The Challenge
A GCC-owned bank operating under UK regulation was under sustained shareholder pressure to improve performance. Leadership recognised the need for a more focused turnaround and growth strategy and engaged AcuityX to help strengthen strategic execution and improve organisational performance.
The organisation also needed support to engage the wider business with the transformation. Time and resources were limited, and there was no mechanism to prioritise work against the strategy. Additionally, there was no performance management system in place, meaning quality and impact were not measured and there was limited data available to inform leadership about decisions or tracking progress.
Our Role
AcuityX embedded quickly across key areas of the business to understand current priorities, ways of working and delivery maturity. Working alongside the Chief Transformation Officer, AcuityX led change management, communications and engagement and implemented three high-impact interventions.
The first activity was a group-wide Balanced Scorecard, creating a set of key performance indicators to measure progress against a set of twelve strategic objectives. The scorecard was baselined against the prior year, and linked to current-year targets, giving leadership a clearer view of strategic performance.
The second focused on performance management. AcuityX designed and rolled out a quarterly Objectives and Key Results cycle across the bank, cascading from ExCo to all employees. This created clearer alignment between individual priorities, team delivery and the Bank’s strategic agenda.
The third was the introduction of customer-centric “Mini Hacks”. With efficiency and customer experience as top priorities, AcuityX designed and delivered a two-week mini hack sprint, mobilising 20 teams from across the Bank to identify high-impact changes that would improve the customer experience and reduce operational friction.
The Outcome
The Bank gained a clearer mechanism to translate strategy into measurable execution. The Balanced Scorecard gave leaders and shareholders visibility of progress against strategic objectives and enabled more informed, data-led decision-making.
The quarterly performance cycle gave employees clear priorities aligned to the Bank’s strategy, with measurable performance expectations and a practical roadmap for improving performance maturity over the year.
The Mini Hacks identified more than 50,000 customer hours in first-year savings, with a significant proportion already secured. Alongside this, AcuityX helped employees to understand and connect with the strategy and positioned the Transformation Office as the primary delivery engine for strategic change.
