What we do
Most of our work is with the leaders who run the sites, deliver the projects and lead the functions. We also appoint executive teams and, where it’s needed, directors. Whatever the role, the approach is the same. Understand what you need, search the market properly and give you an honest view of the people we find.
Operational & Project Leadership
General Managers, site and operations leaders, project directors and project managers.
These leaders decide safety, cost and delivery every day, and you feel the result of the appointment within weeks. So they get our full process, start to finish.
We understand the difference between a good title and genuine delivery experience.
We look closely at what someone has personally led, the scale and complexity involved, the problems they have faced and what they actually delivered.
Our networks in these markets have been built over decades, across Australia and internationally.
Executive Leadership
CEOs, managing directors, executive team members and country heads for overseas-owned businesses. Searches where the cost of getting it wrong is measured in years.
For executive appointments, we look closely at what candidates have actually led, the scale and complexity involved, and the environments in which they have succeeded.
For Board appointments, we consider the existing Board, the organisation’s direction and the capability or perspective that may be needed around the table.
Many of the strongest candidates will not be actively looking. Our role is to find them, understand them and help both sides decide whether there is a genuine fit.
Functional & Technical Leadership
Engineering, commercial, HSE, people, planning and business development leaders, and the technical heads who keep a business running.
These roles are often harder to fill than they look, because the best people are deep in their discipline and rarely looking.
The right person needs strong functional or technical capability, but also an understanding of the business and operating environment around them.
We combine sector knowledge with detailed market research to identify people whose experience fits both.
That often means looking beyond the obvious candidates and organisations.
Leadership Advisory
Succession planning, talent mapping and leadership assessment. Often the most useful question isn’t who to hire, but whether the right person is already inside the business, and who’s ready behind your general managers.
Who could succeed an important leader? What does the external market look like? How does an internal candidate compare? Where are the capability gaps in a team?
We help clients answer those questions with a clearer view of their people and the market around them.
Sometimes that leads to a search. Sometimes it confirms the right person is already there. Both are good outcomes.
01. Market risk
Have we actually tested the market?
The obvious candidates aren't necessarily the strongest ones. We map beyond the active market and ensure diversity, research target organisations and approach people directly.
Risk controlled: you are not choosing from a narrow or convenient pool.
Our job is reducing appointment risk
A senior appointment can fail in four places.
02. Capability risk
Can they actually deliver what this role requires?
A strong career history isn't proof of capability in your environment. We assess candidates against the position specification and the TDN Leadership Compass, with a written assessment for every shortlisted candidate.
Risk controlled: the shortlist isn't just a collection of impressive CVs.
03. Leadership risk
How do they lead when conditions become difficult?
We explore how candidates have handled pressure, failure, conflict, underperformance, safety and change and then test what we hear against career history and references.
Risk controlled: you understand how they are likely to lead, not just what they have achieved.
04. Acceptance risk
Will the right person actually say Yes?
We keep close to candidates throughout the process and tell you early when remuneration, location, timing or the brief itself is narrowing the market.
Risk controlled: you don't discover at the end that the preferred candidate was never going to accept.
How a search runs
Three phases. Clear, thorough and practical.
Define
We test the brief before we take it to market.
What does the role need to deliver? What kind of leader will succeed? Does the remuneration match the market? Is the brief realistic?
If we think something needs changing, we'll say so early.
The position specification becomes the benchmark for the search and the assessment.
Search
We map the market, research target organisations and approach candidates directly.
Most of the people we place weren't looking.
Every shortlisted candidate is assessed against the position specification and the TDN Leadership Compass, and you receive our written view of their strengths and development areas.
References are conducted personally by the principal running the search.
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The search doesn't finish when someone starts.
We stay connected with the client and the appointed leader through the first 12 months, at agreed milestones. The aim is simple: surface issues early, maintain alignment and give the appointment the best chance of succeeding.
If a placement leaves or is terminated for underperformance within 12 months, we run the search again at no professional fee.
TDN Leadership Compass
A practical framework for assessing leadership.
Why it exists
A CV tells you where someone has been. It doesn't tell you enough about how they think, lead or perform when conditions change.
The Leadership Compass gives us a consistent way to test that.
Every shortlisted candidate is assessed against the Compass, with the weighting adjusted to what the role actually demands.
The Compass doesn't replace judgement. It gives us a disciplined way to apply it.
No candidate is perfect.
The value is in understanding as much as possible before making the appointment.
The five dimensions + a threshold
Direction. Can they see what needs to happen? Strategic judgement, commercial sense and the ability to make good decisions with incomplete information.
Delivery. Can they turn plans into results? Operational discipline, accountability and evidence of delivering outcomes rather than simply being around them.
Engagement. Can they bring people with them? How they lead teams, work with boards and owners, manage stakeholders and build trust.
Resilience. What happens when things go wrong? Composure, adaptability and the ability to maintain judgement under pressure.
Safety. Do they create conditions for people to work safely? Not simply safety knowledge, but the leadership behaviours, accountability and decisions that shape safety performance.
Character. Would you trust them when the pressure is highest? Character sits beneath the Compass as a threshold. It isn't something to score up or down. If the evidence doesn't support it, the candidate doesn't progress.