Case Studies and Client List

Case Study 1

The leadership team of a UK R&D subsidiary of large multinational were assisted in developing an effective means of operating successfully as a semi-autonomous entity within the larger group – in effect, to operate as a business within a business, not in a subversive way, but rather to take the initiative about their future workload pipeline systematically.

The President and the Directors were very happy with their newfound agency in their own future and proceeded to secure a sustainable operation.

Case Study 2

A deft system of portfolio management to make a reality of implementing strategy was established for a large unit (school) of a large academic institution.

This enabled the relatively complex organisation aspiring to implement a multitude of strategic and other change initiatives to corral them into a serialised process, which improved focus and concentrated effort and enabled more rapid progress to be made.

Leadership and strategy development continued to be provided, enabling the client to substantially increase its research income and industry collaboration.

Case Study 1

The site leadership team of a large specialty chemicals business was assisted to prepare for a significant leadership transition.

This entailed building the self-organising capabilities of the team and the individuals within it, as well as well as strengthening the strategic orientation of the group.

Team members were also prompted to reflect on their management style in a structured way, specifically to be more effective in empowering their team members.

The leadership team was set up successfully to cope with a protracted transition to a new boss.

Case Study 2

A scale-up food-technology business was initially assisted with the resolution of tension between certain executive team members and subsequently with effectiveness of the executive team more generally to interact with each other in the most effective way.

Operational leaders at the next level were supported in their development to be as resourceful as possible in their roles.

In most cases, this involved causing them to see certain changes in their approach that could make a big difference.

In one case – and this is reflective of many similar situations – the manager concerned wasn’t self-aware about his own power and the possible benefits of moderating that in certain situations to achieve more productive conversations with his team – to avoid scaring them essentially.

Understanding our own power and sometimes lack of power is really a universal development opportunity.

Case Study 1

The production management, production engineering and maintenance leadership group for a large manufacturer of air conditioning equipment (circa 1,500 staff) has been supported with leadership development for a number of years.

This involved equipping the group with a standardised leadership competence model and supporting the development of leaders at all levels in the team and developing their ability to lead their operation collaboratively.

The resulting capability growth has enabled the business to navigate successfully through significant market-driven variation in production volume, in both directions.

Case Study 2

An agile, teamworking leadership culture was established in a specialty printing business.

This company’s issue with lack of alignment amongst its leadership group was resolved through instilling collaborative leadership behaviours throughout the organisation, both up and down the organisation and laterally.

This enabled the business to move from loss-making to break-even and beyond.

Case Study 3

A series of leadership workshops were delivered for a large manufacturer of wood products on behalf of the Managing Director, shifting the culture from a rather autocratic leadership approach to a more enlightened, involving and collaborative style.

As well as improving the workplace, this had benefits for the company’s production and financial results.

Case Study 4

The Managing Director and functional heads of a biotechnology company were supported in a transition from a top-down leadership style in which the four leaders did more or less everything – and were spread very thin as a result – to a style in which leadership effort was much more distributed in the organisation.

A key contribution was designing a system of oversight such that the MD felt he could mitigate the possible consequences of giving away some control.

Case Study 1

At one institution, work on leadership development has led to increased research grant and industrial partner income, more focused strategic leadership of the operating units of the university, and more systematic development of future leaders within those units.

At least an additional £30-40m in research grant income has been secured as a direct result and the institution now has a much-improved reputation as a partner for industry.

Case Study 2

At another institution, one academic unit (school) was supported in transitioning from a centralised line management structure to a more devolved approach with a number of research institute leaders coached in taking on line management responsibility.

The leadership team were supported in agreeing processes to give effect to the new arrangement.

Case Study 3

The leadership team of a professional services function within an academic institution was supported in overcoming tension between team members, arising partly through lack of clarity about direction and strategy as well as communication problems within the group.

Case Study 1

The leader of one College within a large academic institution (university) was supported with periodic meetings to discuss issues and opportunities across both the College and the wider institution.

As is very often the case, the client found it very helpful to explore issues with a well-informed but independent person.

Similar support was provided to other members of the leadership team in the College and also to another senior leader of institution, thus contributing to strategy development for the institution as a whole.

The institution is in good health, not withstanding the challenges in the sector.

Case Study 2

The production general manager of a large manufacturing business has also found it helpful to discuss issues within his operation and the strengths and development needs of his leadership team.

Case Study 1

A university-industry research centre was assisted to establish a culture appropriate to its dual industry-university operation.

Crucial to this is accepting the need for a “cultural island” approach in which the culture of the organisation is deliberately developed to have the features appropriate to technology transitioning between academia and industry, specifically though the Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) 4-6.

Without conscious attention to this, organisational participants are liable to assert the appropriateness of their background TRL context (1-3 for university and 7-9 for industry), leading to a variety of problems and difficulties.

Workshops on this topic were subsequently run on a number of occasions for a related organisation.

Case Study 1

A number of research programmes have been supported with facilitation of large scientific meetings involving multiple stakeholders, including industry, research funders and others.

Some of these have used an internationally-recognised technique for large group dialogue called Open Space, in which participants nominate the topics they feel need talked about under a convening question.

This approach has the desirable side benefit of building interconnections between participants and stimulating the self-organising potential of the group.

Many of these events have specifically been in the medical devices and life sciences fields, where facilitation support is found to be particularly helpful possibly because of the large number of scientific disciplines involved.

Large group facilitation has also been provided for similar events involving patient groups, in a recognised process known as Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement (PPIE).