“RISE invested time to understand us as a business, identified how they could drive deep rooted change to improve our culture and then systematically implemented a programme that led to enhanced trust, vulnerability and communication; resulting in a step change in business effectiveness and performance. I cannot recommend RISE strongly enough to any business that values its colleagues and customers."

The work

Our work started with the Executive team. We spent time through a series of workshops supporting the development of trust and connection between members, addressing areas of conflict in the group , to support them in developing the strength in their foundations to move forward.. Shortly after we started work with this group, we initiated a customised leadership development programme for senior management as a way to start to bring the next level of the business into more senior leadership conversations.  

The focus of these small group programmes was to connect people from across the business, those in different roles, with different experiences and insights and bring them together in a facilitated space where people could work on individual leadership practices as well as learning and supporting each other in their work. These small peer groups then connected in the larger, newly formed senior leadership team on a 6 monthly basis, where we facilitated offsites, creatively engaging the larger group in key strategic challenges and opportunities for the business. This process and rhythm enabled cross-organisation connection and sharing which positively impacted the organisation’s collaborative culture.

By 2017 the senior management of Bruntwood could recognise how much the culture had shifted, underpinned by a profound shift in coherence around the purpose of the business and each individual’s connection to that purpose. 

In addition to the ongoing work with the executive team and the senior leadership group, our partnership evolved to include rolling out the RCA programme to the next level of management, providing facilitation training to the HR team, supporting key individuals of the C-Suite on particular challenges and implementing a process for encouraging ongoing connection and sharing across the business through internally run Peer Learning Groups.

Impact

Our work with Bruntwood, and the impact it had on the leadership culture of the business was nominated for a CIPD People Management Award in 2018. Whilst, like any business there remain challenges and points of friction, the increased leadership capability across a larger group of people has enabled the business to be more agile and adaptable in times of increased stress and uncertainty. People at Bruntwood speak of their experience working with RISE as enabling deep personal realisations and development as much as they do the impact it had on the organisation as a whole.

Bruntwood has transformed in so many ways throughout this period and through its various acquisitions and partnerships now operates a multi sector portfolio through it’s Bruntwood SciTech, BruntwoodWorks and UnifySolutions businesses. In 2020 their Science Parks were a core part of the national effort in supporting the understanding and development of vaccinations against COVID-19.

RISE continues to provide ad hoc support and guidance to Bruntwood on specific projects and initiatives.