Function: C-suite

Pricing pressure is first a decision-making test

A leadership team reviews another quarter of respectable results, yet nobody feels relaxed. Despite flows remaining acceptable, performance being mixed (though not alarming) and client relationships holding, the pressure remains there. Fees keep tightening, costs keep rising and every investment in capability now has to fight harder for approval.

That is the point at which pricing pressure stops being just a commercial issue and becomes a leadership one.

In many firms, the first response is predictable: reduce spend, slow hiring, simplify where possible, ask more questions of every budget line. Some of that will be right. But the deeper test is whether the senior team can still make clean decisions when the room is tight.

This is where weaker organisations become busier, but less clear. They make more decisions, though there is less hierarchy between them. Important choices sit alongside inherited commitments, internal politics and historical habits. The result? It’s not usually collapse…it’s drift. So while the firm looks active, it is actually slowly becoming less sharp.

The harder (and more useful) questions are more strategic. What are we truly trying to protect? Where do we still have genuine advantage? Which costs are helping us stay competitive, and which are simply part of the furniture? Where are we underinvesting because the short-term numbers are too loud? And where are we protecting activities that no longer justify themselves?

Those are not finance questions in the narrow sense. They are judgement questions.

Pricing pressure forces leaders to face trade-offs they may have delayed in easier periods. What matters most? What can be simplified? What needs defending even if it hurts in the short term? Strong teams do not just cut. They choose. They become more explicit about where the business intends to win and what it must stop doing.

There is also a communication challenge here. People can usually live with difficult choices better than vague ones. What unsettles organisations is not only pressure, but ambiguity. If leaders are clear about what they are protecting, what they are changing and why, the business has a far better chance of staying coherent.

In the end, fee pressure reveals whether a leadership team can still think properly when comfort disappears. That is often the real test.

Aligning senior leaders for the next phase of growth

The Brief

Our client, a leading UK-based investment partnership, approached us to design and facilitate a senior leadership offsite aimed at aligning the Executive Committee around a bold new growth ambition. The brief was to create a space for strategic reflection, cultural evolution and operational challenge – while strengthening team cohesion and surfacing the unspoken dynamics that could hinder progress. The offsite needed to provoke honest debate, generate actionable outcomes and, ultimately, set the tone for the next phase of the firm’s development.

Our Delivery

We designed a two-day offsite experience that combined immersive exercises, structured strategy sessions and informal connection. Day one focused on team dynamics and cultural reflection, using a discussion-based exercise to explore collaboration and challenge. Strategy sessions tackled the firm’s client proposition, operational model and cultural identity, with space for individual reflection and group debate. Vitally, we introduced mechanisms to surface difficult topics constructively. Day two shifted to acceleration – how to scale efficiently, embrace technology and clarify decision-making structures. Throughout, we facilitated with a light but firm touch, ensuring psychological safety while encouraging radical thinking.

The Impact

The offsite delivered a step-change in alignment and ambition. The team committed to sharpening their focus on growth – anchored by operational efficiency and reinforced by cultural consistency. Among the outputs were refreshed cultural commitments and a prioritised list of strategic actions, but perhaps most importantly, a renewed sense of collective ownership. Participants spoke of the value they found in open dialogue and constructive challenge, as well as the reassurance of clear next steps. Since then, the offsite has served as a reference point for how the leadership team intends to work together: strategically focused, culturally grounded and confident in tackling the hard questions.

Supporting an executive committee go from good to great

The Brief

The client was a UK-based insurance business. The executive committee were established, effective and enjoyed good relationships. Industry dynamics were demanding a new strategy that was challenging the internal status quo and there were some blockers standing in the way of success. The brief was to create the environment for difficult conversations to occur, change to be embraced and alignment around the new strategy established.

The Engagement

The engagement began with consultation with the organisational sponsors (CEO and HRD) to understand the organisational objectives, the dynamics present and plan a path to the desired end-state. There was recognition that this would be a process. Time was needed to develop awareness, integrate change and embed new ways of working.

We used the Goldcrest 7 Conditions for High-Performing Teams diagnostic to establish the team’s current state, strengths, and weaknesses. Then, based on those findings, we developed a 12-month development programme to effect change.

