Magna Vitae Case Study
Magna Vitae - A Story of Transformation
This is a story of transformation. The story of Magna Vitae, a culture and community business, emerging from the pandemic with a reduced workforce, the CEO moving on, the poorest of relationships with its principal funder, and a management group unaccustomed to taking strategic decisions. This is how our leadership mindset training came into play.
It is the story of how the new joint CEOs empowered its strong management team, gave its people a voice in the future of the firm, invested in the company’s development and strategy and not only rebuilt but extended the previously declining funder relationship.
The results speak for themselves
After the initial year of working with Performance Catalyst, Magna Vitae has:
- Developed the relationship with its largest funding partner and significantly improved it securing a new five-year business deal worth £6.5m. Previously it had seen considerable service fee reductions year on year.
- Secured new funding streams of £175k each year to expand outreach service development in five additional local (East Lindsey) communities.
- Reached more customers than before, with fewer staff resources; 1,850 children have learned to swim in one year (compared to 1,500 pre-Covid).
- Defined a set of values which the entire company stands behind – this provides structure and a foundation to the business strategy.
- Strengthened workforce engagement and increased morale; attendance at social events and forums is strong
- Introduced quarterly workforce surveys with 90% completion rates.
The Need to Transform from a Management Group to a Management Team
Rewind. It was clear that the restricted involvement by the management group in strategic planning and key funding decisions would hinder the long-term future of the business. This needed to change.
The new joint CEOs sought to inspire new leadership. While some managers had worked together for the best part of two decades, they knew little about how each other worked or anything about them beyond the workplace. Regular and open briefings were not typical, and management decisions had been made with limited consultation. It was, in effect, a group of people rather than a functioning management team.
The joint CEOs wanted to give the managers a time for reflection and to voice concerns, and to build the skills needed to become stronger leaders and a more effective team. They wanted to give them what they needed to feel supported and invested in, and also access to a tailored roadmap of development to take the business forward. They needed leadership mindset training.
Performance Catalyst became its partner to deliver this.
“Performance Catalyst was different to all the other consultants we spoke with. Fundamentally, they listened and were keen to understand us – as a team and as an organisation; what we had been through, where we were in that moment in time and what we thought we needed to do. It was only after having listened to us did they propose the next steps.”
The Journey of Transformation for Magna Vitae
These ‘next steps’ were based on the Performance Catalyst six-stage Transformation Framework.
We draw from our range of tools and techniques and craft a journey that takes the client on a journey of transformation. For Magna Vitae, this was to take the management from a collection of people not yet working at their full potential to a high-performing team, capable of challenge and support.
Team and Individual Growth – Together
Teams that reflect on their dynamics – and understand their aims and purpose – are, quite simply, more effective and leadership mindset training will help leaders realise this.
Team transformation goes hand-in-hand with individual growth coaching; positive progress in one area immediately feeds into another. It is why we choose never to concentrate solely on individual development or team effectiveness upfront, but to drive these forward together.
The Shift from ‘Group’ to ‘Team’
The start point was to create and deliver a series of facilitated workshops for the management team to explore how they – and the joint CEOs – worked together.
We asked questions, surfaced underlying issues and explored which areas needed focus. It was time used to ‘reset’. A time to clear the air, and work through how the future could be shaped. An agile programme meant we could shape the content and focus as needed.
“Performance Catalyst rapidly established trust and built rapport with the team. They created the conditions for honest conversations: a safe place to explore how each other worked. We wanted to empower people to walk their own road, not telling people what needed to be done but enabling change to be realised.”
Working with Insights Discovery
Team development was strengthened using the personality profiling tool, Insights Discovery.
Not only did each team member better understand their own behavioural preferences but also those of their colleagues. They explored where they connect, where they could potentially clash and how to turn frustration into fascination.
“Insights gave us something we could not have otherwise accessed. The power from the team graphic was phenomenal. It created talking points, a shared language and encouraged openness and curiosity. Because it’s been immensely valuable, we’ve extended its use initially to our middle managers and, ultimately, across our entire permanently contracted workforce.”
“A few of us had never experienced such an approach. This was our first opportunity to reflect, voice opinion, commit to building a more effective team, air frustrations and share our perceptions of leadership. We were encouraged to share our thoughts and observations and to build a more open and fundamental understanding of each other.”
Unlocking the Potential Through Individual Coaching
While the management group came together to find a new path forward as a team, individual coaching ran alongside these workshops with each manager owning the speed and direction of their coaching. For many, coaching was new. They had never previously experienced the value that such transformational focus brings.
Right: Dr Anna Katherina Shaffner and Nick Phillis, Performance Catalyst Coaches
“The coaching sessions were so powerful. They gave us the time and space to talk –and to gain a new perspective and explore alternative options. Every team member found the coaching so motivational, valuable and transformative.”
Co-Creating and Articulating the Values
The next step to move the business forward was to refine, confirm, and embed the firm’s values.
Values articulate what a business stands for and how it behaves. What takes any business forward is the decision to live by its values and we knew this project would be fundamental to Magna Vitae. We knew that by us exploring and truly understanding the client first and then co-creating a set of values that could be understood and embedded across the company, partners and employees would bind the charity together.
However, buy-in does not happen quickly.
Developed over two months and numerous rounds of feedback, challenge and distillation, four shaped-by-all and agreed-to-by-all values were finally created. Each and every team member was part of the process – none were spectators. Everyone had an opportunity to voice their opinion(s).
“The co-creation of our values with Performance Catalyst has given us all a sense of ownership of the future. There is no doubt that Performance Catalyst were instrumental in getting us to these values.”
A Brighter Future
The change does not stop. The transformation continues.
Hungry for tools to manage the company and its progress, Magna Vitae continues to collect organisational experience data via Tensense.ai – a tool that turns analytics into action, reduces uncertainty and supports better, faster decisions to improve performance.
Furthermore, the now effective management team continues to take massive strides and, with our support, is looking at the longer-term strategic planning of the individual departments and the wider organisation.
“Performance Catalyst changed the direction of Magna Vitae. They helped review and embed our vision, mission and values, gave us tools for more open, transparent, honest and inclusive conversations right across the business and built a stronger management team. They listened to us and moved us forward in a way that everyone understands. Quite simply, they made what could be very complex, very straightforward and the results are clear to all.”