Case study
Novia are in an exciting period of fast growth and change following private equity investment and a merger. With big, bold ambitions for the next 5 years, their newly-formed Exec team made the choice to invest in becoming a purpose-led organisation as a strategy for success.
The Challenge
Following a successful, hard-won first decade, financial services newcomer Novia have a big, stretching growth ambition for the next 5 years. They needed to galvanise their people for fast-paced growth and give them the rocket fuel for a cultural change that will get them where they want to go.
Having already made attempts to work this out with various third parties, nothing felt authentically “them”, and the results didn’t add up to a coherent vision.
The Solution
We helped Novia discover and articulate a Purpose statement and set of behaviours that will act as a north star to galvanise their people for fast-paced growth and add rocket fuel for change. New CEO Patrick Mill believes (and we agree with him) that what’s critical for commercial success is focusing not just on shareholder growth but stakeholder growth – connecting everyone in the business to success in ways that matter for them.
The purpose needed to feel authentic and come from within, whilst simultaneously challenging and stretching them towards their ambition.
The Process
We supported a cross-functional, mixed seniority team to act as the insight engine for the work. They went out to the business, uncovering what was important to its people, testing out ideas to reflect and provoke themes and gathering feedback to understand what makes Novia, Novia.
Across a 3 month period, we combined our strategy and coaching expertise to educate around Purpose and build insight gathering capabilities whilst simultaneously crafting the narrative that defines their Purpose today.
The Outcome
- A purpose statement that acts as a challenge to their ambition, that is actionable, exciting and authentic – having emerged from within the organisation
- An Exec and core team within the business mature in their understanding of Purpose and set up to socialise the work and help drive the cultural transformation that Novia has embarked on
- An engagement plan for how to embed the purpose and behaviours across the organisation at all levels.
What’s next?
We’re continuing to partner with Novia on a 6 month program of work designed to spark cultural and strategic change through purpose-led decisions and actions, that involves employees at every level of the business. This includes a series of projects designed to rewire structures such as employee experience, corporate social responsibility and training and development programs that will bring the behaviours to light in the day to day.