THE CHALLENGE:
Phorest Salon Software is a rapidly growing Global SaaS company with offices in Ireland, UK, Germany, Finland, Australia and the US. Their system touches every point of the salon experience from the in-salon software desktop application with a full marketing suite to custom native apps and online bookings. Phorest Salon Software currently powers over 10,000 hair and beauty salons globally with an aim to capture 25% of the international market – that’s one million salons and a billion-dollar company. There are currently nearly 400 global employees at Phorest. Since 2017 we have partnered with Phorest Salon Software to support them in developing their leaders, and others, and maintaining their culture.
When we first started working with Phorest, it was growing, with business developing worldwide and offices opening in the UK and the US as well as teams working in Finland, Germany and Australia. Phorest prides itself on developing and promoting from within. Initially, when we started working with Phorest, the Executive Management Team had recognised that they needed to develop people throughout the business that could lead the day-to-day business (senior and middle management roles), thus enabling the EMT to step into more strategic roles.
THE SOLUTION:
With the CEO and the head of education at the time, we developed a year-long leadership programme called LEAP. Eight individuals were identified as high potential senior and middle managers. The programme consisted of monthly skills-based workshops which were designed based on the organisational and individual developmental needs. As well as the skills-based interactive sessions, the programme included pre-work, homework (between each session), speakers (EMT), and external clients (customers). Additionally, based on individual developmental needs, as they transpired, the addition of new topics, action learning group projects, and peer-coaching was added. Since then, the programme has been run with two more groups of managers at Phorest. In 2023, we worked with a group of managers in Phorest on this third rollout of our LEAP programme, which we designed bespoke with and for Phorest. The majority of sessions were in person with one virtual workshop and a virtual programme kick-off session. Our approach is always highly interactive, with skills-based sessions that give participants actionable takeaways to develop those skills. The programme ran over a period of 6 months with a mix of full day and half sessions covering topics including: Values-Based Leadership, Strategic Leadership, Influencing Skills, DiSC, Intentional Growth, High Performing Teams, Goal Setting, People Management, Emotional Intelligence, Presentation Skills and more.
In addition to these learning sessions, all programme participants completed DiSC profiling and received a 1-2-1 Coaching session with one of our Coaches for DiSC feedback. These 1-2-1’s which spanned the programme, supported each participant greatly in understanding how to fully benefit from the insights gained from their DiSC profiling and the insights gained from the modularised sessions. Although our team are also qualified in other approaches to profiling if required, we used DiSC profiling to deepen the participants’ self-awareness and their understanding of other people’s styles. DiSC makes it easy to identify and understand our own style, recognise others’ styles and cognitively adapt to these different styles, and develop a process to communicate more effectively with others. We also included a Mentoring Session for the mentor, as each participant was matched with a mentor for the duration of this programme. All mentors were inhouse from the executive leadership team.
We assigned pre-work before each module and self-directed learning resources and exercises to be completed throughout the programme. We always incorporate some self-directed learning on our programmes, with exercises for participants to complete between sessions. We also provide links to further learning resources. The participants accessed LinkedIN Learning etc for extra materials and courses. Our role was to bring the Managers on a journey to increase self-awareness, and High Performance Team awareness to understand how they currently operate and explore growth and self-development opportunities as leaders and managers. Our facilitator team engaged the group with relevant content and reflective exercises, and we facilitated rich and practical discussions.
This was a bespoke programme, and while we have run two iterations of the LEAP programme previously for Phorest, for each run we tweak our materials to incorporate the latest research inneuroscience psychology, in addition to taking into account the evolving needs of our client, which have expanded as the organisation continues to grow in size and people. We ran this particular programme (three times across 2017-2023) over a period of 6 months each time. However, we can design for a variety of formats and duration that may be required and offer in person, virtual or blended programmes. We can offer stand-alone workshops also in-person or virtual. We always include self-directed learning and further recommended learning resources for any participants on our programmes, so that the learning really embeds and continues. If any programme participants require additional support, we offer 1-2-1 coaching also.
THE RESULTS:
Many of the individuals who have moved through this programme (LEAP 1, 2 and 3) have been promoted: some joined the Executive Management Team and some became managers of departments and teams throughout the business and across the globe. Indeed for Leap 3, we partnered with one of the participants of Leap 1 to design and deliver the modified programme. She moved into the role of Head of Learning, Development and Culture. Due to her almost decade of experience working with Phorest, her experience of having moved through LEAP 1, her deep relationship with colleagues through the organisation, and her role in learning, development and culture, she was extremely well placed to inform the direction and focus of this programme.
We collected feedback after each Module of each run of the LEAP programmes. All participants that have completed this programme to date, have reported a significant increase in self-awareness and effectiveness is their role. The programme helped the managers to work more strategically, understand their colleagues better and communicate more effectively for successful working relationships and outcomes.
In recent years, Adaptas has also been assigned to (a) design and deliver a Sales Programme to the Sales team at Phorest (b) design and deliver a programme throughout the business on the topic of Maintaining Values (including identifying above and below the line behaviours, obstacles and solutions). This was delivered to approximately 180 staff members across the business across six workshops (approximate numbers in each workshop were 20-30 persons at a time) (c) our services are sometimes called on to coach individuals in different areas of Phorest (separately to the above programmes). And some of the topics (for example, ‘productivity’ & ‘creating high performance teams’) covered in LEAP, were also successfully rolled out to other departments of the business including the EMT.
FEEDBACK:
Sarah McEvoy (Mahon), Head of People, Phorest
“I had the privilege of working with Celine as a participant in LEAP 1 in 2017 and again in 2021/2022 as a partner in delivering the modified programme to managers. From the beginning, Celine spent the time to get to know and understand the Phorest Culture. She spent time with Leadership and other key stakeholders to ensure she was best equipped to engage participants, foster a collaborative learning environment, and deliver content insightfully and practically.
Celine’s expertise in leadership principles and their application was evident throughout the programme. She seamlessly integrated real-world examples, interactive activities, and thought-provoking discussions that challenged us to reflect on our leadership styles. She provided the group with tools that they could apply in their roles. One of the standout qualities of Celine is her genuine commitment to the growth and development of each participant. She took the time to meet with everyone one to one before the programme started. Her feedback was always constructive and encouraging, helping the group to build confidence and competence in their leadership abilities. What truly sets Celine apart is her ability to connect with people on a personal level. Her approachable and empathetic manner created a safe space for everyone. The group trusted Celine and the environment that she created.
The feedback from the participants of the programme was really positive overall. They left the programme feeling inspired, empowered, and equipped with a renewed sense of purpose. I wholeheartedly recommend Celine and Adaptas to anyone seeking to create a leadership development programme to drive positive change within their organisation.”