Celebrating diversity
Our world is beautiful and having colour in it makes it so much richer and even more beautiful.
Today is International LGBT+ Pride Day, an important reminder to continue to create a world where everyone can be their authentic selves. A reminder to celebrate love, acceptance, inclusivity and diversity.
Diversity enriches our lives and makes us stronger in so many ways – as teams, as a group of friends as well as as individuals.
At Sladen we believe that diversity fosters innovation and creates a sustainable environment in which people can thrive. This is the “why” behind Sladen Consulting and the uniting strength of our team.
So let’s fully embrace the beauty of all colours of the rainbow, be curious about the possibilities that come with it and celebrate the magic of diversity.
What is the uniting strength of your team?
What a week
Well, we don’t know about you, but we’re ending this week happily exhausted! As well as delivering lots of great work with our wonderful clients, here are some of the highlights from our week:
– Celebrating 19 years of Sladen Consulting!
– Riding on the high of winning a Gold Award at the Consultancy Awards last week
– Working on the incredible detail that goes into a creating a ‘Vision Picture’ for a client in Germany
– Developing the agenda for a face-to-face Summit for 200 participants that we are running in September in Ireland
– Delivering High Performing Teams workshops in France, Germany and the US
– Getting Discussion Documents out to potential new clients in the US and UK
– Working on Master Service Agreements and contracts for clients in Ireland, India and Switzerland
– Planning a trip to Portugal to facilitate Skill Bites
– Running Capstone Events for two cohorts of a virtual Leadership Program
– Watching the Euros!
Another great week in Sladen-land. It wouldn’t be possible without our amazing network of Associates, and our precious Hub Team, and of course our amazing clients.
What are the highlights from your week?
Consultancy Awards 2024 - Gold Award Winner - Best Partnership
‘Community’ Award – Gold Award Winner – Best Partnership in the Network
We, along with our friends at Hatch, are delighted to have received the Gold Award for our joint entry in the category of ‘Community’ at the 2024 Consultancy Awards. This Award recognises ‘Partnerships’ and we were thrilled to receive this recognition on 13 June 2024 at an Award Ceremony in London.
Mutuality is one of Sladen’s 5 Guiding Beliefs, and it is modelled so well here in our partnership with Hatch…here is an insight into our story:
In November 2020 Matt Sims(Hatch) met Richard Colley(Sladen) and they quickly realised that with Business Design and Human Design together, real change can happen, which is what their clients were looking for.
What got their hearts pounding was the passion and human-centric approach they both brought to their clients. There was an immediate sense of trust. They recognised good humans with a higher purpose and built their connection around wanting to do something bigger. 1+1 could equal 3, and it could also equal ‘New’.
JOINT PROPOSITION
There were many synergies, and at the same time both organisations brought a differentiator: Sladen, bringing expertise in People Design: leadership development, behavioural change and upskilling. Hatch, being experts in Inclusive business design, bringing Agile, Design Thinking and expertise in delivering complex solutions for clients. At the same time both companies having deep expertise in designing and facilitating delivering large scale collaborative experiences and events.
Within weeks of their first meeting, Richard asked Matt to provide Hatch’s Virtual Event expertise for a 3-day leadership event for a global Pharma client. Further mutual multi-year projects began with other mutual Pharma clients.
THE JOURNEY & INNOVATION:
Some stats: We…
- Met and started working together in 2020
- Collaborated on 3 different clients (major Global pharmaceutical companies) 2020 – 2023
- Have facilitated 200+ client sessions
- Delivered for 2,000+ participants worldwide and in 9 different languages
- Deepened the partnership by bringing the wider Hatch and Sladen teams together both on client projects and internal planning sessions.
- Have continued to refine our approach. Actively learning as we work together
- Ambition to do more together. Now for 2024 – we are embarking on another project shaping and activating the operating model for a 1,200 people global team, whilst upskilling and developing their leadership team.
What did we do? For each engagement we formed a joint ‘Design Team’ made of key stakeholders from the Client, Hatch, and Sladen Consulting worked closely together to agree outcomes and co-design the right interventions to achieve them and achieve the desired change.
