Type: Case study

When trust is lost

The Brief

The client was a longstanding executive committee member at a global asset manager. The client was under pressure at work and feeling unsupported by their boss. Alongside this, there were significant demands on time and energy at home, which were stressful and depleting personal resilience.

The Engagement

The initial engagement was a 12-month executive coaching relationship with a focus on recovering and building resilience, talking through family challenges, addressing team dynamics and gaining clarity on internal relationships with other senior leaders. As trust built and the relationship deepened, the work then evolved to a full enquiry about values, purpose and contentment alongside talking through the ongoing challenges that work and home presented.

The Outcome

The client has found the coaching support invaluable at a difficult time and regularly extended the engagement to ensure they had the independent and dedicated resource they need.

Reconnecting a senior leadership team of an asset manager

The Brief

The client was the senior leadership team of an asset management business. Following the global pandemic, several changes had taken place with some leavers and joiners. The business faced significant headwinds and needed to ensure the leadership team addressing the challenges was as tight and high performing as possible.

The Engagement

Our solution was to run a high-performing team workshop for the group over a two-day offsite. We balanced the offsite to address the team’s characteristics, strengths, and gaps, with strategic discussion of the macro challenges. We used our proprietary ‘Conditions for High Performing Teams’ checklist as the basis of the gap analysis.

The Outcome

The process was a resounding success. The value of bringing the team together was palpable in the enthusiasm and joy at genuine human connection after such unnatural separation. Feedback from the CEO following the event described the team being more connected and aligned than ever, demonstrating strong examples of leadership and teamwork that were beginning to positively shift the organisational culture in the right direction.

Engaging senior managers through empowerment and autonomy

The Brief

The client’s executive committee recognised the way to harness the power of the organisation was by engaging more effectively with the senior management level. The programme would aim to activate their potential by creating an aligned and motivated cohort who not only felt empowered but knew what being empowered meant. The goal was to devolve responsibilities and decision-making to the part of the organisation where the expertise existed and free up the executive committee to focus more on the strategic issues requiring urgent attention.

The Engagement

The engagement was to commence a discovery phase, which allowed us to understand the organisational culture and identify the leadership strengths and gaps of the senior manager team. We used this time to get to know participants and learn what they felt was important to address. The solution we designed was a multi-modular programme over eight months with supported peer coaching and daily application to help put the learnings into practice and embed behavioural change. The executive committee played a vital role through their internal engagement and endorsement of the programme, understanding the change required of them and underpinning a successful outcome.

The Outcome

The programme ran for three iterations with 36 senior managers over a two-year period. There was a significant improvement in engagement scores from this population and a marked increase in collaboration levels across this group. The executive committee felt more connected to this cohort and were able to delegate more significant decisions, freeing up time for strategic thinking.

Effective hybrid working for a digital bank

The Brief

The client was a US-based digital bank and card service provider that was improving its hybrid working model and seeking to address the leadership and teamworking challenges that come with this way of working. The client had a well-resourced and effective internal talent development function who had implemented a firmwide programme of ‘Team Days’, which were monthly in-person whole department mini-conferences that brought people together, allowed individual team time, and provided central presentations and learning for the c. 500-strong departments.

The Engagement

The engagement was to provide specific masterclasses pertinent to hybrid working, including high performing teams, leading through adversity, the power of networks, the benefits of followership and how to put them into practice.

We participated in a series of the ‘Team Days’ to ensure consistency of experience across the firm.

The Outcome

Client feedback was good. The talent development team were pleased to be able to outsource some elements of the programme to an external provider to help manage their workload. The participants found the masterclasses informative and engaging. The business operates a highly effective hybrid working model in large part due to how well they have developed their people.

Enabling an asset manager’s ExCo to implement strategy

The Brief

Our client was an asset manager which had not taken the executive team offsite or spent any time together beyond the boardroom. Having reached a significant strategic decision point, the firm needed time and space to consider where it was going, why it was going there and the journey it would take to get there.

The Engagement

Our solution was to design a process to allow the team to discuss the issues that mattered while spending time together, away from the office, getting to better understand one another and their challenges. Initially there was scepticism towards this new process from individuals who had heard the stereotypes around offsites and team building. However, as we demonstrated this was about a strategic conversation within a facilitated environment, the sceptics quickly became advocates and were fully engaged.

The Outcome

The outcome was two-fold: a refreshed purpose, vision and strategy in light of a fast-changing macro environment, and a more connected team.

