gym
Kept live in the run of work, week after week.
