Impact Stories

How do you cut through the rules and red tape to remember there is a customer you’re trying to help?

At HSBC we set up, scaled and embedded a team of designers and researchers who challenged so many ways the bank thought about creating products and services. We were there to challenge a status quo.

My role was to help that team to thrive, which meant...

• Find the walls to knock down

• Win over the people that matter

• Create a culture in the team that attracted top talent

• Evaluate the impact of the team on the bank’s performance

Big dreams need strong plans. At Edinburgh Futures Institute, a part of the University, my role was to coach and support the leadership team over 18 months to turn their dream of solving problems that matter into a working business that hummed.

We helped them to develop a compelling vision, a solid strategy - and crucially, a brand new way of working that squashed the hierarchy and celebrated empowered, autonomous teams working collaboratively to get stuff done.

As a leader, how do you empower teams to make decisions themselves and trust the outcome?

We’re in the middle of creating a cultural shift - one where employees feel confident and equipped to tackle daily challenges themselves, allowing leadership to focus on steering the organisation.