Building Resilience and Cultivating An Authentic Workplace Culture
The Challenge
Our client, an employee-owned organisation, offers expert consultancy in economics, finance, investment, policy, and governance to enhance the capacity of cities and city regions.
Following a staff survey, the organisation identified stress management and wellbeing as key development priorities. While the work is fast-paced and intellectually stimulating, the survey highlighted signs of increasing pressure and stress across teams. Junior staff expressed a desire for support in developing coping strategies, while senior leaders recognised the need to model sustainable working practices. The leadership team wanted to take a proactive approach, creating space for reflection, learning and open dialogue about stress, resilience and authenticity.
They approached us, as business psychologists, to help address these themes in a way that was both practical and culturally relevant. We had previously worked this client and they were confident in our expertise and approach.
Our Approach
Through in-depth exploration conversations with the client, we identified the key individual and systemic stress triggers, ensuring that the intervention would resonate across all levels.
Drawing on the research on occupational stress, resilience and authenticity in the workplace, we designed a bespoke half-day workshop tailored to the needs of the client’s team. The workshop was delivered twice, in the Manchester and London offices, to ensure that all staff could participate.
The workshops aimed to help delegates:
- Identify common stress triggers specific to consultancy work
- Explore the psychological and physiological impact of stress
- Introduce evidence-based strategies for building resilience and enhancing self-care
- Discuss the role of authenticity and openness in strengthening both resilience and confidence
The workshops were highly interactive, combining reflection, group discussion and peer learning.
By bringing together senior and junior colleagues, we created a space where delegates could share experiences and perspectives openly, learning from one another in an atmosphere of psychological safety. Delegates appreciated the balance of theory and practice, leaving with both insight and actionable tools to apply in daily work
The Outcome
The workshops acted as a catalyst for wider cultural change. Inspired by the conversations and insights that emerged, the leadership team committed to embedding wellbeing into everyday working life, not just as an individual responsibility, but as a collective practice.
This led to the creation of a new “Ways of Working” framework to support effective collaboration, stress management and positive communication. The framework introduced clear expectations around communication, meeting practices and interpersonal behaviour including:
- Respectful communication – acknowledging messages promptly while respecting others’ time and workload
- Smarter meetings – shorter, purposeful meetings with clear agendas, roles and outcomes
- Empathy and kindness – encouraging constructive feedback, emotional awareness and professional respect
- Balance and boundaries – recognising the importance of recovery, breaks and time away from screens
The initiative is now being rolled out across all teams, with staff invited to provide feedback and refine practices collaboratively. This participative approach has helped strengthen ownership, trust and shared accountability for wellbeing and performance.
The success of this intervention demonstrates how psychological insight can drive meaningful organisational change. By initiating honest conversations about wellbeing and authenticity and translating these into tangible ways of working, the client has taken a significant step toward creating a more resilient, connected and sustainable workplace.