A global insurance group
Developing managers beyond a one-off workshop
How a global insurance group used a staged Manager+ journey to build leadership awareness and application across multiple cohorts, supported by a 48.7% rise in leadership-style awareness across 115 matched responses.
- Programme
- Manager+ leadership journey
- Sector
- Financial services, Singapore
- Engagement
- Jul 2025 to May 2026
Programme at a glance
- 4Consecutive Manager+ cohorts
- ~90Managers reached across the journey
- 115Matched before-and-after responses
- 4 daysTwo summits, supported by coaching clinics
- 8.5 to 9.3 / 10Session rating range across the programme
- +48.7%Leadership-style awareness, 5.63 to 8.37
The organisational need
Manager development rarely fits into a single day. Managers need time to understand how they lead, test the learning at work and return with better questions.
The organisation worked with Strengths School on Manager+, a staged leadership journey delivered across successive cohorts. Separate strengths work was also run with one of its teams. The two tracks served different needs and are reported separately.
How Manager+ was designed
Manager+ was built as a journey, not a standalone workshop. Participants moved through two summits over four learning days, with coaching clinics supporting application between and after the learning stages.
Each stage connected CliftonStrengths to practical leadership questions: how Top 5 strengths shape leadership, which parts of a style are natural versus intentional, where a strength can become a pitfall, and balancing results with relationships.
- How Top 5 strengths shape leadership
- Natural versus intentional style
- When a strength becomes a pitfall
- Balancing results and relationships
- Leadership brand and commitments
The Manager+ journey
Profiling
Personal insights and Top 5
Summit 1
Strengths and leadership style
Workplace application
Test the learning on the job
Summit 2
Pitfalls, balance and brand
Coaching clinic
Real situations, peer learning
The cohort format let the programme improve over time. Feedback from earlier groups informed the pacing, the clinic format and the design for later cohorts.
The evidence
Manager+ leadership journey, 4 consecutive cohorts
- 8.5 to 9.3 / 10Session rating range across the programme
- ~90Managers across 4 cohorts, from 115 matched responses
Manager+
- Awareness of personal leadership style5.63 → 8.37 / 10
Separate team workshop
- Awareness of greatest value-add6.05 → 8.35 / 10
- Awareness of team members' working styles5.15 → 8.45 / 10
Leadership-style awareness moved from mid-scale to high, with sessions rated 8.5 to 9.3.
Source: 115 matched responses across four Manager+ cohorts, Jul 2025 to May 2026. These are immediate programme measures, not proof of long-term behaviour change. The separate team workshop, rated 9.0 out of 10 across 20 attributable responses, measured team learning rather than leadership impact, so it is reported apart from Manager+.
It was insightful to see how my personal strengths affect my leadership style.
Why this matters
Match the programme structure to the learning need. A staged journey develops managers over time and gives them room to apply the learning; a focused workshop builds team collaboration. The same strengths language can serve both, without forcing every audience through one programme.
This could be relevant if you are
- Developing managers across several cohorts
- Looking for more than a one-off leadership workshop
- Wanting managers to apply the learning between sessions
- Exploring how strengths could form part of a wider leadership-development pathway
Thinking about manager development?
If you are deciding between a one-off workshop and a longer development journey, we can share what we have learned from designing both.
Participant comments are anonymised and lightly edited for grammar and clarity. Client names are withheld at the clients' request.