April Cohort · $299 with code APRIL2026ECC Enrol Now →
April 2026 Cohort · Starts April 27

Your team has an emotional culture right now. The question is whether anyone designed it.

Most teams have never had a conversation about how they want to feel at work. Not about what they need to do. How they want to feel. It sounds simple. It's the conversation that changes everything. This course teaches you how to start it.

Enrol Now →
Use code APRIL2026ECC for $100 off · $299 USD (normally $399)

The workshop that changed nothing

You've done the team day. The values exercise. The offsite with sticky notes and butcher's paper. Everyone left energised. Two weeks later, nothing had changed.

The workshop addressed what the team wanted to achieve. But never asked how they wanted to feel while doing it. That's the gap.

You've invested in values. You've invested in strategy. But have you ever asked your team: "How do we actually want to feel at work?" That question unlocks something no strategy document ever will.

The reason most culture initiatives fail isn't the content. It's the method. You can't tell people what to feel. You have to ask them. Then build from what they say. People support what they create. That's why it sticks where posters don't.

The elephant in the room

There's a tension in the team that everyone can feel but nobody names. It sits underneath every meeting, every email, every awkward silence.

The feelings are already there. In every collaboration. Every tension. The Emotional Culture Deck doesn't create emotions. It gives people permission to name them.

Name it to tame it. Once you give something a name, you can start working with it instead of around it.

Cards with emotions on them. Black cards for what you want to feel. White cards for what you don't want to feel but might from time to time. That's it. And somehow it opens conversations that years of team meetings never could.

Why Emotional Culture · 60-second read

Every organisation has an emotional culture. Even if it's one of suppression.

Most leaders focus on cognitive culture: the values, norms, and assumptions that shape how people think and behave. But alongside every cognitive culture sits an emotional culture that shapes how people feel at work, and those feelings drive everything from engagement to burnout to performance.

Research from Wharton professors Sigal Barsade and Olivia O'Neill showed that emotional culture influences employee satisfaction, teamwork, and financial performance. The problem isn't that organisations don't have an emotional culture. They all do. The problem is that most of them never chose it.

This course teaches you to change that. To make the invisible visible. To design the emotional culture your team actually wants, instead of settling for the one you inherited.

Read the full article: Manage Your Emotional Culture →

Who is this course for?

Whether you're building culture inside your own team or helping others build theirs, this course gives you the confidence, the tools, and the community to start the conversation most workplaces avoid.

If you lead a team

Your engagement survey tells you people are "fine." But in the corridors, the energy is flat. This course teaches you to surface what's underneath "fine."

You've tried values workshops. You've done the team-building day. Nothing sticks. This gives you something that stays alive after the session ends, because your team designed it themselves.

You feel the culture isn't right but you can't name what's wrong. This course gives your team the language to name it, together.

If you coach or consult

You walk into a room and you need something that works in the first ten minutes. The ECD does that. Even with sceptics.

Your clients ask about culture but you don't have a practical methodology for it. This gives you one, with evidence behind it.

You want to be able to say "I'm certified in this" and have that mean something. The Practitioner badge is the start. The pathway goes all the way to Certified Consultant if you want it.

What you get

One hour of self-paced lessons a week, done whenever it suits you. One live call a week with experienced mentors. 90 days to complete at your own pace. A community that stays with you after the course ends.

Self-paced lessons

Bite-sized videos, activities, and reflections. About one hour per week. On the bus. At lunch. Before bed. Whenever it suits you.

Live weekly calls with mentors

Course Conversation Calls led by experienced Elephant Rider Mentors who've used these tools with real teams. Can't make a call? The full replay is always there.

90 days of full access

Complete at your own pace. If life gets in the way, you catch up. Nobody's keeping score.

A global community

When the course ends, your access to the community doesn't. Practitioners worldwide sharing what's working.

