Leading with Impact Programme

Context

Formed in 1825, The Law Society (TLS) is the independent professional body representing solicitors in England and Wales. Its services and support are available to both practising and trainee lawyers, and it acts as a forum, sounding board and voice for the discussion of law reform. Run by and for their 200,000+ members, TLS aims to be the voice of solicitors, drive excellence in the legal profession and safeguard both the rule of law and everyone’s right to justice.

In 2021, TLS wanted to implement a people and organisational change programme aimed at enhancing management and leadership through capabilities, confidence, and capacity. Their three-year plan aimed to develop a high-performing, inclusive management and leadership team committed to supporting and nurturing their staff by fostering safe learning environments and challenging work opportunities. TLS identified approximately 100 managers and leaders to participate in the programme and sought an experienced learning partner to design and deliver a bespoke learning and development programme for them.

Requirement

In response to this context, a TLS working group comprising representatives from the Capability & Talent, Organisational Development, Change and Internal Communications teams, as well as organisational managers, developed the outline of a leadership development programme consisting of seven workshops, each aligned with TLS organisational values and workforce competencies.

The programme outline emphasised the importance of Everyday Learning, a pragmatic and experiential approach that leverages real work-based situations, allowing managers to experiment, share ideas, provide feedback, and learn in a safe yet challenging environment. Another key priority was securing the buy-in of Operational Directors by having them lead launch events and deliver project communications, while exemplifying the desired competencies and behaviours. Additionally, the TLS working group sought to ensure that learners could apply the tools and experiences from their recent leadership programme, particularly in areas such as feedback, coaching, and learning facilitation.

Solution

In 2022, Eliesha designed and subsequently launched the first of seven cohorts for the ‘Leading with Impact’ Programme, which included the following 8 sessions:

• Leading with Impact Launch Event
• Workshop 1 – Coaching with Impact
• Workshop 2 – Leading Change
• Workshop 3 – Leading in a Modern World
• Workshop 4 – Inclusive Leadership
• Workshop 5 – Leading for Performance and Growth
• Workshop 6 – Leading Collaborative Teamwork
• Workshop 7 – Leading Improvement and Innovation

Drawing from our experience, we aimed to ensure the programme felt part of TLS, fostering a true partnership that was evident to the learners. For instance, during the launch event, the Capability & Talent Team, Project Sponsor, and various internal TLS stakeholders contextualised the programme for the participants. At the Change workshops, a member of the Change & Transformation team co-facilitated the session and, similarly, a member of the D&I Team co-delivered the Leading in a Modern World workshop. This approach has significantly enhanced the learning experience by providing real-life TLS context, helping embed the knowledge and offering learners tangible contacts to support their growth.

At the start of the programme, learners were asked to complete an objective-setting document with the support and sign-off of their line manager. This not only gave TLS measurable and individualised KPI’s to follow up with, but also helped to transfer the ownership onto both learner and line manager.

Results

Efforts to engage learners with the programme and their own development journey resulted in very strong levels of buy-in and participation. Attendance rates for this programme were 93%, particularly pleasing given all workshops were delivered face-to-face in London, where multiple challenges e.g. train and tube strikes emerged during the delivery period.

Both Eliesha and TLS were thrilled with the evaluation and feedback from the learners. On average, across all participants and workshops, there has been a 36% increase in knowledge from before to after the workshops. This is particularly encouraging given that the learners already had a high level of prior knowledge when they began the programme, having reviously attended other leadership and management modules.

Whilst these results provided surface level evaluation, further impact for this programme was achieved by action planning and providing opportunities for learners to enhance their skills by applying their knowledge directly back in the workplace.

Regular all-team meetings between the Capability & Talent team and the Eliesha delivery team were invaluable for the trainers to discuss the feedback from learners, any new skills gaps/training needs identified and any adaptations to sessions to provide a continuous improvement loop.  This feedback included learners stating that TLS and Eliesha created a psychologically safe environment to allow them to get the best out of the programme, and trainers reporting that by the end of the programme, their was a noticeable passion and drive from learners to do well for their teams and the organisation..

To further solidify the learning and demonstrate a commitment to the ongoing growth of the participants, TLS enlisted Eliesha to organise a wrap-up celebration event for the 100+ learners who completed the programme. This event provided an opportunity for learners to network with colleagues from different cohorts, reinforce the tools and methods they acquired and discuss their challenges and successes with others.

Outcomes

TLS was looking to demonstrate business impact by improving the scores in their annual Investors in People (IIP) framework, measuring their progress to be an ‘employer of choice’ with the aim of achieving ‘Gold’ status. Four focus areas were identified for improvement: Leadership, Culture, Recognition and Reward, Learning and Development.

Due to these yearly reviews, Eliesha adopted a proactive approach to continuous improvement throughout delivery. Feedback from both the 2023 IIP survey and learners in earlier cohorts highlighted that all staff would benefit from similar training, but in a more accessible format. Whilst delivering the LWI programme, Eliesha collaborated with TLS to help them build their Development Academy, which included the launch of new Self-Leadership, People-Leadership, and Induction pathways. We redesigned the 7 LWI workshops into “Bitesize” sessions, and where applicable created two versions: one for managers and one for all staff. This was launched in 2024 and to date, (in addition to the LWI programme), we have a created a suite of 20+ learning events on which any TLS staff member can enrol.

Comments/Quotes

“I think staff looking to develop into management could benefit from this programme too.”

“Really enjoyable session. Lots of open discussion and group were really open to ideas and talking. Trainer was very good and aware of just how diverse and different in how we learn it was really inclusive and the dynamic of cohort was really chilled and nice.”

“I liked all the exercises with colleagues and format was engaging. It’s raced by.”