The Challenge

This division of a global business houses four very different operations specialising in healthcare, government, defence, and aviation. Though the leaders were part of a combined leadership team (together with the requisite support services), each ran their own show. This meant little collaboration, minimal cross-referral (lost opportunities), and zero shared identity. The senior team knew something had to change - not necessarily the org chart (although that would come), but the way people thought, worked, and led. And the cherry on the top? They had aggressive growth targets to meet.

The real win is balance. Each leader still has to maintain focus on their business unit (with its own unique challenges, targets and P&L) while at the same time finding space to work ‘on’ the business and harness collective capability.

What did we do Together?

Initially, our brief was to get everyone on the same page so they stood a chance of reaching their shared goals. That meant:

• Aligning strategy across the 4 wildly different units (finding common spaces to play and support each other)

• Rebuilding a shared culture, to make collaboration the no-brainer response

• Creating real leadership traction across and through the senior team; behaving as leaders of one business plus leading their separate entities

• Working with leaders and teams more deeply within the business to help embed and reinforce action from the senior team

Here’s what we got up to:

✅ A strategy refresh kicked off by refining purpose, product portfolio, and positioning
✅ A leadership system designed and built together involving

• Executive offsites and immersive workshops (quarterly)

• One-on-one and group coaching

• Practical culture design (with plenty of myth-busting and ideas on how to model desired culture)

✅ Formed an embedded partnership. Our engagement went beyond advice and facilitation. We:

• Sat in on interviews for senior hires, acting as a brains-trust for decision making around building the team

• Helped navigate tricky stakeholder dynamics

• Coached individual leaders, including the Exec Head of Division

• Rolled out strategy through conversations and work with individual leaders and their teams — not with PowerPoint slides

Where did we get to?

• Senior leaders now think of themselves as a collective team – while maintaining their functional accountability and focus. This was true of both the P&L owners and the supporting functions (IT, sales, finance, etc). Collaborative sentiment and action extended beyond the leadership team and to other leaders deeper in the business unit, and also across boundaries into other entities of the global business. They approached cross-organisational problems and opportunities in this collaborative way delivering tangible results

• This collaboration and efficiency has also contributed to multiple successful acquisitions and global growth in the form of establishment of US and UK teams

• Resource sharing and the use of common systems for efficiency and speed became the norm (and, in some cases, have been exported to other BUs within the global business)

• Revenue, margin, safety, and engagement all exceeded targets

• Exceptional financial performance means this business is the largest contributor to both revenue and EBIT

• Senior leaders reported stronger relationships, faster execution, and real cultural momentum

Why It Matters

We didn’t show up with a playbook and expect them to follow it. Instead, we rolled up our sleeves and worked alongside the leadership team. We listened, asked thoughtful questions, and created space for real conversations - the kind that don’t usually happen in the ‘busy’ of the day-to-day. We made it easier for people to talk openly, asked the questions that really mattered, and helped them turn those conversations into clear, practical next steps. ‘Practical’ is one of our Frog superpowers, and teams really value it!