Building a global team in private equity

The Brief

The client was a fast-growing midcap private equity house with global offices. They had grown significantly during the pandemic when in-person activity as a whole firm had been restricted. Relationships were functional at best and largely built on Zoom and Teams interactions. The executive recognised they needed to build social cohesion across the entire organisation of 80 people.

The Engagement

We began by creating, in partnership with the client, a three-day conference in a major European city. The objectives were to instil strategic messages and hold critical conversations, meet colleagues and build relationships and unite the firm around a shared experience that would serve as a cultural artefact.

The Outcome

The client was delighted with the event. It was the right balance of hard work and fun to energise and motivate the participants, The group left with a better understanding of individual and cultural differences, a strong sense of cohesion it created, and renewed strategic direction for the next five years.  We continue to engage with the firm to support their leaders and teams and embed the change in the culture.

Creating a culture for the next chapter of growth

The Brief

Our client was a leading UK wealth management firm. The new CEO engaged us early in their tenure to help them define the existing culture, establish the desired future culture and support in that change journey.

The Engagement

Our solution was multi-faceted. Initially we needed to get to know the organisation and earn the trust of key players. Once that trust was built, we were able to explore the lived experience through a series of workshops, focus groups and one-to-one conversations. We started concurrently at the executive committee and the new entry levels of the organisation, working our way into the centre. It was vital to identify the individuals who had informal influence and were positive culture carriers and engage them early.

The Outcome

Over a period of six months, we built a picture of what worked well and what could be changed. We supported them to create a new set of values, helped roll them out and give them meaning. Finally, we developed a programme to build the senior management’s leadership capabilities and bind them together as a collaborative layer.

Succession coaching to support transition into a COO role

The Brief

The client had received a significant promotion at a large European asset manager and sought support to help them succeed in the new role. They needed to elevate contribution to a strategic level, establish effective ways of working with new peers and manage a heavy workload alongside other demands on their time and energy.

The Engagement

A Goldcrest coach with considerable experience working with COOs engaged with the client for a 12-month term to support the transition. Our approach was holistic with a primary focus on stabilising personal resilience before developing the leadership habits that the new role demanded. Themes of the coaching included managing anxiety, addressing perfectionism and procrastination, building confidence, setting boundaries and developing a more strategic perspective.

The Outcome

The client found the engagement to be an invaluable support during their transition before deciding that the new role was not right for them. The benefit of the coaching and learnings from the in-role experience have enabled the client to pursue a different opportunity that better suits them.

Re-framing performance goals for a senior investor

The Brief

The individual was a top performing long-only equity portfolio manager who experienced the first extended period of underperformance in their career. Goldcrest were asked to help the individual recover personal resilience, explore the currently held investment philosophy and process for investment decision making process and rebuild for the future.

The Engagement

A Goldcrest coach with experience working as a portfolio manager engaged with the client for a 6-month term. The assignment began with an alignment meeting with the investment team head to understand the organisational context, individual development areas and desired outcomes. The personality psychometric was used to generate self-awareness, particularly at times of stress, alongside an emotional intelligence diagnostic to develop further insights in service of the individual’s personal resilience, interpersonal relationships, and investment decision making. 

The Outcome

Work on boundaries and renewal activities boosted wellbeing and enabled a re-framing of performance goals through the lens of inputs to stabilise and build resilience. A reformulated approach to investment philosophy, process and decision making introduced more recognition of uncertainty and agility, and improved investment performance.

COO coaching to aid role transition and fuel professional growth


The Brief

The individual was a highly regarded and valued member of the organisation with strong support for their promotion to COO. It was recognised that the new role came with expanded authority and responsibilities which would require new leadership capabilities to execute well. Subject matter expertise and personal leadership style were strengths, senior executive presence and a more developed strategic perspective were the areas of development.

The Engagement

A Goldcrest coach with considerable experience working with COOs engaged with the client for a 6-month term to support the individual with their transition. The assignment began with an alignment meeting with the CEO and outgoing-COO to understand the organisational context, individual development areas and desired outcomes. The Hogan personality psychometric was used to generate self-awareness and combined with the feedback from an extensive round of 360 feedback to identify strengths and development areas. These insights were the foundation for a leadership development plan that was presented to the organisational sponsors and put into practice by the coachee.

The Outcome

The individual has successfully transitioned into the COO role, achieved SMCR approval and continues to develop the senior leadership skills and strategic perspective of an Executive Committee member.