Client Stories

Client Stories

Tahir Shah

In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams

"Stories are a communal currency of humanity"


Stories from the field


Danone

Danone has gone from a small yoghurt maker to a global foods brand in just a decade or two. Their industry is one that is recognised as having a huge impact environmentally and socially, and some players are taking this responsibility more seriously than others. Danone has taken a leading role among its peers in directly addressing the environmental and social issues on its own and throughout its supply chain.


We have worked with them for over seven years and counting. We have developed their senior leaders across country, region and functional lines in preparation for more senior global and executive roles. Our work has developed their bench strength at senior level which has helped to ensure that they have a strong pool of senior leaders to draw on.


The key to our work with this client has been our close attunement to their needs as they have evolved, as well as close attention to the evolving context in which they operate an understanding of this in the work that we’ve done with their leaders. We have also collaborated very closely with the L&D team, working together in scoping, commissioning, designing and delivering the programmes for their leaders.


BP

BP is a leading player in an industry that is in chaos. The combination of demands on their industry from pricing to environmental factors through to scale and complexity of global operations and a fully vertically integrated organisation are significant.


Our work has been with the senior leaders helping to prepare them for Global roles and to make sure that BP has a strong cohort of leaders who were able to operate at the executive level. So we created new frames for complexity by training leaders in understanding and responding to that complexity. We also used enquiry and the practice of encouragement to help them grapple with their individual challenges in relating to this.

In these ways, we have improved the quality and strength of leadership at this level and strengthened the cohort of leaders available for senior roles. We have also taken this knowledge and education to the executive level so that they have a clearer understanding of what the senior leaders are all doing and how to sponsor and support that effectively. One key to our success with BP as a client, has been our close collaboration with the L&D leaders, who have needed to influence mindfully and considerately in order to embrace and embed the concepts and approach of adult development and the LDF on the map of Talent Development in BP.


Department for International Trade

DIT has gone from an organisation of zero to around 3,500 staff in the three years since it was created in 2016. During that time and since then, it has operated in an ever shifting complex context politically, socially, commercially and environmentally. This has placed and continues to impose enormous pressures on its leadership and on their ability not only to create the organisation but also to deliver it - all at the same time.


Our work in DIT focuses mainly on the cohort of leaders just below the executive team. The aim has been to support their leadership as well as create a strong network of leaders at that level that are strong partners to the executive team and able to lead the rest of the organisation forward. In addition we are supporting the L&D team to create organisational interventions using inquiry, and in establishing inquiry as an organisational practice. In this last respect, this makes it one of the organisations at the cutting-edge of organisational development work and this is being achieved during intense pressures on the organisation. The key to our success with DIT has been a persistent commitment to making the programme work well, despite the logistical pressures under which the organisation is operating. At the same time, we collaborate very closely and creatively with the L&D team to create an effective partnership for the organisation.

Share by: