The Situation 
An established insurance company found itself navigating a demanding business environment under new leadership. The incoming CEO had a clear vision for growth and wanted to build a collective leadership culture at the top of the organisation. His senior team were highly capable functional leaders — experienced, loyal, and deeply committed to the organisation’s success — but their long tenure and shared history meant that they were sometimes cautious in challenge and conversation. While their collegial style had fostered trust, it also limited the kind of robust debate needed to shape a new strategic direction. Adding to this, the legacy of a former, strongly characterised CEO still cast a shadow, making it harder for the new leader to fully step into his own way of leading. 

Our Approach 
We began by helping the team explore their patterns of interaction — what supported their effectiveness and what held them back. Through structured team coaching sessions, we created space for reflection, open dialogue, and constructive challenge. The work focused on enabling all voices to be heard, moving beyond the few who typically spoke up, and helping the team recognise the value of diverse perspectives. 

We also worked with them to make their leadership meetings more purposeful and strategic — centring their attention on the work that only they, as a leadership team, could do together. Using live observation, facilitated feedback, and practical techniques, we supported the team to stay focused on high-value issues and to build the confidence to challenge one another productively. 

The Outcome 
Over time, the team developed a stronger sense of shared ownership and momentum. Conversations became more open and balanced, and decisions were informed by a richer range of perspectives. The CEO was able to step fully into his leadership role, supported by a team aligned around a clear strategic direction and capable of engaging in healthy, constructive debate. The leadership group also began to draw more confidently on external insights, broadening their thinking and approach. 

The result was a leadership team with greater clarity, cohesion, and collective confidence — well-positioned to lead the organisation forward in a changing market. 

The Situation 
A national housing provider was operating in an exceptionally turbulent environment. Regulatory change, intense media scrutiny, and public concern around housing safety and quality created constant pressure on the leadership team. Alongside this, the organisation was still feeling the ripple effects of sector-wide crises such as Grenfell and issues like damp and mould — practical, emotive challenges that demanded both strategic and operational focus. 

The senior leadership team itself was relatively new, dispersed across the country, and only able to meet in person once a month. They were committed and hard-working, but often pulled in multiple directions by the pace and scale of external demands. What they needed was space to focus — to strengthen their cohesion as a team and to use their limited time together to drive meaningful progress. 

Our Approach 
We began by helping the team establish a strong foundation of trust. This meant creating the conditions where colleagues could be open, candid, and confident that others “had their back.” Through regular team coaching sessions, we encouraged honest dialogue and supported the group in noticing and addressing the moments when difficult issues might otherwise have been brushed aside. 

As confidence and openness grew, so did their capacity for productive challenge. The team became more willing to lean into discomfort, to explore difficult questions, and to work through tensions constructively in service of better outcomes for residents and the organisation. 

We also worked with them on stakeholder engagement — helping the team identify key stakeholders, clarify what they needed from them, and ensure that those voices informed leadership discussions. This strengthened connection and accountability across the organisation and beyond. 

In the later phase of our work, we supported the team in building stronger alignment with their wider leadership team (WLT). Together, we focused on communicating strategic priorities clearly, cascading the same culture of openness and collaboration, and strengthening connections across silos to reduce duplication and make better use of existing resources. 

The Outcome 
Over three years, the team grew in confidence, clarity, and cohesion. They developed a culture of openness and challenge, strengthened their relationships with stakeholders, and built a more connected leadership community across the organisation — creating the conditions for focus, collaboration, and sustained impact in a challenging environment. 

The Situation 
We partnered with the leadership team of a successful SME in the aviation engineering sector. The business, founded and still led by its original owner, had grown steadily through technical excellence and strong customer relationships. The founder was supported by two key leaders — one overseeing finance and the other leading engineering operations. 

Despite their shared commitment to the company’s success, the team was experiencing high levels of misunderstanding and tension. Their different perspectives on how best to achieve future growth had led to conflict and a sense of “stuckness.” It was unclear what they were collectively leading and how they could align around a shared direction. 

Our Approach 
Over five months, we worked closely with the three leaders to build the foundations of trust and mutual understanding. Early on, it became clear that while they worked closely together operationally, they knew little about one another’s backgrounds, motivations, and values — the deeper factors that shaped how each approached leadership and growth. 

By creating space for them to share their stories and explore “what sits below the waterline,” the team began to understand the beliefs and assumptions driving their different views. This shift in understanding made it far easier to navigate the practical conversations about business strategy and direction. 

We then helped them to develop the skills and habits of thinking together — listening deeply, testing assumptions, and engaging in productive challenge. Through structured dialogue and coaching, we supported them to move from defensive discussion to more generative, forward-looking conversations. Along the way, we introduced simple frameworks to help clarify roles, decision-making, and shared priorities. 

The Outcome 
The three leaders developed a much stronger appreciation of one another’s strengths and perspectives. Conversations became more open and constructive, with conflict transformed into useful debate. The team were able to align around a clear growth strategy, confident in their ability to work through differences and make decisions together.