THE KINTSUGI QUEEN
Most leaders are watching their teams quietly fracture and don’t know how to fix it. We rebuild those teams using The Kintsugi Method™, so the cracks become the gold that holds them together and your business performs again.
From Fractured to Unbreakable
I know you want to lead a high-performing team. In order to do that, you need people who communicate, collaborate, and pull in the same direction. The problem is your team is quietly fracturing in ways you can’t see, which makes you feel anxious and stuck, and leaves your leaders tired of refereeing instead of leading.
I believe that perfection is overrated. The greatest beauty often lies in the cracks, in the failures we’ve survived, and the lessons we’ve carried forward. I understand how exhausting it is to watch your best people walk out the door while your departments quietly wage war on each other, which is why I created The Kintsugi Method™, a clear three-step process that mends fractured teams and turns the cracks into the gold that holds them together.
Here’s how we do it. First, we run a Team Evaluation to find the actual fractures, not the symptoms everyone’s been talking about. Then, we move into Team in Action, where we do the rebuilding work together through workshops and interventions tuned to your team. Finally, your team reaches Team Flow, where communication moves freely, departments compound instead of compete, and your numbers start climbing.
So, book your Team Evaluation today. In the meantime, download our free guide: The 5 cracks costing you your best people
You can stop refereeing a team that’s quietly falling apart and instead lead a team so strong that the cracks become the very thing that make you unbreakable.
The Y-Connect Difference
spent presenting & training
Testimonials
What our clients say about Yoke and Y-Connect
Why You Should Work With Us
At Y-Connect we hold ourselves to the following values:
Excellence
Kindness
Accountability
Creativity
Fun
Frequently Asked Questions
Kintsugi is a Japanese art form where broken pottery is repaired using gold — transforming something fractured into something even more beautiful than it was before.
Yoke van Dam, the Kintsugi Queen®, works on the same principle. She transforms fractured leaders and teams — helping them reframe setbacks, realign around shared purpose, and grow into a stronger version of themselves.
Her philosophy is simple: perfection is overrated. Our greatest beauty often lives in the cracks — in the failures we’ve survived and the lessons we’ve carried forward.
Yoke works with leaders through tailored development programmes and one-on-one coaching — rebuilding confidence, restoring clarity, and helping them lead with integrity so they can create workspaces where people genuinely thrive.
Teams rarely fail overnight. Failure typically starts with small, ignored warning signs that compound over time. When these challenges go unaddressed:
Common warning signs:
Entrenched resistance to change and a negative team mindset
Victim mentality and a lack of personal accountability
Toxic behaviours and emotional reactivity
Breakdown in trust and respect, including toward leadership
Poor communication and unresolved conflict
No clear team identity, shared purpose, or behavioural standards
Left unaddressed, the result is often:
- A decline in current performance levels
- Entrenched toxic behaviour and deteriorating morale
- Increased HR dependency for conflict management
- Erosion of leadership credibility and authority
- Ongoing staff resignations
- Damage to cross-functional relationships and client experience
When the warning signs of a failing team go unaddressed, the environment becomes unsustainable — and staff engagement, morale, and retention all pay the price.
Our objective
To reset the team’s mindset, behaviour, and ways of working — and build a foundation that makes current success repeatable and scalable.
This means establishing:
- A genuine ownership and accountability culture
- A clear team identity with agreed behavioural standards
- Stronger trust, communication, and collaboration
- A shared understanding of purpose and contribution to the business
What a successful intervention looks like
A team that:
- Takes ownership and holds itself accountable
- Communicates effectively and resolves conflict without escalation
- Builds genuine trust and collaboration across the group
- Sustains — and improves — current performance outcomes
- Behaves in a way that reflects the organisation’s values and expectations
How we do it
We work in three stages, depending on what your team needs:
- Keynote (1–2 hours): A high-impact session to surface the real issues, shift perspective, and identify the behaviours holding the team back
- Intervention workshop (½ day, 1 day, or 2 days): A structured, hands-on experience using case studies, gamification, and trust-building activities — where the team rebuilds their shared purpose, identity, and culture, sets a collective vision, and works through the dysfunctions blocking progress
- Discovery call: Not sure where to start? Book a call and we’ll help you identify the right fit for your team. Book it here: https://calendly.com/y-connect/coaching-session
Emotional intelligence in leadership is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions — and to use that self-awareness to lead others more effectively.
An emotionally intelligent leader:
- Recognises their triggers and regulates their emotional state under pressure
- Resolves conflict quickly and creates space for healthy, honest debate
- Remains flexible and adaptable when circumstances change
- Lifts their team rather than seeking personal recognition
- Draws out the best in the people around them — through genuine praise, trust, and consistent behaviour
The result is a leader others want to follow — not because they have to, but because they feel seen, supported, and valued.