Your Emotional Culture Toolkit

Workshop plans, canvases, handbooks, and conversation guides. Plus access to our full ECD Practice Tool Library covering the four areas where emotions impact work.

Practitioner badge

ECD Emotional Culture Practitioner certificate and badge. Your first step on the Certification Pathway.

Whether you're building culture inside your own team or helping others build theirs, this is where it starts.

The evidence behind the work

In partnership with The Wharton School, we've measured the impact of emotional culture work across 250+ participants, 5 research studies, and 6+ sectors.

Featured Study · Culture Reset
R&E × Wharton
What does emotional culture actually change?
A food & beverage company. 35 employees. Before and after ECD emotional culture work. Self-reported shifts across every dimension measured.
85%
reported improved
psychological safety
70%
feel more care
from their manager
70%
reported stronger
employee voice
65%
better understand
others' emotions
Click to explore the full research →

More from our research programme — click any study to explore the full results.

Change Readiness · Government
+20.7%
increase in naming positive emotions
Click to explore →
Team Formation · Multi-Region
42 days
to measurable culture change
Click to explore →
Voice & Wellbeing · Global
75%
satisfied with emotional culture work
Click to explore →
Something we're building: We're testing a platform with leaders around the world that lets practitioners collect this kind of impact evidence from their own workshops. Real data. Validated scales. Course graduates will be among the first to access it when it's ready.

What people say when they finish

"INCREDIBLE. This will be a tool I use for decades to come."
Laurel Hollen-Forbes
"I'd do it again in a heartbeat."
Cordula Plassmann
"One of the most profound shifts in how workplace culture is viewed and supported."
Marsha La Verne
"At the end I wondered how I survived so far without knowing and using its powerful mechanism."
Stefano G. Brazzoduro
"Overwhelmingly fabulous."
Robyn Liddiard
"The tool speaks for itself. Even with those who feel cynical, once you start the conversation, they walk away with something."
ECC Graduate
"Confidence to lead a workshop before: 1. Now, 8."
Darragh Sheppard
"Change in the workplace is so often a structural change. These cards can make a human change."
Genevieve Byrt

From our graduates — scroll to see more.

Susannah K, Senior Learning Manager at Amazon — course review
Sherril Harris, Certified Professional Coach — course review
Paul B, Organisational Development Manager at Royal Holloway — course review
Marah G, Manager Learning & Talent at Walt Disney Company — course review
Sue Chandler — course review

Already have The Emotional Culture Deck?

If you've already used the deck with your team, you know the conversation works. The course teaches you why it works, how to go deeper, how to handle the room when things get real, and how to keep the culture alive after the session ends. The deck opens the door. The course teaches you to build the house.

ECD Certified Culture Practitioners from around the world
1,500+
graduates across 47+ countries

Join the April cohort

Cohort starts April 27. Use code APRIL2026ECC at checkout.

ECD Emotional Culture Practitioner Badge
$399 USD
$299
Code: APRIL2026ECC
✓ Self-paced lessons, one hour a week
✓ Weekly live calls with Elephant Rider Mentors
✓ 90 days of full access at your own pace
✓ Emotional Culture Toolkit + full ECD Practice Tool Library
✓ ECD Emotional Culture Practitioner badge
✓ Global community that continues after the course
✓ Optional physical Course Kit add-on at checkout
Enrol Now →

30-day money-back guarantee

What you'll learn

Four sections. Each one builds on the last. By the end, you'll have everything you need to facilitate your first session.

Welcome

Why emotional culture matters

Why emotions at work are not soft. Where The ECD came from. The research at the heart of this work.

Section 1

Set up for success

Reduce people's fear of talking about emotions. The Weekly Retro: the simplest ECD activity and perfect ice-breaker.

Section 2

The heart of the workshop

The Map Your Emotional Culture Workshop. The theory. The practice. The self-awareness activity that shows you what you need to feel to do your best work.

Section 3

Make it tangible

Keep emotional culture conversations alive. Rituals, tracking, and the behaviours that make culture stick.

