Case studies

Derwent Leadership Team

Derwent has undergone significant organisational change, with its structure, leadership, the marketplace and the wider global ACCO business all undergoing major change. It was recognised that the impact of all this change and restructure had been noticeable on the functioning of the senior Leadership Team.

The programme we put together had to be incredibly flexible and dynamic to meet the changing needs of the transforming organisation. Where at the beginning the focus was on support and tentative steps forward, we finished with a clear vision for the future and how to cascade the culture changes for the rest of the organisation.

‘Thank you – what a journey in a relatively short space of time! I am delighted with the results in terms of team cohesion and effectiveness, strategic alignment and the positive development of culture.’ GM: On completion of programme

‘You helped us build a leadership team that is working so well during this crisis. ’ GM: One year later

Sellafield Performance Conversations

The Thorp facility was nearing its mission completion date – with staff moving on to other roles on the Sellafield site. This massive change came with a potential risk of a performance dip due to motivation, staffing levels and reactions to major change.

We worked with all people managers from across the facility, to support them to hold more effective team conversations so they could maintain performance during major change. This involved equipping them with skills and confidence, then supporting their development journey.

‘The Harrison Network worked with our nuclear operations teams as they went through significant transformation. The impact was an increase in the quality of performance conversations which supported a smooth effective transformation.’ Contract lead 

‘I’d forgotten where we were. Talking about the tricky stuff has become our new normal.’ Project Lead 

Sellafield Entrepreneurship

The product development team at Sellafield wanted to encourage project teams to think more entrepreneurially, being creative, commercial and willing to test new ideas together. They were also seeking to embed this thinking within the wider leadership in Engineering.

We developed an innovative and experiential course to meet the changing needs of the teams, designed to enhance ongoing Leadership programmes. This evolved into the STEP Up programme; a group of people willing to challenge the status quo, prioritise commercially, be innovative without risking safety and leading others to do the same.

‘Thinking of my department as a business profoundly changes how I think about the whole organisation’

‘I am more business minded; being able to align what I am doing to the bigger picture and allowing me to better evaluate opportunities within that. I have more confidence to explore opportunities or discover and be able to articulate these to relevant people successfully no matter what the outcome is.’

Kingswood Future Leaders

Kingswood were putting their aspiring leaders through a new two-year leadership qualification and wanted coaching and facilitation support for the cohort as they moved through the programme to help them apply learning to themselves personally and in their roles.

The organisation underwent significant change during the two years, with the Harrison Network flexing to meet the changes and support the individuals and programme. Coaching evolved into L5 leadership training and assessment.

‘The facilitation was brilliant, we were able to all get involved in discussions, ask questions and apply new learning to practice in a relevant environment.’

‘Coaching is a word that we all use but I really didn’t understand what exactly it meant. I would recommend it to anyone, you might not think you need it but until you give it a go you don’t realised how much you get out of it.’