Frequently Asked Questions

What is Stopover Leadership Development?

Stopover is a leadership development practice based in Victoria, British Columbia. We work with executive directors, VPs, senior managers, and emerging leaders in mission-driven organizations. The work addresses one problem: the gap between how a leader thinks their leadership lands and how their team actually experiences it. It runs from a free self-assessment through coaching, team assessment and training, up to a full eight-session leadership practice. Founded by Mark Crocker, who has trained more than 25,000 leaders across 50 countries.

What is the Leadership Terrain?

The Leadership Terrain is Stopover’s diagnostic framework. It maps leadership across six domains: Strategic Clarity, Execution and Accountability, Leadership Presence, Team Health and Culture, People Development, and Adaptive Leadership. Within those domains sit thirty specific skills. Under pressure, leadership fails in four recognizable ways, which Stopover calls pressure patterns: Anchor Loss, Strength Substitution, Stabilization Failure, and Adaptive Lag. The patterns are diagnostic, not prescriptive. You locate the pattern before you choose the response.

What are the four pressure patterns?

The four pressure patterns — Anchor Loss, Strength Substitution, Stabilization Failure, and Adaptive Lag — are recurring patterns that put a team’s leadership under strain. Each names a pattern to notice, not a flaw to fix.

What is Anchor Loss?

Anchor loss (No Shared Compass) is when a team has no shared sense of direction — people work hard but pull different ways, and “what matters most” depends on who you ask.

What is Strength Substitution?

Strength substitution (Daily Heroics) is when one person or part of the team carries what the whole system should — the effort is real, but nothing moves unless they keep rescuing it.

What is Stabilization Failure?

Stabilization failure (Muted Alarms) is when concerns and warning signs get absorbed instead of acted on — the team looks calm and steady, but problems never turn into change and quietly deepen.

What is Adaptive Lag?

Adaptive lag (Yesterday’s Playbook) is when conditions have changed but the team keeps running the approach that used to work — reaching for yesterday’s playbook again while results quietly slip.

What is the difference between the Leadership Check-In and the Team Read?

The Check-In reads one leader. The Team Read reads a team. The Leadership Check-In is a free self-assessment across the six domains, about twenty minutes, and you receive a personalized report. The Team Read surveys every member of a team, then brings them into a facilitated day where the group builds a shared picture of how it actually works. The leader also receives a private report that nobody else sees.

What does it cost to work with Stopover?

Every engagement carries two prices. The first is for nonprofit and charitable organizations, the second for all other clients.

• The Leadership Check-In: free
• Single Skill Session: $295 / $395
• Decision Diagnosis: $995 / $1,250
• The Anchor Practice: $1,850 / $2,400
• The Practice of Leadership: $2,850 / $3,250
• The Team Read: $2,950 / $3,950
• Coaching: $650 / $800 per month

Why is there a nonprofit price?

Because nonprofit budgets are real and the mission matters. Most of Mark’s career has been in the nonprofit sector, including senior roles at Leadership Victoria and United Way Southern Vancouver Island. The nonprofit rate buys the same work at a price a charitable organization can actually approve.

Do you work with organizations outside Victoria?

Yes. Stopover is based in Victoria, British Columbia, and works with organizations across Canada and internationally. Every offering runs in person or by video. In-person sessions happen in Victoria and by arrangement elsewhere. Mark has worked in more than fifty countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, and the Philippines.

How long does an engagement take?

It depends what you need. A Single Skill Session is sixty minutes. Decision Diagnosis is two sessions on one problem. The Team Read is a single day of about six hours, with a leader prep session beforehand and surveys completed in advance. The Anchor Practice is four sessions. The Practice of Leadership is eight sessions: one to orient, six to practice, one to prove it. Coaching runs weekly across a six-month engagement, about four hours a month.

Who is Mark Crocker?

Mark Crocker is the founder of Stopover Leadership Development. He holds a Master’s in leadership from Royal Roads University and has spent more than twenty-five years in the nonprofit sector, including senior roles at Leadership Victoria and United Way Southern Vancouver Island. He has trained over 25,000 learners and worked in more than fifty countries, much of it in fragile contexts. He lives in Victoria, British Columbia.