The Challenge

Following a shift to long-term hybrid working, the COO of a global function within a major global bank was worried.

On the surface, the function was performing. But beneath the results, the warning signs were building: burnout, attrition and an 'always-on' culture that hybrid working had quietly created.

'Not enough hours in the day' had become the norm. Exercise was being dropped, sleep neglected and caffeine relied upon simply to get through.

And all of this was happening in a cost-cutting environment, in the middle of a budget cycle.

The question was not just how to support a handful of leaders.

It was how to protect wellbeing, retention and performance across an entire global function, with limited budget, when the pressure was not showing up in the results.

As the Global Head of the function put it:

"There is a danger of getting into a negative spiral of how we do things. We are at an inflection point with a lot of potential people risk."

Starting At The Top

The engagement began with the senior leadership team. Eight leaders, including the COO and a mix of product and country heads across three continents, took part in OwnLife's Per4RM® programme.

The data confirmed the COO's concerns. At the start, five of the eight were at medium or high risk of burnout-related symptoms. The more cognitively and emotionally demanding parts of their roles, such as feedback, difficult conversations and strategic thinking, were the first to be pushed aside.

By the end of the programme, without any change to workload, six of the eight were at low risk of burnout. Average cognitive performance increased by 13.2%, and more than 75% reported a permanent shift in mindset.

Crucially, the experience changed how the leadership team saw their responsibility to everyone else:

"If we as MDs feel we need to give ourselves permission to take a break during the day, to go for a walk, what does that feel like for more junior members of the team?"

They committed to role modelling sustainable behaviour and to building a culture of 'personally owned and organisationally supported' performance throughout the whole function.

Targeting Investment Where It Mattered Most

With budget limited, the next step had to be precise. All 54 Managing Directors were invited to complete OwnLife's Performance & Wellbeing Assessment (PAWA).

26 completed it, and 16 opted into the programme straight away. The anonymised data confirmed what the leadership team had suspected: many people were struggling to cope and were at elevated risk of burnout or leaving the business.

The results were even more dramatic than at the top:

·         Every participant started at medium or high risk of burnout. Afterwards, 62% had moved to low risk

·         Average cognitive performance increased by 17.6%

·         Leadership performance improved in every area measured

·         78% reported a permanent shift in mindset, and 100% recommended the programme

From Pilot To Function-Wide Rollout

Internal advocacy did the rest. Demand grew from Managing Directors, and leaders wanted their Directors and people managers to have the same experience.

With data from the first two cohorts showing a return on investment of more than 10x, the senior leadership team allocated budget to expand the rollout in the next financial year.

Later that yeat, the programme was offered to every remaining leader and people manager in the function. Three further cohorts totalling 25 leaders achieved the same consistent outcomes:

·         17.1% average increase in in-role performance

·         38.7 percentage point reduction in burnout risk score

·         100% recommended the programme and described it as transformational

What The Data Revealed

The function-wide data showed why rolling out beyond the top mattered. The senior leadership team felt significantly less overwhelmed, and were performing closer to their best, than the leaders below them. The pressure was greatest further down the organisation.

Across all participants:

·         Time spent feeling out of control or overwhelmed fell by 50%, equal to 2.5 hours less every day

·         Measured cognitive performance increased by 16.4%

Collectively, the function moved from close to the 'Fragile Zone', where small increases in pressure cause large drops in performance, to the edge of the 'Stable Zone', where performance holds up even under significant pressure.

A Culture Of Sustainable Performance

What began with eight leaders at the top became a shared experience across the entire global function. Since then, the assessment has been offered every year as an annual check-in, with leaders using their results to self-select for that year’s global OwnLife cohort.

Every single participant has recorded an increase in personal productivity. More than 80% described the journey as transformational, and 100% are advocates of the programme to their peers.

There is now a new openness about what it takes to perform at a high level and sustain wellbeing. An already supportive culture has become an empowering one.

All of this was achieved without changing workloads or working conditions.

Because sustainable performance does not start and stop at the top.

It has to be built across the whole organisation.