The programme kicked off with a two-day offsite, start the conversations that needed to take place, and begin shaping the strategy. The teamwork discussions and the strategy planning activity were interwoven, each mutually improving the other.

Following the offsite, we engaged with the executive committee bi-monthly at their scheduled meetings, supporting them to generate fresh thinking and put what they had agreed into practice.

Additionally, we coached several of the members alongside the team development to support specific areas of their development.

The Outcome

Progress has been significant. The quality of the conversations and relationships has improved significantly. Healthy challenge is much more welcome, and there is alignment behind the new strategy. The change has been notable to the teams of each executive committee member, leading to better motivation and a faster pace of delivery.

Integrating culture post-acquisition

The Brief

The client was a FTSE 250 asset manager, UK-based but highly acquisitive globally. Recent acquisitions were an operational and financial success but the cultural integration was proving a challenge. There was urgency to address this issue as client surveys reported it was impacting their experience. The task was to unify the organisation and build a network of connections between these different tribes. There were multiple areas of focus and a need to be efficient considering the time pressure.

The Engagement

We began by creating 12 cross-functional cohorts of peers from right across the business (legacy and new business areas). We gathered these groups for two-day offsites over 18 months to build a cohesive network of teams. The work addressed:

• The business case for better integration and collaboration

• How high-performing teams and organisations work and how we benchmark

• Self-assessment psychometrics to understand our individual approach to collaboration

• Relaxation time and activities to build stronger relationships, deepen mutual understanding, share knowledge, and build social glue.

The Outcome

There was initial reluctance from some, which we acknowledged and worked with, and pockets of enthusiasm, which we leveraged as the early adopters of change. As time went on, the group largely unified as initial fears were proven unfounded and the benefits of the process were recognised.

After 18 months, the results were terrific. Most participants were aligned and committed. This led to new networks of relationships, better communication and collaboration, and improved client experience.

Many years later now, several cohorts still meet for an annual reunion, such was the strength of the bonds forged.

Globalising an asset management business

The Brief

A UK Asset Management firm with an international presence planned to grow further and, in doing so, wanted to develop a truly global model of working. The aim was to shift from a centralised model of decision-making to a decentralised global model where decisions were made in the right location by the right people with knowledge of the markets, clients, and solutions. The premise was this would enable better decisions to be made and the organisation to move more quickly.

It was appreciated that this was a significant shift in both strategy and culture and the firm planned this on a 5-year horizon. It was also clear that the solution would be multifaceted and involve inorganic activity, change in reporting lines and a significant investment in technology. Our role was to work with the CEO and HRD on the people and culture elements.

The Engagement

There are many different aspects to globalising an asset management business, the highlights were:

Develop a global leadership conference, to be held outside the UK for the senior leaders in the business.  This became an annual event and was critical for building relationships and empowering new decision makers.

Develop and deliver a global strategy roadshow to all regional executive committee members, with the purpose of communicating the group strategy and establishing alignment. The delivery was consistent in structure and message, with allowance for discussion and debate.

Enhanced leadership development through designing and delivering a series of enhanced leadership development programmes for global leaders focusing on empowerment, autonomy and decision-making.

The Outcome

The firm is operating more effectively on the global stage. This was a huge project involving all aspects of the client’s business. However, we can say with pride that our part significantly contributed to the overall success of the strategy.

Implementing a new strategy for growth

The Brief

The client was a diversified publicly listed regional bank and the Group CEO wanted support discussing, designing and implementing a new strategy to enable expansion of services and geographical reach, leverage emerging technology to reach new customers, and improve operational efficiency and effectiveness.

The Engagement

Goldcrest engaged for an initial term of 12 months on a retained basis for 1 day per month, covering regular one-to-one meetings and additional behind the scenes work on specific topics at the principal’s instruction. The central themes of the work were as a thinking partner, providing specialist organisational design and key employee competency frameworks, influencing the Board and executive committee, and developing the mindsets and skills necessary throughout the organisation to execute successfully.

The engagement inspired many related development activities including executive coaching for key contributors, leadership and team workshops, communication training, and an updated performance measurement system to monitor and motivate employees.

