Deep conversations
The opportunity was not to fix individuals, but to create a shared language and practical system.
Building a principled, aligned leadership team.
A UK-based education organisation partnered with Kate Southerby Coaching to invest in the effectiveness, alignment and sustainability of its Senior Leadership Team during growth, organisational change and transition to a new CEO.
A confidential UK education organisation operating across multiple sites, with a senior leadership team navigating growth, transition and the need for more consistent decision-making.
A personal note
This case study is anonymised because of the confidential nature of the organisation and the work. Any client can choose to work with me confidentially, whether because of sector sensitivity, leadership transition, internal context or simply a preference to keep the work private.
The context
The Leadership Team was committed, capable and aligned in intent, but differences in communication styles, decision-making approaches and ways of working were creating friction that slowed progress and made consistency harder to maintain.
The work
We created the space to think clearly, together.
Clear thinking
Kate began with SDI Core Strengths, then moved into a sustained Leadership Development Programme using the PHS model: Priorities, Habits, Systems. The team translated Open to Change, Methodical & Analytical and Principled into practical leadership habits.
Practical ways forward
Used SDI Core Strengths to create shared language for motives, strengths and conflict triggers.
The outcome
Stronger foundations. Clearer direction. Better relationships.
- Leaders gained clearer language for strengths, triggers and communication styles
- The senior group strengthened alignment, psychological safety and collaboration
- Decision-making became faster, with clearer ownership and fewer unresolved tensions
- The organisation had systems and habits in place to sustain change over time
“This work has given our Leadership Team a shared language and a practical way of working together that we simply did not have before.”
The impact
Clarity that changed how the work could move.
This was not a one-off intervention. The work became embedded in how the team operates day-to-day.
Delve deeper
Related resources for the pattern underneath this work.
01
Practical tools
How to run a team conversation about how we actually work
Most teams have never had an explicit conversation about how they work together. They have had conversations about what they are working on, how the project is going, what the priorities are.
02
Leadership
Hybrid did not create your relationship problems. It just made them impossible to ignore.
Hybrid did not create the relationship problems in a team. It reveals the trust, communication and psychological safety issues that proximity used to quietly manage.
03
Trust
What is psychological safety and why does it keep disappearing
Psychological safety is one of those concepts that gets nodded at in most leadership programmes and genuinely achieved in very few teams. Not because people do not understand it, but because it is harder to maintain than it is to create, and the conditions that erode it are often the same conditions that leadership is operating in most of the time: pace, pressure, high stakes, and a leader who has a lot to lose.