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Organisational Development (OD) brings a balanced approach to the areas of business performance and organisational health, to produce the sustainable results of a high performing organisation. It brings strategic intent to life, aligning strategy, people and process to create a healthy organisation where individuals can thrive and contribute. In particular, we can help with challenges around:

  • Culture – ‘the way things are done around here’
  • Employee Engagement – engaging your greatest asset to increase your success
  • Transformation and Change – support for your major business initiatives
  • Continuous Improvement and ‘Lean’ – the ability to become increasingly efficient

As OD practitioners we have hands-on experience in senior organisational roles and add to this our learning from OD consulting with a wide range of clients and a deep understanding of the theoretical and psychological bases that shape OD practice. Our skilled and experienced team can support you by taking a holistic view across your organisation. We work with you to develop and align the internal capability behind your vision, execute your strategy, adapt to the present and shape the future – faster and better than the competition – to sustain exceptional performance over time. We can do this through a mix of OD Consultancy where our specialist knowledge and expertise help you build the organisation that will deliver your strategic intent; OD Capability Building that enables an OD approach to become part of your DNA for future change; and OD Coaching that supports OD/HR practitioners and senior leaders during periods of organisational change and transformation. Our approach is to come alongside you as a skilful guide, initially showing you the way, and then stepping back to let you and your teams take the lead.

Culture

‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast.’ So says Peter Drucker – and that indeed is sometimes how it feels, when it seems impossible to deliver the benefits of a change initiative which seemed so clear in the initial phase. During periods of transformation it is critical to understand the way that culture can support or hinder an organisation’s chosen strategy. This enables choices to be made as to which aspects of the current culture to reinforce and which to move away from. It is then vital for leaders to know how best to role model the behaviours, habits and patterns which underpin the new strategy. We provide the following support to help you understand your culture and make informed choices:

  • Cultural Diagnostic
  • Cultural Frameworks
  • Cultural Change

To find out more about our Culture services, please contact:

Gwen Stirling

0118 979 8043

Employee Engagement

Your people are your biggest asset. They are also the key to whether your business will succeed or fail. Highly engaged organisations with happy employees hire more easily, deliver stronger customer service, have the lowest voluntary turnover rates, and are more agile and profitable in the long run. Conversely, when employees feel unmotivated or undervalued, the organisation suffers. Studies show that a workforce that is not highly engaged will resist change – taking longer for expected benefits to be achieved and impacting customer service. Employees are more likely to be highly engaged if they feel they are valued partners within their organisation, can openly communicate and be communicated to. In addition, their physical workplace has a tangible role to play in shaping and deploying employees’ beliefs and behaviours. With a wealth of experience in successful global Employee Engagement strategy and programme delivery, Berkshire Consultancy can help your leaders and organisation excel at this, guiding you through four key factors, all critical to its success:

  1. Visible, Empowering Leadership
  2. Engaging your Managers
  3. Employee Voice
  4. Organisational Integrity

To find out more about Employee Engagement, please contact:

Sarah Hunter

07557 991 378

Transformation and Change

The terms Transformation and Change have become interchangeable for many people. We explain the difference as: Change is always with us. Change management is implicit and incorporated into much of the work we do. It involves implementing new procedures, processes and operational practices to improve efficiency and effectiveness. It needs to be managed well or it can have a demoralising effect, creating difficulties rather than improving performance. Transformation is a more radical departure from the status quo – a major shift in structure, culture or operating practice, often business-wide in nature and with cross-functional impact, such as moving to a new business model. It requires not only the ability to work in new ways, but an inner shift in people’s values, behaviours and ways of interacting. Transformation work demands a specialist and integrated approach, intervening in the system at a number of levels, and including some of the following features:

  • Alignment and Engagement
  • Generating Breakthroughs
  • Large Scale Change Facilitation and Programme Management

To find out more about Transformation and Change Management services, please contact:

Gwen Stirling

0118 979 8043

Continuous Improvement and 'Lean'

The challenge of delivering more for less has never been so critical, especially now so many organisations rely on people networks rather than traditional business processes to deliver customer value.  Whether cost-out, productivity increase, quality improvement or customer satisfaction, our starting point is always the business results required. Our Berkshire Lean, Learn, Lead™ approach blends the lean cost-out focus with the need for leaders to flex their style and for cross-skilling opportunities to be maximised. We tailor the approach to fit your organisation, drawing on the best that Lean, 6 Sigma and other techniques have to offer. Our track record shows consistent delivery of substantial, measurable benefits and our focus on people-led performance improvement ensures we equip and engage your staff to sustain the improvements and deliver further benefits themselves. Increasingly we are asked to help organisations who are already skilled in Lean/6 Sigma techniques to deliver even greater efficiency improvements. We can do this by developing their facilitation techniques, improving their skills in Lean project design and helping them apply their expertise through Lean coaching.

To find out more about Continuous Improvement and Lean services, please contact:

Mike Robinson

07802 872 670
  • “Berkshire Consultancy has transformed our specification for a management development programme for minority ethnic managers into an innovative, high quality course. The result is a challenging and exciting opportunity for managers who have the potential to progress to top level management.”

    Paula Cairney, Head of Learning & Development, NOMS
  • Fascinating voyage of self-discovery. It’s been incredibly rewarding, tough (in a positive and challenging way) and a brilliant network opportunity.

    Airbus EXPAND, Participant
  • Their passion for what they do, and for our aspiration and needs was what got them through the door. Their collaboration with us over the last year in conceiving, designing and executing a fantastically successful learning programme – at pace –  has made them a pleasure to work with.

    Gill Hunter, Managing Partner, Maxus
  • Berkshire has worked in a really integrated and collaborative way with their Lean, Learn, Lead approach, coaching our senior leaders and managers, developing staff at all levels, and supporting us to create the environment where organisational change has been rapidly accepted and leaner ways of working have been implemented, without any interruption to our service to stakeholders.

    Andrew Jackson, Director, Special Cases Directorate
  • “Berkshire have supported us since 2015 with a) developing specific interventions (e.g. behavioural assessments) which prepare our teams for client facing situations and b) improving our internal capability.  Berkshire bring a wealth of experience from both the project execution and behavioural science world which has been invaluable for a Construction and Project Management organisation like ourselves. The greatest benefit is being able to tap into a pool of associates who can tailor and adapt to our needs whether it be coaching, programme design & delivery or general consulting on organisational change.  Their flexible and collaborative style of working differs from other firms we have used in the past.”  Akin Belo- Organisation Development Manager

    Akin Belo- Organisation Development Manager
  • Our style is that of trusted advisor – we are supportive and provocative. Our intention is to bring out the very best in you and your people.

  • We believe that most is achieved when participants are encouraged to explore and practise new ways of doing things, whether processes or behaviours, in a realistic and safe environment with the necessary coaching support in place

  • A vital part of any diagnostic is understanding the organisation’s view of itself and the extent to which it accepts any need to change

  • Our most successful projects and programmes are those where we work closely with you, our client, in determining your needs, designing the programme and delivering it together

  • We want the work to be fun as well as challenging, to go beyond usual expectations, break down preconceived limitations and explore different possibilities