Financial Ombudsman Service

After a successful tender in late 2018 we were asked to design and deliver two important programmes for the Advisory and Investigative Directorates – the largest in the organisation – and specifically for aspiring and new managers (LENS) and established middle managers (LEAP).

Coverage in both programmes is extensive (including management of self, projects, performance, service improvement, communications, relationships and resources) with signature themes woven into delivery including the FOS values, resilience and working with ambiguity, strategic thinking, diversity and inclusion, and everyday coaching practice.

Key features of programme design have included:

• Integration of team projects, requiring delegates from different areas to collaborate on the instigation and implementation of innovations drawing on their learning
• The close involvement of senior sponsors, for instance in launching the programmes and acting as “Dragons” at the pitching and feedback stages of team projects; as well as internal subject matter experts providing the inside track on process and good practice for key disciplines such as project management and complaint handing
• Peer coaching and action learning which have proved invaluable in building and sustaining momentum for the organisation
• Our trademark infusion of neuro- and behavioural science within course content, to enable participants to understand how positively to influence their own and others’ mindset

To date, we have delivered to 2 LENS and 4 LEAP cohorts (a total of 120 people), with excellent results in particular for:

• Attendance – the internal project team has been taken aback at the 90%+ attendance rate over both programmes which represents a vast improvement on previous comparable programmes
• Delegate satisfaction – the proportion of delegates rating events at between 7 and 10 has been 100%  across all events and all cohorts
• Business impact – although it is still early to fully gauge impact, FOS’ Director of Human Resources has reported at least a 200% return on investment from one team project alone (which has delivered savings by streamlining the case review process).  Other projects have included revamping the QA process for investigation, reducing customer waiting times, creating an internal wellbeing knowledge bank, and creating a specialist unit for handling complex complaints)