Where brand meets behaviour
Every organisation is shaped by its people: how they work together and make decisions, how they handle tension and how they respond to growth and change.
What they are making together is the working environment and it is your system. It is dynamic and human and therefore messy and constantly evolving. If everyone takes responsibility for how they relate to each other, it creates the conditions for better ideas and trusted relationships.
We help organisations understand and strengthen that system so good intentions translate into positive everyday behaviour through all their ups and downs.
Your system. Your story.
It’s also important to connect what happens on the inside with what you say on the outside.
Through brand positioning, narrative and tone of voice, we help define what you stand for and express it clearly, in a way that feels true to the organisation behind the words.
Because trust is built when the two line up: when the story you tell reflects the way your organisation works.
Systems skills development
DEFENCE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY
DEFENCE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY
Needing more foxes
Simon led the delivery of a programme to develop systems people. Referring to Isaiah Berlin’s “The Hedgehog and the Fox” essay, Dstl needed more foxes who could work across disciplines to solve problems. The key was the ability to build effective relationships both within and outside the lab.
Along with developing the interpersonal skills, they also needed to apply their learning and so creating the right environment was essential. It led to formal roles such as technical consultant working with customers and technical partner working with suppliers.
For more details, please refer to the “Systems skills development - the Yellow Brick Road approach” paper:
Career development framework
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
Meeting both personal and institutional goals
Simon led a programme to overhaul the academic promotion process to increase the percentage of female professors and reduce the professorial gender pay gap.
Along with the extensive consultation to produce the new Academic Promotion Framework, he created a framework that would enable more inclusive career conversations for all academics. As well as ensuring that every valued contribution was recognised, it communicated what was important for everyone to be doing. It provided context for how everyone worked (and talked) together to meet both personal and institutional goals.
You can access the Academic Promotion Framework here:
Leadership team development
THALES UK
THALES UK
Putting the fish on the table
While working for Mindset Practice, Simon facilitated the development of delivery teams at Thales UK. They had recognised a preference for teams to focus on tasks over people at the expense of psychological safety.
For one leadership team, a recurring theme was ‘putting the fish on the table’ or having those difficult conversations. By creating the right environment and shifting their mindset, they were able to start having those conversations in a more meaningful way. They realised that their busyness was getting in the way of their relationships and, ultimately, their effectiveness.
The work is part of a wider programme captured in this case study:
Small acts, big impacts
EVERY WORKPLACE
EVERY WORKPLACE
Finding a difference that makes a difference
We have lost count of the times when some of the actions from a workshop seemed so insignificant, but became the signal for change. Buying a decent coffee machine for the communal area so that people spend time together away from their desks. Senior leaders spreading out into the wider workspace to spend time with people they hardly see. Saying thank you and appreciating each other's hard work. Sharing information more openly. Having at least one conversation a day when you actually listen to what the other person is saying. And so on …
Sometimes just stepping away from the busyness and spending time together provides the insights and inspiration to experiment with doing the simpler things first. Creating the climate for bigger things to follow.
Brand positioning & naming
WILD ORIGINS
WILD ORIGINS
A new hospitality brand, where meaning leaves its mark
Wild Origins is a full-service advisory platform working across hospitality and residential development, design, lifestyle, and wellness operations to inspire new thinking and meaningful action.
We worked with the founder Neil Jacobs on a brand positioning that would capture his approach to creating resonant brands and bringing their identity and concepts to life.
We knew the name should feel optimistic and true to the need to always start with “why” – the wild origin of a brand purpose that is the foundation for everything.
Tone of voice
SIX PHYSIO
SIX PHYSIO
Where you’re in good hands and in good company
Some projects get you moving in the morning. Six Physio was built on a pioneering spirit that has always set them apart, and we helped the team develop a voice as part of an identity system that understands the quirk in your hip and knows recovery is so much more than mechanics.
Rather like writing.
Writing
XARRACA JOURNAL
XARRACA JOURNAL
“Ibiza will be Earth’s final refuge.” Nostradamus
Ibiza’s Xarraca Journal has become an institution. Like the five journals that have gone before, issue 6 “Authenticity” is a tribute to the island’s north and the community it gathers.
Issue 1: The Extended Family
Issue 2: Futura
Issue 3: The Change Makers
Issue 4: Human Connection
Issue 5: Duality
Tone of voice
SIX SENSES
SIX SENSES
Some places you visit. Others, you feel
Since 2017, Jess has been the Creative Editorial lead at Six Senses, with the role of conveying the incredible beauty of its 27 locations, both far-flung and urban, together with unique and authentic guest experiences and its pioneering approach to wellness and sustainability. Over that time, she has consistently developed the brand’s tone of voice and storytelling approach to stay relevant across the media mix including most of the words across sixsenses.com.
Storytelling
ULTIMATE HORIZONS
ULTIMATE HORIZONS
Luxury tailor-made holidays, safaris & small group tours designed just for you
The aim of Ultimate Horizons was to use editorial to draw out culture, people, and place, and explore horizons in both the literal sense (views, landscapes, journeys) and the figurative sense (perspective, curiosity, possibility). We were enlisted to help the team write like the creative and travel-loving humans they are. They didn’t know how good they already were so we didn’t need to do a lot, except kill the odd tricolon.
Brand positioning
ADVENTURE YACHTS
ADVENTURE YACHTS
Where the ocean sets you free
The rare thrill of creative freedom to define a sharp brand purpose for Adventure Yachts, working on a little brand with a big dream and launching a brand that is as sleek and sophisticated as its catamarans.
Writing
ORANGE
ORANGE
Possibility starts with tech you trust
Through a purchase order that has continued since 2004, Jess champions the Orange brand voice across digital and social media touchpoints, print, video/TV, retail, and sponsorship. She works closely with teams across Orange and Orange Business to produce everything from editorial guidelines to a new vision statement and manifesto script to support it.