Finding the right leader at a critical point in change

The client

Cumberland Building Society is a customer-owned mutual with a strong heritage and a clear ambition to build a modern, digitally enabled organisation while continuing to deliver the personal service and values its members expect.

Denholm has partnered with Cumberland for more than four years, supporting the organisation across technology, change and transformation recruitment.

The challenge

Cumberland was midway through a significant end-to-end transformation programme when it unexpectedly lost its Head of Change.

The Society was undertaking major technology change, digital enablement and the re-platforming of its core banking environment. The incoming Head of Change needed to step into an established programme at pace, quickly build credibility with senior stakeholders and provide leadership across the Society’s entire change portfolio.

The role carried significant responsibility, leading a function of more than 70 colleagues across Programme and Project Management, Business Analysis, PMO, Transformation Management, Change Risk and Resource Management.

Cumberland needed someone with senior leadership experience in complex, highly regulated environments, strong portfolio and governance expertise and the judgement to balance pace, risk and delivery. They also needed to be comfortable operating at Executive level and leading a large, multi-disciplinary team through significant change.

Cultural alignment mattered too. Cumberland was looking for a leader whose approach reflected its values around empathy, collaboration and kindness.

Our approach

Having worked closely with Cumberland for more than four years, we already understood the organisation, its leadership team, culture and transformation ambitions.

We mapped the market for senior change and transformation leaders operating within complex, highly regulated environments, focusing on strategic leadership, delivery, people leadership and cultural alignment.

The search identified a senior leader at the Student Loans Company who was not actively looking for a new role.

As Head of Change Assurance and Lean Centre of Excellence, the candidate was leading enterprise-wide change assurance and operational excellence for an organisation serving more than nine million customers. Their experience included building risk-based assurance models, providing senior leaders with clear insight into portfolio health, risk and delivery confidence, and redesigning a change operating model affecting more than 400 colleagues.

Through a series of detailed conversations and meetings, we explored what would genuinely make a move worthwhile.

The opportunity to lead an enterprise-wide Change function, work directly with C-suite stakeholders and shape the future Change operating model created a strong fit with the candidate’s experience and ambitions. Cumberland also offered the opportunity to lead through a major business and technology transformation within a purpose-led financial services organisation.

The outcome

Cumberland appointed the candidate as Head of Change, with responsibility for the Society’s portfolio of strategic, regulatory, technology and continuous improvement initiatives.

The appointment brought an experienced senior leader into the organisation at an important point in its transformation, with the background to provide continuity, build relationships quickly and help shape the future of the Change function.

The successful candidate had not been looking for a new role. Identifying the right person in the market was one part of the search. Understanding what would make the opportunity worth considering was equally important.

When the transformation is already moving

Replacing a senior change leader midway through a transformation creates a particular hiring challenge. The incoming person has to understand decisions that have already been made, establish credibility with people already delivering the programme and provide direction without losing momentum.

For Cumberland, that made leadership style, stakeholder credibility and experience of complex change as important as the technical requirements of the role.

More questions worth asking...

How do you replace a senior change leader in the middle of a transformation?

Start with what the programme needs now. Priorities, relationships and risks may have changed since the original role was defined. The incoming leader needs to establish credibility quickly while having the judgement to challenge what needs to change.

What should you look for when hiring a Head of Change?

Consider the environment they will be leading as closely as their transformation experience. Portfolio governance, programme delivery and risk expertise matter alongside Executive influence, people leadership and the ability to create clarity when priorities compete.

How do you attract a senior transformation leader who isn't looking for a new role?

Understand what they have already achieved, what they want more of and what would make a move worthwhile. In this search, the scope to lead an enterprise-wide function, work directly with C-suite stakeholders and shape the future Change operating model gave the candidate a compelling reason to consider the opportunity.

Explore the expertise behind the search

Cumberland’s search brought together financial services, senior change leadership and complex transformation. Explore Denholm’s work across Financial Services, our Digital, Change & Transformation expertise, or learn more about our approach to Executive Search.

If you need a senior leader to take ownership of significant change, call us on 03303 359 818 or email connect@denholmassociates.com.