As the operator of one of Britain’s largest railway networks, South Western Railway (SWR) connects nearly 200 train stations across southern England, acting as an essential means of transport for millions of passengers every day. The sector, however, revolves around continual disruption, not least industrial challenges. With this in mind, SWR needed to equip its leaders with new skills. It needed to help them navigate constant change, while enabling confident and collaborative mindsets to motivate teams and strengthen productivity.
In collaboration with Mindtools, SWR designed a leadership programme to help time-starved managers shift from coping to thriving. The programme has become so successful in terms of creating evidenced change that it has won an industry award.
Becky Eason, Leadership Delivery Manager at SWR, explained: “Beforehand, leadership development just wasn’t a thing here. We knew we needed something to bridge that gap.”
The challenge: Moving beyond operations
Historically, managers at South Western Railway were trained to focus on operational tasks needed to manage a railway system – not support the development of large numbers of employees. Despite its growing workforce and advancing systems, years of disruption had left many leaders fatigued and reluctant to embrace new ways of working.
Growing leadership capabilities was often seen as another burden on top of operations. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, teams worked in isolation, lacking the ability to build cross-functional collaboration.
Inconsistency was king and skills gaps were all too common.
Resolving leadership problems with a blended experience
To address these challenges, an evidence-based programme called Leading Excellence and Performance (LEAP) was developed for SWR.
Taking a blended approach, LEAP combines digital resources with in-person experiences and real-world application. This combination provides participants with opportunities to develop new skills without falling behind on day-to-day operations.
Bite-sized e-learning modules can be accessed anywhere, at any time. These are followed by a five-day immersive residential workshop where leaders come together to collaborate and practise new skills.
Peer-learning groups also encourage continuous support, while one-to-one coaching and mentoring with senior leaders helps embed behaviours in workplace practices. Each participant also delivers a strategic project for the business, ensuring that learning transfers into tangible outcomes.
All in all, it’s an experience that resonates with managers, helping drive productivity and behaviour change.
Implementation: Building credibility through data
Data and insights are central to the programme. The design of LEAP was informed by early-stage focus groups and interviews with members of the target audience to understand their experience of leadership at SWR. Pre- and post-behavioural surveys, based on measures validated through academic research, were an essential part of the design.
A small pilot scheme provided early feedback, which also helped inform how strategy could be refined to maximise results. Once the format was tried, tested and proven to support SWR’s needs, LEAP was deployed across the business.
To complement the survey’s quantitative data, follow-up interviews were conducted with participants to understand how their perceptions of leadership had changed. This provided a holistic and reliable picture of the programme’s impact, as well as useful data to help drive continuous improvement.
Additionally, by collecting evidence, South Western Railway’s HR teams were able to highlight the initiative’s credibility to senior leaders. Driven by performance metrics, they needed to see verification of improvement. This, in turn, cultivated continued support and budget.
“When I gave senior leaders feedback, I needed to speak their language. Everything in our business is about numbers and impact, so I had to present our L&D insights in a way that reflected that,” Eason explained. “Once we translated the programme’s impact into measurable results, it was much easier to gain leadership support.”
South Western Railway’s results: Genuine impact and cultural change
By measuring before and after through needs analysis and research, the results were clear – and they exceeded expectations.
LEAP delivered tangible results, with an average 12% improvement in leadership capability among participants. This was backed by a 95% confidence level that these gains resulted from the programme.
Other key improvements included:
- 21% increase in managers’ ability to set clear expectations
- 14% boost in fostering innovation within teams
- 9% improvement in building trust
Indeed, a control group was conducted simultaneously to understand non-participants’ achievements. This found a 0.47% decline in leadership capability, further reinforcing LEAP’s effectiveness.
South Western Railway also experienced a significant cultural shift. Managers became more confident, with several from the first cohort securing promotions. Peer-learning groups also continued optionally, nurturing stronger networks and empowering cross-departmental collaboration.
Where leadership development was once treated as an additional chore, it became a foundational strategy championed by senior executives.
Eason added: “Managers not included in initial cohorts started contacting me on LinkedIn and emailing me directly, asking how they can be involved in the programme. That’s when we knew we had something special.”
Recognition and next steps
LEAP’s proven success has already received industry recognition. The programme won gold at a leading learning and development awards programme, further validating South Western Railway’s investment and determination.
Unsurprisingly, more plans are being formulated to expand LEAP further across its workforce. SWR will introduce 360-degree feedback to enhance leadership self-awareness, and launch a second-tier version of the programme for mid-level managers. Adding executive coaching for senior leaders will also strengthen the railway network’s leadership pipeline from top to bottom.
SWR’s experience highlights that when leadership development is measured, supported by senior leaders and ingrained in culture, business efficiency improves. Elevating manager confidence and success trickles down, empowering the entire workforce.
A final positive outcome from LEAP is its elevation of L&D’s credibility. From an overlooked and dusty corner of the business, it became a strategic priority at SWR that receives ongoing investment.
