One Housing was going through a period of change and transformation. At the start of the process we wanted to gain some good intelligence about our people – their values and their views of us. We worked with Campbell Tickell to carry out a CultureScan.

The work gave us vital insights into how the organisation really works – as opposed to how we thought it did. It highlighted real strengths for us to work with; for example that many staff valued and recognised our commitment to diversity and this was a key part of their work experience. But we also found challenges – our commitment to empowering front-line managers, for example, was not a reality to many, who felt decision making was slow. The scan gave us a better sense of our overall culture, and also identified the pockets where local cultures were different. Perhaps most importantly, it gave us a strong sense of what we need to do to create the vibrant, focused, fun culture that we aim for.

St Mungo’s had been through significant changes from 2015-2017: processes, people, policies, trustees. We’d even changed our branding – twice! But when asked the question ‘How has your culture changed?’ – we were unable to provide an answer. Campbell Tickell worked with us on a short time frame on a bespoke package, including questionnaires, focus groups and structured interviews. They involved managers, front line staff, commissioners and other key stakeholders to identify in a clear but meaningful way how much our culture had changed (24% on average). Most importantly CT left us with a tool to measure that change going forward, which we will use every two years. This work not only meant we could demonstrate the positive effects of our changes externally, including to regulators, but also brought together people internally as they realised how much the positive effects of their hard work had impacted on the St Mungo’s culture.

I would like to thank Campbell Tickell for their help and support during the recruitment of a new Chief Executive. From the initial reply, to our tender invitation, it was clear that CT’s attention to detail; searching out our needs and the support to the senior members of the board to refine their thinking; made all the difference to the final outcome. The innovative approach employed to involve the full board has been commented on and the final agreement by them made the selection of the best candidate a relatively simple matter. The list of potential applicants was wide and varied and gave us the opportunity to test the market and line up a new CEO to fit our needs in the next stage of our development. It was gratifying to note that the panels of Trustees and CT’s own interviews brought out the same results. This gave the board a measure of confidence added to their own thoughts in the final analysis. The whole process was designed to involve as many of the board as wished to take part, with the final selection of the last 3 being attended by the full board. This gave the necessary buy-in by the board and was handled in an innovative way with presentations from the candidates. I would have no problem in recommending Campbell Tickell for recruitment or other work in our space, you seem to have a great and detailed understanding of the needs of our sector.

We commissioned Campbell Tickell to advise and support the development of our current ambitious and forward-looking Housing Strategy, ‘Building Together for a Strong Future’. We found that the team had a range of expertise and skills sets which were used to good effect over the course of the project. Our experience of Campbell Tickell was that they worked well in conjunction with council officers as part of a rounded and interactive project team. With support and advice from Campbell Tickell we now have an adopted Housing Strategy that reflects the council’s ambitions for the future.

We needed to ascertain the baseline levels of awareness of the Housing Ombudsman Service from its users and key stakeholders, and to review whether there were any factors which precluded access to the Service by those who are entitled to it. Campbell Tickell carried out imaginative and thorough research involving tenants, landlords, and a range of agencies who affect the way the Service operates. The outcomes were robust and well presented, enabling us to incorporate into both our strategic thinking and our current operational plans many of the pointers suggested by the research. We were particularly grateful that CT gave a presentation on the research findings at a public meeting organised by the Service, and answered questions from users and stakeholders directly.

Sue Harvey, you are the acceptable face of nerdism!

The new written style and structure which James [Tickell] developed for the Charity Commission have really helped to broaden the appeal of our publications, and improve our ability to reach a much wider audience. In just 14 weeks we’ve had orders for 40,000 copies of the first publication he wrote for us – a huge increase on the usual levels of demand. This work is an important contribution to our effectiveness as a regulator. He produced all this very quickly for us and we’ve had many unprompted compliments on the clarity of the guidance.

Sue Harvey, you are the acceptable face of nerdism! Kelsey Walker, Assistant Director Regulatory Operations, Homes & Communities Agency

The new written style and structure which James [Tickell] developed for the Charity Commission have really helped to broaden the appeal of our publications, and improve our ability to reach a much wider audience. In just 14 weeks we’ve had orders for 40,000 copies of the first publication he wrote for us – a huge