The Outcome

The engagement was a great success. Once clarity of purpose and strategy was achieved, the detailed and lengthy process of putting it into practice was undertaken. Throughout the CEO reported feeling more confident in decisions and actions, stepping more fully into the authority that comes with the role.

Navigating complexity

The Brief

The client was the CEO of a significant global real estate business.  The organisational structure meant that there were limited opportunities for conversations of a particular quality to take place internally and the CEO recognised they were missing an independent sounding board to talk things through and clarify their thinking.  They were looking for specific support and advice around the cultural challenges in the business and succession planning.

The Engagement

The engagement was for an initial term of 12 months on a retained basis for 2 days per month, covering regular one-to-one meetings and additional behind the scenes work on specific topics at the principal’s instruction.  The relationship encompassed conversations with the wider executive committee to understand the context and complexity, and presence at important meetings to observe dynamics in action.

The intensity of an engagement of this nature varies with periods of significant involvement followed by phases of less frequent meetings. Throughout the engagement our Goldcrest CEO Advisor was ‘on-call’ to support with any issues as they arose.

The Outcome

The principal found the relationship to be hugely valuable, that it provided them with the forum they were seeking and brought clarity to their decision making.

The Goldcrest CEO Advisor was able to bring to bear the full range of our knowledge and services to help the CEO to tackle issues across the organisation, making positive changes to culture, leadership, and teamwork while navigating complexity.

Design and facilitation of a global working conference

The Brief

The client wanted to bring together all its managing directors (c.80 people) from across Europe for its first in-person gathering in 5 years. Much had changed in that time, however. Due to various factors the opportunity to bring everyone together had not occurred. The cohort was mixed, with many recent joiners but the common theme was an absence on in-person connection.

The aim of the 2-day conference was 2-fold: Open debate about critical strategic decisions, inviting ideas and generating buy-in; build the network across the MD population to encourage collaboration and cross-selling.

The Engagement

Goldcrest was engaged to both co-design and to facilitate the conference.  Our key stakeholder was the CEO and we collaborated to help draft their opening session to set the tone. Additionally, we worked with the CFO, sector leads and others to coach them through the creation and delivery of their sessions.

The Outcome

The result was a highly engaged and enthused MD population with tangible messages to take back to their teams.  Some acknowledged that they arrived sceptical of such gatherings but left positive and delighted with the quality of the presentations, the conversation, the venue and the facilitation.

Adaption to the demands of a scaling business

The Brief

The client was a dual role COO/CFO at a medium sized private equity house, who had been with the firm since formation. They had a broad range of responsibilities that included not just finance and operations but also HR, IT and anything else inside of the business that needed doing. The client was personally overstretched and becoming a bottleneck. The brief was to change the way of working to enable more delegation to direct reports and an elevation of contribution to a more strategic level.

The Engagement

The engagement was a 12-month executive coaching relationship with a focus on developing the next level of leadership skills to succeed in the new role. It included a detailed 360-degree process of interviews with critical stakeholders and psychometrics followed by one-to-one coaching sessions. The coaching topics explored were time management, team dynamics and working through others.

The Outcome

The client found the process to be insightful and impactful, with a noticeable change in work habits. These changes resulted in a higher tempo of deliverables, a more engaged and empowered team, and the bandwidth to attend to higher value activity.

Develop a more effective executive committee

The Brief

The client was the CEO of a regional bank. They were looking for independent leadership support and advice.  Initially the focus was around issues relating to their team and some particular people challenges alongside some personal development areas around communication and confidence in professional authority.

The Engagement

The initial engagement was for a 12-month term, on a retained basis for ½ day per month. The engagement was primarily online due to location, with periodic in-person meetings. Over time, the scope of the work grew from team and leadership topics into matters of strategy and engagement. 

In addition, we started to work with the wider team in a facilitation capacity, and given we were in different countries, planned regular in-person gatherings where we could make the most of being in-person.

The Outcome

The client found the relationship to be of significant value. They have successfully resolved their team issues, stepped more fully into the authority of their role and are operating at a more strategic level in the business.