Leadership DevelopmentGlobal; 20+ countries
Turning frontline managers into catalysts for culture change.
Partnering with BT to equip 2,200 frontline managers across more than 20 countries to lead people, not simply manage performance, and help translate a changing culture into everyday behaviour.
The impact
Real results. Lasting change.
2,200
frontline managers
20+
countries reached globally
73 to 81%
stronger engagement
- 2,200 frontline managers
- multiple businesses
- 20+ countries
- four-part global journey
From managing KPIs to leading people.
BT was undergoing significant cultural change. Yet for many frontline managers, success had historically centred on business performance, operational delivery and KPIs. Pioneers represented an important shift: managers were now being asked to take genuine ownership for people, culture and performance together. The challenge was to make that transition practical and relevant across 2,200 managers, multiple businesses and more than 20 countries, without turning leadership into theory.
Building leadership into the flow of work.
CorporateDNA designed Pioneers, a four-part global development journey built around short, practical learning modules and the everyday realities of frontline management. Rather than teaching leadership as an abstract competency, managers worked on real conversations, real people challenges and real business scenarios, repeatedly practising new behaviours between modules and bringing their learning back into the workplace. The experience strengthened the fundamentals of highly effective management: setting expectations, coaching performance, giving feedback, navigating difficult conversations, creating accountability and building ownership within teams.
CorporateDNA services
- Leadership Development
- Culture and Transformation
- Manager Development
- Learning at Scale
- Behaviour Change
Changing culture through the layer that makes it real.
Pioneers helped move frontline management from compliance and instruction towards greater ownership, challenge and growth mindset. Managers became more confident addressing people issues alongside operational priorities and more accountable for creating the conditions in which their teams could perform. Across the programme, engagement measures were 73 to 81% higher*, while the scale of the intervention helped establish a shared leadership language across countries and organisational boundaries.
Culture doesn’t cascade. It travels through people. Pioneers strengthened the layer where strategy, leadership and employee experience meet every day.
Wider transformation story: The programme also contributed to BT’s broader cultural evolution, from a more subservient, compliance-led environment towards one characterised by growth, constructive challenge and collective ownership. Critically, the work connected different organisational layers: senior leaders setting direction, middle leaders translating it, and frontline managers making it real through thousands of everyday decisions and conversations. Impact: 85% talent retention (high potential programme); 45% higher promotion rate (same programme); 88% programme impact (same programme). Scale: 60 high potential leaders, from board coaching.
Client quote
Awaiting sign-off from the client.
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