How it all Began
The Bank, 75% owned by the UK Government, was directed to wind-down more than 90% of its APAC operation. This involved withdrawing from 12 (of 14) APAC countries and making 3600 (of 3800) employees redundant. The majority of this uniquely large, complex and technical operation would take 18-24 months. During this period, the Bank needed to retain its most senior leaders in their critical roles, keep all staff engaged to manage risk and exposure, and meet client, regulator and parent company deliverables. At the same time, nearly everyone was working towards redundancy.
How We Helped
We worked with local leadership teams to craft and deliver the challenging message across the entire Asian business. We supported and conducted leader-facilitated workshops across multiple countries, also serving as an organisation-wide diagnostic (highlighting key challenges of retention and engagement).
Based on this, sponsored by the APAC CRO and the global heads of Risk and ‘Capital Resolution’, we created a solution for the top 70 leaders (and through them, their teams). Our team-based approach was delivered across multiple geographies, remotely and in-person. It balanced coaching, feedback and targeted skill development (to maintain personal and team engagement) with an holistic, whole-of-life process for deciding and acting on ‘what next?’, that also recognised the need to maintain focus now is a critical part of a successful next phase.
Results Achieved
- The solution made a regionally and globally recognised contribution to the successful completion (against a wide range of measures) of a unique and complex project
- It delivered a personal and organisational win/win: increased individual engagement through to ‘leaving date’, successful project execution plus increased skills, a boost to professional confidence and clearer personal plans for the future beyond the Bank
- The culture was described as significantly better in the 18 months of the shut-down than it had been in the previous 5 years