Transformational Leadership & Organisational Change

Setting Leadership Up To Take the Organisation Through Transformational Change

Client Background

ACCA is a multinational professional body that provides qualifications and education to finance and accounting professionals worldwide. As a renowned organisation in the financial industry, ACCA focuses on developing and upholding the highest standards of competence and ethical conduct among its members. With a global presence, ACCA operates in multiple countries, catering to a diverse community of finance professionals.

Challenge

ACCA faced the challenge of enhancing the skills and capabilities of its executives through Executive Team Development, Directorate Leadership Teams development, and a People Manager Development Programme. Recognising the importance of strong leadership at all levels, ACCA sought to implement a company-wide rollout of training to empower its managers with the necessary skills to inspire and guide their teams.

The scale of the training initiative for People Managers was significant, with two waves of training, encompassing 10 and 12 cohorts of 115 and 143 delegates, respectively, totaling 258 people managers.

Approach

To address the challenge, Polaris was brought in to design and deliver the  Executive Team Development, Directorate Leadership Teams development, and a People Manager Development Program, to strengthen their leadership and management capability across the whole organisation to align with their 5 year strategic vision through transformational change for ACCA. The approach included a comprehensive training plan comprising the following elements:

1. Senior Leadership Development

• 1a.Executive Team Development Session: An Executive Team Development session was delivered to enhance collaboration and alignment among the top leadership to set up the organisation for success in delivering its strategic vision in 2025.
  
• 1b. Directorate Team Sessions: A series of three Directorate Team sessions were conducted per six Directorates, fostering team cohesion and effective leadership within these units so they, too, can implement their strategic vision across the wider organisation.
  
• 1c. Quarterly Leadership Team Sessions: One of the aforementioned Directorates opted for further quarterly leadership team sessions to ensure they were a truly aligned and cohesive team, delivering frontline business for the organisation.

Further sessions, allowed them to sustain continuous growth and improvement and team development across various locations worldwide, including China, Australia, Poland, Ghana, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and the UK, the training had to account for diverse cultural and contextual considerations.

2. People Manager Development

• Virtual Sessions: The training programme was conducted through nine virtual sessions, allowing for effective delivery and interaction with participants across different geographical locations.
  
• Peer Mentoring: To enhance the learning experience, peer mentoring was assigned between training sessions, allowing participants to share insights and support each other’s development.
  
• Pre-work and Post-work: Participants were given pre-work and post-work assignments to deepen their understanding and apply the learnings in their daily roles.
  
• Online Community Platform: An online community platform was created to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration among the participants, enabling them to stay connected and continue learning beyond the training sessions.

3. Additional Executive/Leadership Coaching:

Beyond the mass rollout, seven senior leaders received ad-hoc executive/leadership coaching to address specific leadership challenges and further their professional growth.

Outcome

Overall, the mass rollout of people manager training, combined with the Senior Leadership intervention, the Executive team and Directorate Team development contributed to building a stronger and more effective leadership culture within ACCA, strengthening their leadership and management capability across the whole organisation to align with their 5 year strategic vision through transformational change positioning the organisation for continued success in its mission to uphold the highest standards of competence and ethical conduct in the financial industry.

“Really valued the group discussions as an insight into other management approaches.”

“The facilitators were well prepared and they motivated me to engage in the learning.”