Client stories

Restored pride, confidence and direction

"We assumed that within everyone lay all the necessary talent, confidence and ability to get things working again..."
Nigel Howells, Chief Executive.

East Lindsey is a District Council covering a large rural area in East Lincolnshire. After many years of unstable leadership and confusion, it scored very low on the local government comprehensive performance assessment (CPA) and was regarded as a failing council, on both leadership and delivery. Two previous chief executives had been removed from their posts.

Download our East Lindsey District Council client story

Nurturing leadership in transition

“Harthill helped us surface and deal with deeply emotional issues that go along with the changes we faced. Without addressing these often hidden sub-texts that run along in the background, we would be in a different place today.” 
Toby Parker, CEO.

In 2008, Sustain's founders were seeking to achieve a successful leadership transition from a successful family-run business to an established mature organisation. Harthill were brought in to support and nurture the leadership transition under the newly-appointed CEO, Toby Parker. 

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Discovering leadership talent

"The organisation's aim was to identify and develop diverse leadership capabilities..."

Demerged from a larger organisation in 1997, and with operations in more than 20 countries, BG Group was keenly aware that future success depended on identifying and supporting individuals who were currently in the 'talent pool'. The organisation's aim was to identify and develop diverse leadership capabilities, including those whose 'out-of-the-box' approach might put them at the margins of the talent pool.

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Loving the customer, leading to growth

It is not easy to imagine a whole new paradigm for an industry and even harder to change minds and hearts to bring it to life. This client story explores how the Harthill integrated approach helps a client face into such complexity. 

Renewed confidence and innovation in Local Government

"I am quite convinced that investment in the LDF was one of the best decisions I made as CEO. Improved conversations, renewed confidence and an appetite for innovation, can, in my view, be largely attributed to our work with LDF".
Gavin Jones, CEO.

A new CEO and Leader was appointed in 2005/2006. The challenge they faced at the time was to improve the performance of a then poorly performing local authority, and in parallel, to introduce innovation and change to the nature of the role and functions of Local Government.

Download our Swindon Borough Council client story

A transformational leadership development programme

"I’m delighted we have partnered with Harthill - this innovative programme, delivering great ROI, supports the transformation of leadership talent in the European Fujitsu companies". 
Roger Leek, Group HR Director.

In 2009, Harthill was asked to design and deliver a global leadership development programme for Fujitsu. The challenge was to develop Fujitsu's talent pool, create synergy across the seven Fujitsu companies and deliver a successful programme at higher value and lower cost than leading business schools.

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Small is beautiful: partnering for excellence in public services

"It wasn't just a case of restructuring - we needed to deliver lasting cultural change. The challenge was immense." 
Diana Fulbrook, Chief Officer.

When the UK’s 42 probation bodies were assessed to establish their fitness to implement the changes outlined in ‘A New Choreography’, Wiltshire did not come out of the exercise well. Although the service was given the top PIP (Performance Inspection Programme) rating for its performance on the old criteria, managers were told that their organisation as it stood was simply not capable of meeting the new agenda.

Download our Wiltshire Probation Area client story

Capturing the full value of a major merger

"Most mergers fail – I knew if I were to lead this one successfully I would need to choose my partners wisely. Harthill actively enabled me to develop a highly effective leadership team and culture at NUI". 
Patrick Snowball, CEO.

In 2000 Aviva became one of the major forces in the UK insurance industry following a merger with a major competitor. Harthill were the partners of choice to the CEO, Patrick Snowball. From 2000 to 2004, the company enjoyed a dramatic year-on-year increase in profitability, from £296M to £832M. The relationship continues today.

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Local Government Leadership: Storying systemic change

“It gave me a chance to sit down and reflect on the work I had been doing over the last six to nine months in a way that I had not done before.” Contributor to Learning Review.

Local Government Leadership decided to set up two levels of evaluation of the initiative to serve as a rigorous learning platform for deepening and extending the changes emanating from what was, unusually, a short-cycle change initiative. The first, an academic study, was commissioned from Warwick University. The second, an Insight Learning Review, was commissioned from Harthill and conducted jointly with an internal team set up for that purpose.

Download our Local Government Leadership client story