Summary
The Cumberland Building Society had reached a point where critical functions were working in silo, communication between teams had become fragmented, and leaders lacked the shared alignment needed to steer the organisation effectively.
To address this, Cumberland recognised that the challenge was not simply one of individual capability, but of collective leadership. In partnership with Chief Operating Officer Susanne Parry and Chief Customer Officer Claire Deekes, Will It Make The Boat Go Faster? delivered a High-Performance Leadership Programme to help their leaders think, act and respond as one – creating a shared direction that could translate strategy into sustained impact.
On average
80%
of participants agree
‘The programme has helped us have more open and honest conversations’
On average
77%
of participants agree
‘The programme has improved levels of trust and support within the team’
On average
80%
of participants agree
‘The programme has improved the way the CCO & COO teams work as a collective’
The Challenge
The challenges Cumberland Building Society were facing were not just operational – they were cultural, behavioural and structural. With increased remote working, the organisation had reached a point where its ways of working could no longer support the pace, volatility and expectations of its wider environment. What they needed wasn’t another traditional training course, but a fundamental shift in how leaders thought, collaborated and acted together.
Periods of intense market volatility, including sharp movements in mortgage rates and rapidly shifting customer expectations, exposed an increasing need for understanding between the front and back-end office functions. Siloed working had reached a critical point and leaders across the business lacked a shared understanding of one another’s roles, pressures and perspectives.
Cumberland recognised that to operate confidently in such a fast-changing environment, they needed stronger cross-functional collaboration, deeper alignment and a more unified leadership culture, to build resilience required for the future.
The Solution
To meet this challenge, Will It Make The Boat Go Faster? partnered with The Cumberland Building Society to deliver a High-Performance Leadership Programme rooted in practicality, collaboration and real-world application.
Programme Elements:
- The programme began with in-depth diagnostic interviews with 66 people leaders across the organisation. These conversations provided a detailed understanding of individual leadership challenges, the realities of different roles, and the diverse perspectives within the cohort. The diagnostics allowed us to identify the leadership behaviours and organisational dynamics that, if shifted, would create the greatest collective impact.
- To deliberately strengthen cross-organisational collaboration, leaders were placed into pre-determined working groups, bringing together individuals who would not typically work closely in their day-to-day roles, but whose roles operated adjacently to each other. Each group was challenged to craft a ‘Team Goal’ that required them to work together and that would produce tangible benefits for the business.
- These projects became a catalyst for change. Leaders were required to align priorities, navigate differences, and take collective ownership – delivering outcomes that would not have happened without the programme bringing them together.
- Across the following nine months, our Senior Performance Consultants delivered four one-day, in-person performance workshops. Each workshop was intentionally designed to provide practical tools leaders could apply immediately, and the topics were selected to target the behaviours and cultural shifts highlighted in the diagnostics.
- Momentum Sessions became a pivotal element of the programme. While some leaders were initially cautious about adopting new approaches, hearing peers openly share real success stories created a powerful shift. The credibility of colleagues solving genuine problems built trust, accelerated buy-in, and generated a ripple effect across the cohort – making peer-led influence one of the strongest drivers of mindset change throughout the year.
- The programme culminated in the Podium Event, where each group presented the outcomes of their work to a wider organisational audience. This moment revealed huge shifts in leadership presence – individuals stepping beyond their comfort zones, speaking with clarity and conviction, and taking ownership of tangible business impact.
The Results
The impact of the programme has extended far beyond the workshops themselves. By taking learning from the workshops back into the business and using the skills gained in delivering the projects, the benefits delivered multiplied. The cross-functional groups created during the programme are still meeting, collaborating and solving problems together to this day. Leaders understand one another’s pressures, communicate more openly and respond to challenges as a united team rather than in silos.
This shift in cohesion and collective leadership is reflected in the data. Across all measured areas, The Cumberland Building Society saw an average uplift of 48%, demonstrating significant improvements in leadership development.
Programme Measures to note:
- 64% uplift in cross functional collaboration – enabling the organisation to respond faster and more cohesively to market volatility and operational pressure.
- 51% uplift in effective team working – strengthening the leadership network so decisions are aligned, quicker, and better informed.
- 49% uplift in internal operating efficiency – reducing friction between functions and improving the organisation’s ability to handle spikes in demand.
- 43% uplift employee engagement – driving higher levels of motivation and stability across teams during a period of significant external change.
The Will It? programme demonstrated a significant shift in the confidence and capability of individual leaders, and in the way our teams were able to use a common language to work together. It was crucial to us that this wasn’t just another training event. The way in which the Will It? team built the programme around skills and tools that could be applied straightaway, created the shift we were looking for. The projects that the teams established delivered tangible benefits to the business, as well as harnessing the learning through practical application, multiplying the overall effect.
