"Three founders led a small, fast-growing energy performance consultancy with an enviable reputation and client roster. They were aligned on where they wanted to get to, but with very different characters, they struggled to agree on how to get there. In fact, their weekly Executive Management Team (EMT) meetings were full of mistrust and ego. The business was in danger of falling apart, with the founders going their separate ways. We had worked with one of the founders previously, and he introduced us to the others in the hope that we could help them resolve this issue. The EMT agreed to our help.

We worked with each individual to better understand their perspective and wishes. We facilitated the EMT meetings to reduce the tension and produce better outcomes. We then used our tools and techniques so team members could better understand each other. We embarked on a programme to rebuild trust in their collaboration and create distinct areas of accountability.

Over the course of a few months, we created a harmonious group that valued each other’s contributions and collaborated in ways that they hadn’t envisaged possible. In fact, we built the EMT into a Psychologically Safe team. This had a profound impact not just on the business leaders but on the company as a whole. Decision-making was improved, morale improved, and business growth increased. Stress was reduced enormously, and the energy they once had for the business came back."

"While improving Psychological Safety, we could then start to address some of the missing capability issues. As a consultancy, they produced bespoke client reports using their clients’ building energy data. This was time-consuming, error-prone, and not scalable. It also held them back from introducing higher-value propositions into the market. Working with them, we architected a digital transformation that would automate the data collection, assimilation, and interpretation. We skilled their workforce and changed the time and materials culture to one of product value add. They could now routinely provide insight and actions to their clients rather than simply report. The number of propositions increased, the value they presented to clients increased, and the margin increased. They now had a scalable set of propositions and the capability to innovate, design and deliver across a digital platform built to last. The whole programme, including strategy, design and migration, took 9 months and produced a positive return on investment within the year.

The company continued to grow substantially and was recently acquired, providing the founders with a life-changing sum."

"With a newly agreed-upon strategy for diversification, the board of this 100-year-old, 800-person business knew that the future would be challenging. The current organisational structure would creak and maybe buckle if it did not change. They also knew they needed to change their style and mindset to lead the company and accommodate the complexity and scale of the future business. With their strong management team, they were confident they could transform the business successfully. However, they lacked the comprehensive plan, tools, and techniques to clearly define the transformation and systematically implement it. Since culture would play a large part in the strategy’s success, testing it and updating it was critical. Using various proprietary tools and techniques, the senior leadership team honed and clarified the purpose and values. These then informed and drove the cultural behaviours that were to be encouraged and embedded throughout the business. It became apparent that a great culture is the fusion of business imperative with people's purpose and fulfilment at work. Together, the purpose, values, and culture shaped the business for future challenges. In this way, not only did the rules of the business change, but people’s attitudes, engagement, commitment, and behaviour also changed. This ensured the hard-won yards of the transformation were successfully embedded in the business. "

"The changing culture provided the foundation for delivering the radical structure and process changes required to make the business successful for the next 100 years. Decision-making became collaborative rather than by consensus, improving outcomes' quality and velocity. Their people felt included and fulfilled, but that didn’t deliver the necessary productivity, innovation, or diversification. We introduced RACI to streamline processes and improve accountability, a move that not only made people feel included but also empowered and engaged. This completed the missing piece in the Psychological Safety puzzle, fostering a sense of ownership and responsibility among the employees. Diversification meant acquiring new skills in product management. Previously, products grew out of client needs, but market needs weren’t generally addressed, and there was no product management discipline. This led to waste through duplication of effort, poor investment decisions and low productivity. Yet diversification was fundamental for future success. We implemented a product management process and upskilled the leadership so they could develop and bring to market successful propositions. A year after our work together, their revenue increased by 15%, and they had successfully created two significant new lines of business. They became market-oriented with their propositions and continue to invest and reap the rewards of the diversification strategy, the changes to culture, and the new capabilities within the business."