There are many benefits to our partnership:
- Our business design and change work is designed with your people in mind as they shape it for themselves
- We then build out the specific skills and behaviours that are required to support and enable the change as one unified process
- Deep learning – our approach applies learning directly and immediately to real business challenges in a live collaborative environment to accelerate upskilling and behavioural shift
- Individual development becomes team development as the upskilling is learned and applied via our CoLab events and not just in the classroom.
Clients tell us that our partnership brings them innovation in the form of · Faster decision making and better solution design through CoLab process · Combining leadership development with change enablement, team building and collaborative decision making · Use of collaboration tools such as Mural in session and in Knowledge/Learning Walls to power up virtual interventions and impact and create a dynamic knowledge base.
OUTCOMES & IMPACT
One example of the impact of what we created collaboratively is:
A client was about to go through a period of significant change. To prepare, the senior VP needed to ensure that her leadership team were ready to lead the change while being fully equipped to deliver on the organization’s strategic objectives. Simultaneously, the workforce needed to develop their soft skills in Prioritization and Empowerment, and for a culture of Innovation to be embedded. Our partnership supported the client by creating a:
- Means to directly link development and upskilling activities with achievement of strategic objectives
- Sustainable model for regular engagement with leaders and the broader community
- Powerful practical toolkit to create more powerful patterns and ways of working, and application the skills developed
- Interactive virtual learning wall to share the learning journey
- Set of best practices and success stories to inspire and grow together.
This was used by 400+ people and is still in use and referred to to solve day to day challenges.
The impact as described by the client was:
- Improved Employee Survey results: We’ve seen a growth in team engagement, ownership and accountability. Significant improvements year on year and many scores above company average
- Stronger global team: An engaged, empowered community of 400 people who feel equipped to take on the challenges they are facing, and are excited about the change ahead
- Empowered Leaders: Our leaders have the appetite, tools and support to drive the business forward and engage their teams in the change that is coming
- Alignment to our vision: Teams are confident in their ability to deliver the business objectives in the year ahead and are ready to harness the energy from our learning journey….
“Very impactful collaboration to support and develop my global team during a tough year. The team is now stronger and fully engaged; we’ve succeeded on all fronts, personally and professionally, and are ready for future challenges. The approach was co-designed according to our needs and executed brilliantly by Hatch and Sladen, across continents and time zones – HUGE THANK YOU!” Senior VP
NEW WAYS OF WORKING
Over time we have developed new ways of working based on the foundation of strong personal relationships between individuals within the two businesses. We recognise each others’ strengths and skills and build on this. Our experts from both teams work directly with the client team, and we connect and collaborate using regular contact points and collaborative spaces. The principals from Hatch and Sladen can step in for each other and ensure a seamless client contact.
Winner - Best Partnership Award
We are proud to be Gold winners at The Consultancy Awards together with Hatch Transforms for ‘Best Partnership‘. Our joint work and additional value to global clients started more than 4 years ago with a co-creative engaging event after having known each other for only 6 weeks. The secret ingredient are massive trust in each other, complementary skills and the conviction there you can grow and learn and excel together!
Like yesterday in this fabulous The Consultancy Growth Network celebration.
Kudos and a huge Thank You to the organisers, judges and to our fabulous Sladen Consulting team – the ones that could be there in person yesterday and all the many hearts and minds behind this success that is a team win!
And congratulations to all other winners!
Cultural Transformation - Consultancy Awards 2024
‘Cultural Transformation’ Award – Shortlist
We are delighted to be shortlisted for our entry in the category of ‘Cultural Transformation’ at the 2024 Consultancy Awards. We will find out if we have won on Thursday 13 June at an Award Ceremony in London.
Pride and passion shines through in our work with Ferring Pharmaceuticals…here is our story:
BACKGROUND:
Cultural transformation through Leadership Development has always been a priority for Ferring. However, in 2023 there was still seen to be a need to bring Ferring’s ‘leadership principles’ to life, provide a common language and consistent use of tools and behaviours in order to develop leaders across the organisation.
They approached us to partner with them to create a portfolio of leadership programs, with the mandate to craft and implement global, scalable leadership programs unlike anything provided in the past. This is right in our sweet spot – creating sustainable business environments where leaders and others thrive, using our experienced facilitators with diverse backgrounds, global reach, language capabilities, and ability to reach tangible outcomes.