Section 4

Other ways to use The ECD

12 creative applications. Two case studies. Bonus facilitation tips. This is where the deck gets hacked.

Graduate

Your Practitioner badge

Complete reflections, receive your certificate and badge, unlock the Certification Pathway.

This course is the first step into a bigger system.

Emotions show up in four places at work: in how teams feel, how leaders show up, how people navigate change, and how customers experience you.

This course teaches you the first one: Emotional Culture. It's the foundation. How to co-create the emotional culture of a team from the bottom up.

The other three frameworks build on it. You don't need to think about them now. When you're ready, they're there.

Each framework has its own specialist course, tools, and practitioner badge. Complete all four and you unlock the pathway to becoming a Certified ECD Consultant.

You are here

Emotional
Culture

Emotional
Leadership

Emotional
Change

Emotional
Stakeholder

Emotion
Strategy

Frequently asked questions

How does the course work?
The course is self-paced with a live cohort layer. You work through bite-sized video lessons, activities, and reflections at your own pace. About one hour per week. Plus one live Course Conversation Call per week with experienced mentors. 90 days of full access. Can't make a live call? The full replay is always there.
Who is this course for?
If you lead a team — this teaches you to have the conversation about how people actually feel at work. Your team maps emotions, names what's missing, and builds behaviours that stick.

If you coach or consult — this gives you a practical, evidence-backed methodology, tools, and a certification badge. The confidence to facilitate something that shifts the room in the first ten minutes.
I already have the deck. Why take the course?
The course teaches you why it works, how to go deeper, how to handle the room when things get real, and how to keep culture alive after the session. The deck opens the door. The course teaches you to build the house.
How long does it take?
About 4 hours of video across four sections, plus activities and reflections. You have 90 days of full access. If life gets in the way, you catch up. Nobody's keeping score.
What time are the live calls?
Thursdays at 9:00 AM NZT. That's 7 AM Australia, 9 PM England, 4 PM US East Coast (previous day). All calls are fully recorded. Many graduates complete the course entirely on replays.
Is this suitable for beginners?
Yes. No prior experience required. Completed by everyone from graduate students to 30-year veterans. If you don't find value in 30 days, full refund.
What tools are included?
Your Emotional Culture Toolkit includes the Emotional Culture Canvas, Know Yourself Handbook, Rituals Canvas, Tracker Canvas, Intention-Setting Guide, Weekly Retro Guide, and Check-in Guide. You also get access to our full ECD Practice Tool Library covering all four areas where emotions impact work. Optional physical Course Kit add-on available at checkout.
Do I get a certificate?
Yes. ECD Emotional Culture Practitioner certificate and badge on completion. This is the first step on the ECD Certification Pathway, which goes all the way to Certified Consultant.
Can I facilitate workshops after this?
Yes. You'll be able to facilitate workshops with teams of any size, and use the ECD in 1-on-1 conversations, check-ins, and coaching moments. The course walks you through a complete workshop so you can run one next week. Plus, inside our community you'll unlock an entire toolkit of ECD coaching conversations and facilitation resources.
Is this part of a bigger system?
Yes. We always recommend starting with this course. Once you understand the approach and see the possibility and potential, you can go deeper into the other specific areas: Emotional Leadership, Emotional Change, and Emotional Stakeholder Experience. Each has its own conversations, workshops, and programmes designed for that area. This course is the foundation everything else builds on.
Are there sponsored spots?
Yes. We keep a limited number on each cohort for people who work in non-profit organisations focused on social good. If that's you, get in touch. No application form. Just a conversation.
Money-back guarantee?
Yes. If you don't find value in the first 30 days, full refund. No questions asked.

The conversation your team needs to have.

Now you have the tools to start it.

Enrol Now — $299 with code APRIL2026ECC →
30-day money-back guarantee. If you don't find the learning tools and support you're looking for, we'll refund you in full.