About Tech Nation.

Tech Nation is a UK based growth platform focused on the development and scale of tech start-ups and leaders. Fuelling the growth of “game-changing founders, leaders and scaling companies so that they can positively transform societies and economies”, Tech Nation has made shaping the future of UK tech their goal.

With the UK digital technology sector being a substantial and growing part of the nation’s economy, Tech Nation has become the most important UK network for accelerating and enabling the growth of digital businesses across the nation. Working with businesses specialising in fields ranging from healthtech,  edtech,  foodtech, cybersecurity and more.

Founded in 2010, their goal is to unite the country and to contribute to a future in which anyone “with vision and drive can access the skills and support needed to succeed as a game-changing leader”.

Why they came to us.

Most leaders find themselves hitting typical pain points when dealing with scaling: 

• Thrown into leadership roles with little experience or context, 

• Managing high-growth teams, 

• Hiring at speed to fit in with culture, 

• Feeling lonely in the positions, and so on.

To serve these needs of founders and leaders in fast-growth companies, Tech Nation saw an opportunity to provide a leadership course that was both practical and thought-provoking, but most importantly, could speak to and relate with the challenges of scaling a business. 

They were looking for a partner that: 

• Understands the nuances and environment of leading in a scaling  business 

• Experience working with scaling founders and leaders 

• Could design and deliver an engaging cohort-based leadership program that could scale.

Key Outcomes

• Participants learn and implement different management strategies to ensure they get the most out of their leadership skills

• Participants become a part of a network of other like-minded individuals in similar situations, where they can support one another and lift each other up

• Using our experiences working with scaling companies we were able to discuss how to face and prepare for what inevitably happens in a scaling company, so that participants are prepared and ready before they even happen.

Our Approach.

Partnering with the Tech Nation team , we came up with  a 14- week cohort based program involving ‘deep dive’ sessions focusing on the key components of leadership, complemented by a guest speaker series from COO’s to Founders, who are there to share their first-hand experience with that topic.

The topics we covered over the course of the programme included:

• Leading and communicating change, 

• Hiring and onboarding for diversity, 

• Scaling and shaping culture,

• Understanding and adapting leadership styles, 

• Performance Management and difficult conversation,

• Team Dynamics and feedback.

We paired each session with a practical action that enables participants to apply what they are learning and come back to their cohort to share and learn together.

Keeping in mind that the participants in this programme are time poor, we enabled them to digest the topic ahead of the deep dives with bite-size playbooks and resource recommendations. By giving them the content ahead of time, it allowed for the use of the entire deep dive session to work through exercises with their fellow cohort participants and bring to life the theories and exercises they had read about.

What we they did.

The programme was facilitated by an OverTime Leader executive facilitator, and was designed in a way that addressed the most common challenges and opportunities for growth in mind. With extensive experience and knowledge of the scaling process, we focused on making sure that no stone was left unturned by the time the participants completed the programme. 

The facilitator was in a position to ask leading, thought-provoking questions to allow the cohort to be open together and grow collectively through their shared experiences. A mix of both individual work, cohort exercises and breakout sessions ensured that the sessions were constantly changing the dynamics so that it was never stale or repetitive. 

With the expertise of an experienced facilitator, space was created for participants to have open and honest conversations about their shared experiences and understanding that their struggles are not what defines them as a leader, but are growing pains many others have experienced. With participants coming from different backgrounds and a wide range of seniority levels, it allowed for a great exchange in perspectives and experiences which led to a better understanding of other people’s point of view. 

Facilitators hold every participant accountable to show up ready and prepared to each deep dive - not only for themselves but for each other. With each participant showing up ready and with 100% attention, the deep dive sessions are able to develop into the safe space where real conversations are had. This way participants are not only learning the leadership skills and exercises provided, but through their cohort sessions they are getting real world anecdotes from their fellow participants and sharing ideas and experiences with one another. In a perfect blend of theory and real world experience, our facilitators ensured that real change and growth was occurring.

Conducting the programme in a completely remote environment is something that has become standard over the past two years, and with using collaborative whiteboard tools we were able to ensure that the deep dives were still engaging, collaborative and conducive to learning. 

Open and honest engagement always leads to more interesting and thought-provoking sessions, and that is exactly what we were able to receive from these participants. As we have seen in other programs, participants learn a lot about their similarities when they talk about their experiences. They realise that they are not alone in their struggles or issues, and that alone gives them more confidence in themselves.

The Impact.

Being a leader in a company can be a very lonely experience, especially when you feel as though you are the only one going through those experiences. The two-fold approach of personal development through our leadership tools and deep dives, combined with the new relationships and insights they received from their cohort groups led to more confident and prepared leaders in UK tech.

There was a noticeable difference among participants from the beginning of the program to the end, as they had developed both their individual skills as well as a collective support system with their cohort members. Leaving with all the necessary tools to develop into thriving leaders