The requirement for remote leadership, across time zones and cultures, is more prevalent than ever before. Hence a key driver behind the need for the programs was to provide leaders the opportunity to learn virtually and connect via an experience mirroring their day-to-day.
Ferring’s Leadership Programs have 3 levels, two of which we were responsible for designing and delivering: U-Grow (for new managers) and U-Thrive (for experienced leaders), both are highly participative, engaging and fast-moving development programs. The third level is for senior leaders.
- U-Grow aims to build high levels of self-awareness, then develop skills and capabilities which enable choices as leaders about leading others, building confidence and knowledge of key behaviours that deliver results.
- U-Thrive aims to equip leaders with the right mindset to lead effectively, navigate change and maximize their potential and that of their teams/business areas. Learning is applied by working on a unique and personal ‘Leadership Challenge’ throughout.
The programs aim to:
- Build confidence and behaviours based on the Leadership Principles so they can be more impactful and influential
- Learn models they can put into practice immediately
- Build a connected and strong network so they have continued peer support and can encourage each other’s growth and development goals beyond the program
- Be supported and encouraged by a senior sponsor
- Encourage cross-cultural understanding and diversity of thought
BRINGING THE PROGRAMS TO LIFE:
We worked with Ferring to bring content to life that ensures innovation, applicability and ‘stickability’ beyond the program and is their first cohesive learning journey and not a stand-alone training.
We listened to what Ferring needed and built an open dialogue to co-create a state-of-the-art outcome. They wanted minimal disruption to day-to-day commitments, yet with time to practice and apply learning and encourage building strong cross-functional relationships.
Design focused on creating high levels of engagement through the quality of what we do, our Sladen ‘house style’ e.g. minimal use of slides, everyone on camera, make the learning enjoyable through high levels of energy. We built in peer coaching and moments to ‘let the dust settle’.
Leaders were assigned a ‘home cohort’ of 15 participants. The programs comprise of the following elements:
- Leader Briefing – to bring line managers up to speed on participants’ development
- Kick Off – bringing excitement, building momentum, and helping participants identify the most productive mindset for them to be in
- Learning Labs – a series of 3-hour model sharing and exploration sessions, interactive learning leading to application and stickability
- A ‘Learning Wonderwall’ provides a bank of resources
- Skill Bites – 90-minute sessions, fun and impactful, focused on building one essential skill
- Action Pods – peer coaching sessions for small groups where leaders bring real-life challenges and gain coaching from other leaders helping them unravel the issue
- Capstone Event – to round off their learning and solidify key points
- Teams channel for networking and connection with dedicated facilitator outside sessions
- Visuals created a strong look and feel
Cohorts came together from different functions and countries to help build a network. The high levels of trust and psychological safety created exceeded expectations. This helped break down silos and enhanced collaboration and cross-functional awareness.
GLOBAL IMPACT
The work has been delivered virtually, plus face-to-face cohorts in Copenhagen and Germany. In 2023, leaders from 35 countries and 10 different business unit/functions have embarked on the programs.
Results are measured using surveys at the start, middle and end, and through capturing testimonials at the capstones. Engagement surveys will also show the program impact on both leaders and their teams.
Participant comments highlighting beneficial effects:
- “U-Grow feels like the ‘Swiss Army Knife’ of leadership development, we have been given so many tools which are perfect for the job, and it is up to me to decide which tool to use for which job”
- “Understanding and “living” the Ferring Principles, creating a culture of feedback, trust and growth, where everyone feels included, challenged and can unlock their potential”
- “Being able to empower my team to participate in giving new ideas or ways of working as well as changing the culture of work within my area”
- “Greater engagement, culture of open communication, culture of inclusion, promoting growth”
- “It has been crucial for me to understand my influence. U-Grow is one of the most professional programs I have attended. In sales I need to build long lasting relationships with key customers, U-Grow has been great for this.”
Participants share their experiences which has great impact on generating demand for places. The benefit of word-of-mouth recommendation has generated excitement, creating desire for more cohorts and different languages which we are delighted to continue to deliver for Ferring through 2024 and beyond.
How we look at the world
Intuitively this picture paints a very clear view, and also appetite, when we look at the world at the moment.
