Through the delivery of a tailored organisational development plan, we enhanced leadership development, established a coaching culture, strengthened team purpose, and improved workforce engagement across an integrated care board (ICB), supporting its strategy and system partnership role.

Background

We were commissioned to design, develop, and deliver an interim organisational development (OD) plan for the ICB to support its strategy and role as a system partner. The plan was informed by engagement with senior leaders and a desktop review, leading to a diagnostic that shaped a ‘Do Now’ OD Plan with immediate, actionable priorities.

Action

The ‘Do Now’ OD Plan focused on key areas to strengthen leadership, team alignment, and workforce development.

• Team purpose: Using public narratives and patient stories, our People Solutions team supported teams in creating their own purpose statements to support their elevator pitch, helping them recognise both their individual and collective contributions to the population they serve. This strengthened teams’ understanding of their roles and the evolving function of the ICB within the wider NHS landscape.

• Developing leaders: We worked with executive and senior leaders through workshops using the Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) tool to enhance relationship intelligence and self-awareness. Leaders came from diverse backgrounds, including clinical, public health, and commissioning.

• Creating a coaching culture: We reviewed the existing coaching offer and identified the need for a coaching network to support Continuous Professional Development (CPD). We also established a coaching platform to provide greater access to coaching support.

• Reviewing people policies: We conducted an in-depth review to assess whether people policies aligned with the ICB’s values and leadership behaviour framework, leading to recommendations for improvement.

• Thriving in a virtual workplace: We delivered online sessions to help remote workers make the most of their working environment, covering areas such as career development, equity, and wellbeing.

Impact

The programme was delivered to over 200 staff, including 40 senior leaders, through a combination of virtual and face-to-face workshops and sessions.

The ‘Do Now’ OD Plan strengthened relationships, clarified team purpose, and enhanced contributions to organisational goals. It provided practical workforce support, established a coaching culture, and equipped staff to work effectively in an agile, evolving environment.

The plan evolved over time, ensuring that learning and development remained aligned with ICB priorities. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with over 95% of participants agreeing that the team purpose sessions supported them in their role.

Feedback

The team from NHS Midlands and Lancashire (ML) provided organisational development expertise that enabled our organisation to develop a shared understanding of our purpose at both individual and team levels. The ML team achieved this through an approach that combined team development with liberating structures. The sessions were interactive, engaging, and supported my teams in having the right conversations and developing their shared purpose. The facilitation approach provided ample opportunity for genuine reflections on the team’s journey and an honest discussion about the challenges we face moving forward. The feedback from the sessions was very positive, providing us with clarity on our purpose and a foundation to thrive as a team.

Chief Delivery Officer, Integrated Care Board

For more information

For more information and to learn how we can help your organisation, please contact us.