Kindness in Action
KindFrame is dedicated to building kinder, higher-performing, trust-driven cultures. It is informed by research-grounded expertise in leadership development, team culture strategy, and relational governance, ensuring that kindness transcends mere values.
Who I am
I’m Nicki Macklin (PhD) - advisor, speaker, facilitator, and researcher focused on the role of kindness in organisational life. I live in Nelson, New Zealand, with my family, but travel often. I recently returned from the University of Toronto, where I was invited to be a visiting scholar within the Rotman School of Management, collaborating to give lectures on organisational kindness and kind leadership.
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My work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and the British Medical Journal Leader, where I also serve as an Associate Editor, supporting global research on kindness, human connection, and relational leadership through to publication.
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I founded KindFrame to help teams and leaders bring more kindness, trust, and humanity into the way they work. My PhD research explored organisational kindness as a form of social capital - something that can be designed for, measured, and embedded into team culture and leadership practice. I specialise in helping organisations turn values into action, especially in complex systems like healthcare, law, and public service.​
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At the heart of everything I do is this belief: kindness is not soft. It can be structured. And when it’s built into the way we lead, relate, and hold each other accountable, it delivers real-world results.
Why I started
KindFrame
I started KindFrame because I kept seeing a gap - between what organisations say they value and how those values are actually experienced by their people. I also began noticing that many culture efforts out there are still sold as a 'one size fits all' approach, and lack a strong grounding in research. Every workplace culture is different, and requires its own unique set of solutions. I believe that if you are going to invest in your team's culture, you should be accessing quality and tailored expertise informed using up-to-date research.
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Kindness is often talked about as a personal quality or a cultural ideal, but rarely treated as something that can be structured, supported, and made visible in the day-to-day work of teams and leaders. And yet, when kindness is missing - when people don’t feel safe, seen, or respected - performance suffers, relationships fracture, and culture becomes something you have to manage instead of something that helps you lead.
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KindFrame exists to close that gap and help organisations design for kindness - not as an add-on, but as part of how accountability, professionalism, trust, and performance are built. It’s about making the invisible architecture of culture visible. And making kindness work for you.
How I work
My work is relational, evidence-based, and practical. I combine research with real-world experience to help leaders and teams build cultures where people can do their best work - together.
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I don’t offer off-the-shelf solutions. I believe the best results come from co-producing the work - listening carefully, making space for multiple perspectives, and designing strategies with the people who will use them. This approach ensures the solutions are relevant, grounded, and more likely to stick.
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I pay close attention to what’s happening beneath the surface: the group norms, signals, and behaviours that shape how people relate, collaborate, and lead. From there, I work alongside clients to design content, skills and tools that support accountability, professionalism, connection, and sustained performance.
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Whether it’s a team that needs a reset, a leadership group navigating change, a board looking to align values with behaviour - or simply time to positively reinforce and celebrate the good people doing great work in your organisation - I can help you make kindness actionable, measurable, and part of how work gets done.