Organisational Development & Consultancy

Organisations are complex living systems — shaped by relationships, histories, pressures and the unspoken dynamics that sit beneath the surface. Pressures intensify during moments of conflict, crisis or overload and the system can become tangled and unsettled. The real leadership challenge when this occurs, is to combine a focus on strategy with a deep understanding of relational and behavioural dynamics. This complex combination creates insight into how people think, relate and make meaning together, allowing strategic vision to be better enacted.

Shaw Concannon exists to support thinking and help people work well in crisis and complexity. At the centre of our work is the simple, powerful idea:

Clarity emerges when the invisible becomes visible.

Our Methodology: Surface → Stabilise→ Sustain

Surface

We surface the dynamics, assumptions and histories influencing behaviour. Making the invisible visible gives people a shared understanding — a map of what they are navigating (both within themselves and between each other).

Stabilise

Through reflective conversation, compassionate challenge and collaborative sense making, we support clarity, connection and responsible use of power. Having surfaced patterns of behaviour, we bring what is felt but unspoken into language, allowing shared understanding to emerge. With clearer language and greater understanding, teams are able to think together, relate more healthily and make meaningful behavioural changes through thoughtful discussion, challenge and collaboration.

Sustain

Behavioural change needs practice. We accompany teams as they embed new ways of working that hold up under pressure — strengthening trust, resilience and thoughtful leadership. A greater sense of shared purpose and alignment to strategic direction becomes possible.

Book a call with Abi or Helen

Impact Stories

Planning for expansion

Funded by The McConnell Foundation working as part of a team with Social Innovation Generation at the University of Waterloo in Toronto, Canada to design and deliver their ‘Sustainagility’ workshops to facilitate social innovation projects to build out globally. A total of eight Founder organisations and start-ups came together to workshop their core offer and develop a strategy that could deliver expansion including Roots of Empathy, originally from Canada and now operating in the UK, USA, Rep. of Ireland, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland.

Conflict in a team

A team of clergy from a synagogue came to us concerned about a very sensitive personal conflict between two of the team – could we help mediate and repair relationships so they could continue to serve their community? Through a series of facilitated conversations between and with the individuals involved and the wider team they were able to move to a different place and find a way forward that worked for them all.

Transition of leadership

A global majority women’s organisation asked for some consultancy as they faced a number of challenges in planning for the future. The organisation stood at a crossroads as it moved towards celebrating a significant anniversary and at an important place of transition with the founding team getting older and thinking about their own and the organisation’s future. Individual conversations and a team awayday enabled assessment of different internal perspectives on the impact of it’s work including:

  • Perceptions of achievements and the impact of it’s campaigning and influencing,
  • What had worked well and what could be improved upon,
  • It’s structure and internal processes and recommendations for options for future organisational development

Supporting a complex legal process

The lead lawyer representing some of the families bereaved by the Hillsborough Disaster wanted some thinking partner support prior to and during a long, multiple death incident inquest. Working alongside them in selecting the team, supporting the beginning of the process and then thinking with them and attending to the dynamics and pressures of the work, the team was able to function well despite the intensity of the process, months away from home and long hours.

Developing Collaboration

Working across three charities Age UK Essex/MHLECA/ Independent Age to support the Care Home Development Programme by bringing together staff from each organisation to explore and develop a shared language and align on purpose and process.

Navigating Structural Change

Working in different roles to support a Board through a change from multiple CCGs to an ICB as part a of an organisational development consultancy intervention. One of us acted as a thinking partner to the project lead who worked with the Board and one part of the coaching pair working with the individual leaders. Collectively we worked as a reflecting team to sense make the processes emerging in the system.