Croftstone Project Delivery Business was set up in 2019 as a quantity surveying consultancy serving the rail & infrastructure sector. The organisation at the time had been on a rapid growth journey, growing from 10 to 60 people during the exceptionally challenging period of Covid-19.

Leadership played a critical role in delivering the employee experience; however, many of the leaders lacked the operational leadership and line management capability needed to deliver a consistent experience.

Employee satisfaction scores showed that 51% of employees said they did not receive constructive performance feedback from their manager, and 18% didn’t know what they needed to do to contribute or what they needed to do to be successful in their role.

Recognising a need to enhance leadership skills among new and existing leaders, we designed a 16-week programme that was delivered virtually and integrated online gamified activities to embed the learning.

Programme Details

• Led by Suzanne Sallam, we initiated the programme with a training needs assessment to understand the level of skills and competencies within the leadership team and all people leaders across the organisation.
• We designed a 16-week leadership development course offering a blended learning experience. This included virtual classroom sessions that stimulated discussion and drove a mindset change, supplemented by an online platform that gamified the experience and embedded the learning.
• The programme focused on vital leadership skills such as handling difficult conversations, managing poor performance, and effective methods for giving and receiving feedback. Each module combined theoretical knowledge with practical exercises to increase confidence and understanding of critical HR challenges.

Impact

• Leadership confidence: Leaders reported increased confidence in managing challenging interactions and enhanced capability in performance management. This had a direct positive impact on operational efficiency and employee satisfaction.
• Employee satisfaction and culture change: Results against the baseline showed 90% of employees felt they belong and are valued, 90% felt they can succeed in Croftstone, 90% felt the culture is positive, and they can see that it helps them produce good results.