Case Studies

Case Study

Iterative Executive Coaching & Strategy Facilitation in Construction Leadership

Period: August 2021 – July 2023 · Client: £500m+ multidisciplinary contractor

The challenge

A £500m+ multidisciplinary contractor had developed its leadership teams based on time-served promotions and occasional new recruits based on gaps in structure. Growth had been achieved in an ad-hoc and circumstantial manner. Relationships with clients and supply chain had become imbalanced, creating an environment that was unpredictable due to exposure to a single sector.

A Senior Director with 40 years of construction experience — 25 of which in management and executive capacities — was at risk of leaving the business entirely.

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Our approach

What began as an executive search conversation became something entirely different. Rather than facilitating a move, we invested four hours understanding the drivers, the organisational dynamics, and the untapped potential — then built a two-year iterative coaching and strategy facilitation engagement.

The approach was constantly adaptive — no single theory or methodology was imposed. We combined psychological assessment, emotional intelligence analysis, Lean Six Sigma principles, and Management by Objectives, selecting the right method for each real-time situation. After every meeting, event, or conversation, we debriefed to analyse outcomes against preconceptions and assimilated new information into the evolving strategy.

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Key outcomes

Retention of a key executive who was at risk of leaving — redirected into a transformative leadership trajectory within the business.

Publication of the Build Business Strategy (early 2023) — a direct output of the coaching and facilitation process.

Systematic team restructuring based on emotional intelligence and competency matching — moving from time-served promotions to values-vision-competency alignment.

Risk management improvement enabling diversification from single-sector exposure, with competency matrices now incorporating psychological and emotional intelligence dimensions.

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In the client’s own words

“I’m firmly of the belief that I would have left the business in autumn 2021 if I had not met with Richard in August. This 4-hour meeting had a profound effect on my future as it was completely against the industry norm — his aim was to find a vehicle for my success in my current business rather than make a fee from a move.”

“From my experience this is truly innovative, and I have not experienced this type of approach from a consultancy before. The whole approach has been to serve the business needs in real time and not simply follow some single route of implementation.”

“I have worked in construction for 40 years, at least 25 of which has been in management and executive capacities. I have never experienced this type of consultancy approach before.”

“In my view it is highly unlikely that this could ever be achieved ‘in-house’. The level of critical thinking that has been required can only have been achieved by external observation and translation into a context that could be understood by team members who are predominantly construction-centric.”

— Senior Director, Build & Pre-Construction · £500m+ multidisciplinary contractor

Expert Endorsement

Independent assessment of the Lykke Minds onboarding system

Robert P. Medzie, MA-Psychology · Well-Being Advisor to Clara Futura SL · July 2025

Robert P. Medzie, MA, is a behavioural health provider with over three decades of active practice. He served as Director of Harrington Place, a psychiatric rehabilitation clinic, for 14 years. His holistic, community-oriented approach emphasises recovery, empowerment, and community integration.

Robert was engaged as Well-Being Advisor to Clara Futura SL for the Astrala symbolic profiling MVP. His work included expert assessment across eight onboarding module development sessions, dialectical and emotional alignment with Layered Intelligence Theory (LIT) and Logic in Reality (LIR), and user-centric feedback on emotional resonance, usability, and symbolic coherence.

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Key findings

Autoethnographic methodology — The assessment follows an autoethnographic approach rather than traditional psychometric profiling, encouraging deep personal reflection on lived experiences, beliefs, and values through reflective storytelling and symbolic insight exercises.

Theoretical rigour — Built upon Layered Intelligence Theory (LIT) by Richard Dobson, integrating cognitive, emotional, symbolic, strategic, and ethical intelligence into a recursive feedback loop, combined with Logic in Reality (LIR) by Joseph Brenner.

Person-centred design — Clara does not adjust to the level of the learner; rather, Clara meets the learner to continue a journey in a friendly, engaging, and wise way.

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Robert Medzie’s recommendation

“Richard Dobson and the team at Clara Futura have created a remarkably engaging and learner-friendly AI-assisted instrument for exploration, self-discovery, and pragmatic application of insights. ‘Clara’ is the aide that guides learners to chart a more meaningful and functional path forward.”

“Well-grounded in the principles of ethical practice, deeply humanistic values, and guided by a consistently person-centred approach, Clara helps the learner to examine his/her own world, beliefs, and is fluid in unravelling symbology and metaphor to reach depths that may otherwise be easily glossed over.”

“Clara is impressively robust in navigating the meaning in language, gently leading to the core understanding without entanglement in words nor obtuse ideas but in clear conventional conversation.”