There seems to be so much more ‘polarising of views’ – it’s black or white, win or lose. Look at the current horrendous conflicts, the sustainability agenda, the rise of new tech including AI.
Never before have we needed to come together so much to resolve our biggest differences. So how do we even start to understand, as the picture eludes – ‘what we are missing’?
Sometimes we can feel powerless. Insignificant in the big scheme of things. So here are some tips to help:
1. Start with self!
2. Listen first
3. Ask more questions
4. Try really hard to view things from another perspective
Really simple right? NO WAY ….. especially when we already have a view, or we are talking about something that we are passionate about.
So, we would like to add a fifth point
5. Bite you tongue, count to ten, or sleep on it.
Don’t be rash!
Networking at the CGN Summit
Can you spot Sonja Skopp on stage?
This week our dream team of Sonja Skopp, Richard Colley, Sue Firth and Pip Clarke went to the The Consultancy Growth Network Annual Summit in London – how exciting to be able to mix and mingle with nearly 200 other Consultancy founders, owners, directors and take in numerous of ideas, thoughts, tips and tricks of like-minded people how you can best work in and on your business and build a sustainable future for your teams and your firm. Some brilliant inspirational speakers!
As a special treat – Thanks to Marc Jantzen and his team – Sonja was invited on stage to showcase Sladen Consulting in a panel discussion alongside 3 other members, Mark Grice, Matt A. and Megan Taylor – sharing the past, present and future of Sladen Consulting and how it got intertwined with her own story.
Buzzing after this whole packed day we went home with new exciting opportunities for future partnerships, and also had time to catch up with our many friends in the network. It feels so much less lonely when you know who you can get in touch with and share a thought or a question.
A few ‘precious insights’ that we took away:
– Each and every tiny conversation can lead to something new and surprising
– Play to the strengths of each of your team members
– Build long-lasting trusting relationships
– Work on the uniqueness of your solutions
Thank you CGN for another great event – we know what it means to rock a show like this! Kudos to all the team!
Emotion and it's effect on decision making
Oh man!! We recognise this.
It’s so easy to let our emotions run away with us, especially when the stakes are high or relationships important – both at work and at home.
And in these situations, our ability to have a healthy dialogue, lead important result-oriented conversations and come to clear decisions is limited.
Counterproductive but absolutely normal.
Here are 3 of our top tips to reduce the emotional dip and keep the decision power in check – play with both levers and test it.
Emotions:
– Be even more curious. Ask for clarity to seek understanding. Listen.
– Keep the big picture in mind and stay with the correct perspective.
– Take a break and breathe. Practice self-awareness. Get away from it for 5 to 10 minutes.
Decisions:
– Separate the emotions from facts. Focus on the data.
– Stick to your agreed framework or process.
– Seek advice of a trusted colleague before you decide.
What are your top tips in case you are running into this in your next meeting?
Shifting Mindset
Oooh we love an iceberg – an often used metaphor.
Here we would like to share how your mindset drives your actions.
Your actions are on the surface – the place where the cute penguins hang out! This is your behaviour, how we are seen in the world. The words we use and the body language we display.
Reactive behaviour is impulsive and automatic, and can often be seen as negative. It involves reacting to situations without much thought or conscious consideration, often driven by emotions, instincts, and habits.
Whereas, conscious behaviour involves deliberate and thoughtful decision-making, being proactive and mindful and taking responsibility for your actions, generally a much more positive place to be!
Our iceberg (and we recognise it in our own behaviour) shows that we can exhibit both reactive and conscious behaviours at different times and in various situations. Developing a more conscious mindset often involves self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and a willingness to pause and reflect before reacting to external stimuli. It can lead to more intentional decision-making and personal growth.
So, as you look at this metaphor what insights occur for you.
Welcome to Iris Birnkammer
Iris Birnkammer
Please join us in saying an enormous and warm HELLO to Iris Birnkammer as she officially joins the Sladen family! We are beyond excited.
At Sladen Consulting we are all about fostering involvement, celebrating mutuality, unlocking human potential, embracing rebelliousness and championing sustainability.
With Iris joining our crew, we are adding even more energy, passion, ideas and sparkle to the people and projects we touch- making individuals and teams thrive at the interface between science, business performance and human skills.
Let’s ride more waves together in the future and push boundaries.
Welcome aboard, Iris!