Case Study – Onfido Superpower Leadership Series

About This Project

Supporting Onfido by designing and delivering a leadership development programme called the “Superpower Leadership Series” to a diverse range of 15 leaders selected to participate in their 3-month Leadership Academy programme based on a performance review and talent mapping process.

IN THEIR WORDS….

“What a week. A huge thankyou to Katherine Ray and Jackie Elliott of Talentology and Heuristic Group Coaching for partnering with us and building this Academy.

True mastery at work and incredible insights and deeply moving coaching experiences. The cohort loved this week. Watching the spark of ideas and relationships has been phenomenal. The joy of seeing learning and connections happen is so fulfilling as a fellow Onfidoer and a treasured custodian of our culture and sense of belonging.

I got the feels this week for our investment in our people. What amazing bright sparks they are! An honour and a joy”. (Jo Barnett – Talent and Employee Experience Director)

WHY – THE CHALLENGE

Onfido launched their Leadership Academy in 2021 to support and develop their next generation of high potential leaders. However, in 2022, they wanted to open it up to more high potential leaders across the organization to inspire and equip leaders from different parts of the business with the essential tools for this new era of work.

The goals of the Leadership Academy were to:

• Mould senior leadership approaches and behaviours
• Increase key skills in strategy, decision making and crisis management
• Create a real sense of pride and desire to be part of the programme
• Create space to tackle Onfido specific situations
• Create deep peer bonds, a shared experience and a shared achievement

WHAT WE DID

Working in partnership and collaboration with the People & Organization Development Team, we designed and delivered a leadership development programme called the “Superpower Leadership
Series” – a series of half day sprint sessions that focused on six essential leadership areas: Focus, Listening, Powerful Questions, Feedback, Managing Relationships and Self-Care with a “superpower” element for each of them:

Superpower 1 – Focus – Living by the Power of 3
Superpower 2 – Listening – Listening for Potential
Superpower 3 – Powerful Questions – Being in the zone of uncomfortable debate
Superpower 4 – Feedforward to feedback – Growing through feedforward
Superpower 5 – Managing Relationships – Winning with others to succeed together
Superpower 6 – Self-Care – Developing a self-actualisation mindset

Each half day session including relevant diverse thought leadership on each topic, linked to the relevant Core Strengths (used internally at Onfido), a variety of activities and exercises to bring the
content to life and culminating in a Heuristic Group Coaching Session to harnesses the power of collective intelligence and diverse thinking to embed the learning.

A balance of masculine and feminine leadership skills and traits were included throughout each of the six modules, which supported and embedded the Onfido D,E&I agenda.

The delivery of the Superpower Leadership Series kick-started the 3-month Leadership Academy programme with a week off-site at Henley Business School which also included a Business Simulation in Change Management and critical decision making.

Following the week off-site, participants were assigned a work-based project to work on in smaller groups that they would then present to the Executive Team and were provided with a variety of SME sessions.

The objectives of the Superpower Leadership Series were:

• To understand and identify their own and others core strengths
• To learn essential leadership skills to support them in their role as Onfido leaders
• To reflect and identify their leadership development areas
• To identify how they apply the learning back into their busy day jobs
• To connect, collaborate and co-create as a group to be able to continue to support each other

The sessions were facilitated by Katherine Ray and Jackie Elliott along with Jo Barnett and Erica Mundahl from Onfido.

IMPACT – THE RESULTS

The “in-the-room” feedback at the end of the Superpower Leadership Series from each of the participants was overwhelming positive. The deep learning and development that took place over the series was more than we could have expected. Each participant shared that they had learned so much from the Superpower Series and commented on the perfect balance of relevant content and practice. The participants particularly valued the social learning aspect from the practice and group coaching sessions that took place at the end of each module.

Out of the 15 participants that participated, 4 (25%) have since been promoted. Whilst this wasn’t an objective, it demonstrates the impact this programme had.

OVERALL, WHAT DID THE PARTICIPANTS HAVE TO SAY?

“I have a better understanding of myself and others as a result of participating in this leadership series. I am applying so many elements of the Superpower Leadership Series in my every day work and conversations, from listening to other people’s opinions, engaging in more healthy discussions rather than debates, managing relationships better by applying more empathy to conversations and challenging situations and importantly self-care, knowing when to switch-off” (Senior Talent Partner).

“The Superpower Leadership Series has enabled me to unlock the potential of the individuals in my team. I now listen for potential when having conversations with my team which has been invaluable, because I know that they know the answer, they just lack the self-confidence. I now have a better understanding of the different power bases and combining this with using powerful questions is something I’m using to challenge the status quo with my senior managers but also externally with senior customers. The Superpower Leadership Series is a must do to elevate your leadership and separate you from being a ‘manager’, allowing you to engage with a vast mix of people, ask the right questions, find the detail and get the outcomes whilst nurturing your team!” (Customer Success Director).

“It changed my way of thinking especially when I have to lead my team. It provides me with the tools to help myself to guide the team in the right direction and make an impact. I liked the fact that we did small group sessions (sometimes it was like mini games) where we did real case examples and we could share our thoughts together related to work or not. I think in these moments it encouraged me to be more open with others (even if we try, this is not something we always do at work so doing this with co-workers is great because we realize we are not alone sharing the same thoughts). Other trainings are very theoretical oriented, not a lot of places for interaction and human experience. The content, group sessions and the cohort made this adventure very great! Superpowers are tools that will help you to position yourself and make impactful and positive changes within your team” (Cyber Security Lead).