Our business psychologists worked closely with the SEW organisational development team to understand their context and aspirations before co-creating the content together. This ensured every aspect of the programme was tailor-made to address SEW’s specific requirements.

We led stakeholder interviews, focus groups and a further diagnostic (bespoke assessment for development centre) with delegates to pinpoint development areas that would have the biggest impact, both for individuals and SEW overall. This revealed five areas of opportunity around leading people, influence and impact, strategic focus, change management and business acumen.

Having collated findings, ETS provided 1:1 delegate debriefs, and a group playback to the Executive Team, to gain buy-in. From there, the design work began. Our recommendation was for a ‘Design by Delivery’ approach, with an MBA style programme lasting for 12-18 months.

The programme was split into three stages: ‘Leading myself and other people’; ‘Leading the business’ and ‘Leading with an outside focus’. Within each, modules addressed the requirements set out by SEW’s business objectives. For example, ‘Business Culture and Change’, ‘Building a Business Case’, ‘Managing Finances’ and ‘Learning from Across the Business’.  

Learning was multi-faceted with cross-sectional talent working in teams on projects to benefit SEW and the community. Projects such as the educational ‘Aquasmart’ initiative were presented back to the executive board mid-programme. Other elements included shadowing to broaden knowledge and reduce ‘silo’ working and facilitated face-to-face and expert-led sessions.

Most of the content was delivered by ETS, with a small number of SEW-specific modules delivered by in-house experts. We flexed from face-to-face to virtual learning during Covid peaks and ETS provided extra 1:1 check-ins to maintain momentum and focus on personal development.