Origin Housing is a registered social landlord, providing around 6500 affordable homes and related care and support services across London and Hertfordshire.

The Challenge

Raise the leadership capability to lead in a new challenging environment

Taking feedback from their staff survey and Investors in People review, Origin identified a need to build better leadership capability within its exec and senior management teams, in order to lead successfully in a new phase of the organisation's lifecycle; an environment of significant regulatory and policy change.

The Approach

360°degree feedback used to develop a ‘Lead to Succeed’ development programme of workshops, development days and 1:1 coaching

In order to understand where the organisation was, where it wanted to be, and its cultural readiness for the journey, we conducted a ‘fact find’. This involved meetings with the exec team, senior management team and staff from across the business.

Individual and combined 360° feedback results and the Strategic Business and People Plan were used to design a ‘Lead to Succeed’ programme. The programme consisted of two mandatory workshops, four optional workshops, plus development days for the exec and the senior management teams, aimed at developing core leadership and team working skills as well as 1:1 coaching.

Commenting on the programme development, Tara Healy, Head of Human Resources said, ‘Our relationship with TLC is very strong. The facilitators are amazing, so knowledgeable and intuitive to our needs. I love how they continually challenge us in our thinking and feedback. It’s so beneficial to the organisation.’

Results

The programme’s impact has been significant. Origin’s staff survey indicated people were highly engaged, with the response rate being up 54% on the previous survey, and up 26% in comparison to other housing associations. The Engagement Index stands at 82% (an 8% increase).

Tara Healy, Head of Human Resources says, ‘The value we’ve got from our investment is incredible. There is such a change in how we are, and how we manage. There’s a different atmosphere, and we’re much more open. The 'One Team' workshop brought us to a different understanding on how to achieve business results. It’s a massive shift from where we were, and it feels different, she reflects. We have much more cohesive working, especially at the top. As a result of being more joined up, we’ve structured our business planning differently, with improved results. There’s more openness, people are more receptive to feedback, there’s more challenge, and more work is being done. There’s been a shift in behaviour; managers are prepared to have powerful conversations earlier on, saving time and resources in the long run. Attendance has improved from an average of 9.19 days sickness to just 4.4 days across two years.’

‘What’s more, we’ve just been awarded IIP Silver – it’s great to have our improvements recognised externally too.’