A global technology and media organisation wanted to strengthen leadership and coaching capability across a geographically and culturally diverse senior leadership population.

The situation

The organisation needed a scalable way to create stronger leadership capability and a shared approach across multiple regions.

The challenge was to create enough global consistency to establish common leadership standards while remaining relevant across different markets, cultures and business contexts.

A one-off, content-heavy training programme was unlikely to create the depth, application or sustained behaviour change required.

The organisation therefore needed an approach that could be applied in real leadership situations, adapted locally and measured over time.

The work

Rhian designed, facilitated and programme-managed a nine-month blended leadership journey for more than 130 leaders across 30 markets.

The programme focused on four observable coaching behaviours: building effective coaching relationships, asking questions that develop thinking, setting goals and giving feedback. These translated into practical leadership actions, including agreeing the purpose of conversations, challenging assumptions, reviewing progress and addressing difficult performance feedback.

The learning followed repeated cycles of workplace application, reflection and practice, so leaders used the skills between sessions and returned to examine what had happened.

Participants worked on live leadership situations in peer groups, alternating between the roles of coach, coachee and peer supporter so that learning was repeatedly applied to real business challenges.

Regional champions helped translate the programme into local contexts while maintaining the overall objectives, standards and measurement approach.

Evaluation went beyond participant satisfaction. A baseline 360 assessment gathered feedback from leaders, their managers, peers and direct reports. A second assessment took place eight weeks after completion, giving participants time to apply the learning before others assessed changes in their behaviour.

The outcome

The programme created a consistent leadership-development experience for more than 130 leaders across 30 markets while preserving local ownership and relevance.

Leaders practised coaching on real business challenges, received feedback from peers and applied the skills with their teams. The shared behaviours gave participants a concrete reference for how to approach development, performance and feedback conversations.

The organisation gained a common framework for developing coaching capability across markets, supported by regional champions and a before-and-after assessment process that extended beyond programme completion.

The wider evaluation explored the relationship between those leadership behaviours and commercially relevant measures including advertiser satisfaction, sales excellence and revenue.

The programme combined global standards with local application and follow-up evaluation, creating a structured approach to leadership development that could be used across a geographically and culturally diverse organisation.