We make use of a vast amount of engagement tools, that will ensure that your team has the chance to:
engage, collaborate, brainstorm and partake in fun quizzes. In our Presentation bootcamp the delegates all get the chance to present online as well.
- All Y-Connects courses is fully customizable according to your specific needs and outcomes of your business. Set up a Zoom call or appointment to discuss your brief and objectives with Y-Connect.
- We can include the company’s core values in the training as well.
We prefer using the Zoom platform, but are very open to using whatever platform you prefer. We prefer doing sessions for a maximum of 1.5 – 2 hours at a time, and break up a 1 or 2 day course, over a few days, or over a few weeks.
Neuroscience has proven that you can only concentrate so long, and we believe in implementation and interaction.
You can email our offices at yokevandam@y-connect.biz with the following details:
- Date of your event
- The number of delegates attending
- What is the purpose of the event?
- What other speakers and topics will be on the agenda
- What do you want to achieve through this Keynote, Workshop or Training session?
- Please send your company organogram and any details that can assist Y-Connect in preparation before meeting to discuss your brief.
- What were topics discussed in the year already?
- Any training that you’ve given to this staff in the last 6 months please list them here.
All keynotes are customizable. Her topics range from Sales, to Leadership, to People Engagement, and changing behaviors. See here for more details https://y-connect.biz/professional-speaking/
- Yoke has trained CEOs’, Directors of companies, Sales and Marketing directors and business executives. The types of coaching vary depending on the clients needs. Some CEO’s have asked to deal with anxiety in Public speaking. Others have dealt with Phobias, work-life balance, Leadership, resolving conflict and giving performance appraisals or hard feedback to their staff.
- She has Coached Sales directors on Managing their teams, how to motivate them, and how to keep the teams accountable.
- Her coaching can help you change patterns, create better habits, become a great leader that people will trust and want to follow.
Coaching can happen at your offices if you are based in Johannesburg, or over Zoom.
- A data projector
- Flipchart with markers
- Notebooks for delegates
- Tea’s and lunches for all delegates and trainer
- I am not always logged into Zoom, please arrange an appointment with me via email at yokevandam@y-connect.biz so that we can arrange a zoom call.
- Please send me three dates and timeslots that can work for you.
- We do offer our services outside of South Africa as well.
- All travel and accommodation has to be provided by the agent who is making the booking, or can be billed separately.
- Please arrange a Zoom meeting to discuss your specific needs and to find out international training and speaking rates.
- Please confirm your time zones, so that we can find a time that can work for both parties.
- Please arrange an appointment to meet via email at yokevandam@y-connect.biz so that we can arrange a Zoom call.
- Please send me three dates and timeslots that can work for you.
You can download a copy here 25 June 2021 Privacy policy Y-Grow Pty Ltd trading as Y-Connect
Read Our Latest Articles
We love to share our thoughts on leadership, EQ, public speaking and much more…
How to Reframe Negative Thoughts: An NLP Tool for Leaders
In June 2023, I walked onto a keynote stage on crutches, wearing a moonboot and hiding tears from the drive over. What I told that audience turned my worst professional moment into my most memorable opening line. In this post I share two NLP reframing techniques you can use to shift a negative thought before you walk into your next high-stakes meeting.
That’s 63 words, which sits comfortably in the excerpt sweet spot. If your theme cuts excerpts at 55 words, here’s a tighter version:
In June 2023, I delivered a keynote on crutches, in a moonboot, after crying the whole drive there. What I said on that stage turned pain into my best opening line. Here are two NLP reframing techniques to shift a negative thought before your next high-stakes meeting.
Meaning, Leadership, and the Courage to Address the Elephant in the Room
Some of the most important growth happens in the places we tend to avoid. Drawing on the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold, this conversation explores how fractured moments in life and work are not signs of failure. They are invitations to build wisdom and strength. When leaders find the courage to address the elephant in the room, teams begin to rebuild trust and say what has been left unsaid. Real leadership makes room for others to shine. The fractured places are not the end of the story. They are often where the most meaningful transformation begins.
Great leaders build great people: lessons from my conversation with Margaret Hirsch
Five years after her last visit to Leadership Lyrics, Margaret Hirsch joined me again, this time from Florida, where she and Allan now live after handing Hirsch’s over to their son Richard. We spoke about the deliberate choices behind the Hirsch’s culture: what Disney University taught them about structure, why every morning starts with training and singing, why they hired for attitude ahead of skill, and how they prepared the next generation to lead. Margaret leaves every founder with one practical question: what happens in your business by design, and what happens by accident?