CLIENTS

The Challenge  

Cowdray is one of the UK’s most beautiful estates, situated in the heart of the South Downs. As well as being home to Cowdray Park, the home of British Polo, the estate includes the exquisite Cowdray House which is available for corporate and private functions, the historic ruins of the original Cowdray, a significant portfolio of properties to let or rent, a range of leisure and therapeutic activities, including a stunning 18-hole golf course, as well as farming and forestry.

Jonathan Russell joined as CEO and invited Innergy to ensure that the leadership and management team were equipped with the confidence and ability to deliver the next chapter of the Cowdray journey, building on the heritage of the past, securing and enhancing the long term prosperity of the Estate and the people who live and work on it and those who visit it and enjoy the Cowdray experience.

Innergy ran a workshop with the senior team to understand the key challenges and opportunities and prioritise the organisational and leadership development.

The solution

Following the workshop an employee engagement survey was carried out to understand in what way Cowdray could continue to develop as an employer and to highlight specific priorities and opportunities for the management team to focus on.

These exercises enabled Innergy to design and deliver a bespoke and relevant Leadership and Management multi session development programme over 6 months for both the senior and the middle management based on the unique culture at Cowdray. The programmes were designed to not only equip the team with new and best practices tools and approaches, they also created a forum to engage the management team in developing the Vision and Values for the Estate team.

The outcome:

Working with Innergy, the Cowdray team 

• Developed a clear and compelling Vision for both the Estate and the numerous departments across the Estate
• Developed a set of Cowdray Values, with department specific associated behaviours, to ensure that new and existing employees moved forward within a clear cultural framework  
• Developed the performance framework to provide employees with clear direction and objectives
• Equipped the management team with the tools and techniques to enhance employee engagement levels across the estate
• Equipped the management team with the confidence and ambition to collectively move forward together, sharing leadership for delivering the vision.
• Worked even more effectively as one estate team, building strong and supportive relationships
• Reviewed the Cowdray customer experience identifying opportunities to enhance it

What they said:

Jonathan Russell, CEO, Cowdray:

“The Cowdray Management Team are extremely grateful to Innergy for providing a well-considered, motivational and thought provoking programme which received full engagement from all who attended.

The results of the programme have been immediate in terms of the management thought that is going into leading and inspiring teams and bringing us together with a shared vision and values.

We have witnessed an immediate return from our investment in the programme and the experience has been highly valued by all who attended.” 

Gary Ockwell, General Manager Cowdray Estate:

‘I’ve participated in a number of leadership programmes developed for top hospitality organisations and the one you have delivered was the best I have attended. It was personal and bespoke to the unique challenges this senior team is facing in terms of raising their performance and ability to deliver the Vision of Cowdray’