Worksparks Launches Real-Time, AI-Powered Leadership Coaching — Built on 30 Years of Coaching Methodology

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA — 7th. July 2026 — Worksparks, a new AI-powered leadership coaching platform founded by veteran leadership coach Sonia McDonald, today announced its early access launch, bringing real-time, coaching-informed support to leaders at the exact moment they need it — not the next scheduled session.

There are over 80 million managers worldwide navigating performance conversations, team conflict, and high-stakes decisions every day. Yet the $60 billion global leadership development industry is designed almost entirely for the top 10% — expensive executive coaching at $300-$600 per hour, annual off-sites, and workshops that don't carry over into Monday morning. The other 90% are on their own.

Worksparks was built to close that gap.

"I kept meeting brilliant, committed leaders who didn't need more training. They needed someone in their corner in the moments that actually mattered. I couldn't be everywhere at once. So I built something that could."

— Sonia McDonald, Founder of Worksparks and CEO & Founder of LeadershipHQ®

Clarity, not advice — in three steps

Worksparks doesn't tell leaders what to do. Built on three decades of leadership coaching methodology, it helps them figure out what they think, through a simple, private, always-on tool:

1. Think Out Loud — Describe what you're facing, unfiltered. No judgement, just space to process.

2. Clarity Reset — Separate what's emotional from what's strategic, and see the situation from angles you hadn't considered.

3. Resolve with Confidence — Walk away with specific language, a clear approach, and next steps you can use straight away.

The platform supports the moments leaders face every day: delivering honest feedback, managing underperformance early, navigating team conflict, leading through change and restructuring, onboarding into a new role, and having the conversation that's been avoided for too long.

Private by design

Worksparks is built on a strict confidentiality model. Individual conversations are completely private — no performance tracking or scoring, no reporting to line managers or HR, and no organisational visibility into what any leader is working through.

"Worksparks only works if leaders trust it completely. The only way to get real support is to feel safe being real."

— Sonia McDonald

For individuals and organisations

Worksparks launches across two channels:

•  For individual leaders, early access is free, with no credit card required, via worksparks.com.

• For organisations, Worksparks deploys across entire leadership cohorts — from first-time managers to senior executives — as a coaching layer that complements existing L&D programs rather than replacing them. Per-leader pricing starts at $12/leader/month, with pilot arrangements available and most cohorts onboarded within a week. Coming soon, aggregate, anonymous insights will help people teams understand the real pressures leaders face — without surveillance, scoring, or breaking trust.

The business case is direct: replacing a mid-level manager costs 50-200% of their annual salary, organisations with strong leadership development are 2.4x more likely to hit performance targets, and 77% of organisations report a leadership skills gap. Worksparks costs a fraction of a single coaching engagement while supporting an entire leadership cohort.

Early traction

Worksparks has onboarded 100 early access users across industries, gathering real-world feedback ahead of a full commercial launch across both individual (B2C) and organisational (B2B) channels.

"We embedded Worksparks alongside our leadership program and the feedback was immediate. Leaders felt supported between sessions in a way they never had before."

— Head of People & Culture, Professional Services Firm

"It gave our managers permission to ask for help — without it feeling like a performance issue. That shift alone was worth it."

— L&D Director, Large Enterprise

The platform vision

Worksparks enters the market as a real-time coaching tool, with a roadmap toward a single, integrated leadership platform spanning coaching; surveys and feedback; recognition and rewards; motivation intelligence; and culture measurement — categories currently served by separate tools such as BetterUp, Culture Amp, and Reward Gateway. The combined addressable market for an integrated platform exceeds $20 billion.

"Think of it as one tool to replace five — integrated, affordable, and built around the leader, not the organisation's need to measure them."

— Sonia McDonald

About the Founder

Sonia McDonald has spent more than 30 years coaching leaders across every industry, from first-time managers to CEOs. She is the CEO and founder of LeadershipHQ®, the founder of The Leadership Association, an author of three books, and the host of the Leadership with Sonia podcast. She has been featured in the BBC, HRD Magazine, and The Australian and speaks at leadership and HR conferences internationally.

About Worksparks

Worksparks is real-time, AI-powered leadership coaching delivered exactly when a leader needs it. Founded in Brisbane, Australia, Worksparks gives every leader structured, coaching-informed support for the difficult conversation, the high-stakes decision, and the 10 pm moment when there's no one to call. Learn more at worksparks.com.

Media Contact

Sonia McDonald

Founder, Worksparks

+61 424 447 616

hello@worksparks.com · worksparks.com