Case Study: Building Future-Fit Leaders at OSB Group
Coaching as a leadership habit, not a one‑off intervention
At Barefoot Coaching, we partner with organisations who want to develop leaders in a way that is human, practical and sustainable. Our partnership with OSB is a strong example of what happens when coaching is treated not as a one-off intervention, but as a way of leading.
The Challenge
Leaders feeling stretched and expected to do more
The Scale
A large and geographically diverse leadership population
The Solution
Coaching skills that shift how leaders think and lead
Sector
Financial Services
Why Coaching, Why Now
In a fast-changing, hybrid world, leaders are expected to do more than manage.
They are asked to inspire, engage and empower their people, often without more time or resource. Coaching offers a powerful response to this challenge. It helps leaders create space for thinking, build confidence and ownership in their teams, and shift from being the sole problem-solver to enabling others to find solutions.
This belief sat at the heart of our work with OSB.
“I don’t need to have all the answers or be the expert; I just need to intentionally pause and ask probing questions to help others understand what they need.”
What We Set Out To Do
Together with OSB, we designed and delivered the Your Future-Fit Coaching Journey, a programme designed to support hundreds of leaders to bring coaching into everyday conversations.
Strengthen coaching mindset and confidence
Develop core skills in listening and asking powerful questions
Support leaders to understand when to coach and when to tell
Embed coaching as a repeatable leadership habit, not an additional task
How the Programme Works
The programme runs over three to four months and is designed to fit alongside busy leadership roles.
It includes:
- a 2-hour Engagement Session
- a 4-hour Coaching Mindset session
- a 4-hour Powerful Questions session
- a 2-hour Booster session
Between sessions, leaders are encouraged to practise coaching in real work conversations, supported by reflection activities and a practical coaching booklet. Our design draws on experiential learning and reflective practice.
Sessions are interactive and intentionally paced, creating space for leaders to slow down, think, practise and learn from one another in a psychologically safe environment.
Across cohorts, session ratings were consistently high, with leaders reporting strong engagement and practical application.
“Great facilitators with lots of time built in for self-reflection. Everyone was made to feel at ease, and there were plenty of opportunities to put everything into practice.”
The Impact of the Programme
245 leaders
Across 17 cohorts in the UK & India
9.4 NPS
Strong recommendation scores across cohorts.
5 stars
Consistently high session ratings across the programme.
I had a great call today with Kelly Wood ACC from the Barefoot Coaching Ltd team this morning and it made me reflect on what a fantastic partnership it’s been. We started this programme with a pilot group and then rolled it out across 16 cohorts, which will reach 255 leaders across OSB Group. I genuinely can’t believe we’re about to start our final cohort next Wednesday! It’s been brilliant to see the value the sessions are adding. Feedback from our leaders has been amazing, including: ✨ "I think the most impactive thing I took away from the session was how to support my direct reports in solving their own problems - rather than feeling the need to do that for people." ✨ "The sessions are very interactive and pulls you out of your comfort zone quiet elegantly. The aspects discussed are different and thought provoking. I have picked up different ways of coaching thanks to these sessions." ✨ "This is the most impactful training I've ever been on." A huge thank you to the Barefoot team for the energy, expertise and care they’ve brought to this programme. Looking forward to the final cohort experience it next week 💙 #WeAreOSB
As a leader, how do you feel when you read this quote? Uncomfortable? Shocked? Relieved? Something different? Today I attended the ‘Engagement Session’ for our first group of leaders going through Your Future-Fit Coaching Journey at OSB Group. This is a course that’s been designed with Barefoot Coaching Ltd to make sure we’re equipped with coaching skills. A big thanks to Kelly for working with us on this! Our leaders will lead by… ✔️ asking great open questions ✔️ give people space to talk and think ✔️ actively listen and lean into silence Rachel and Adam expertly led this first session, introducing us to the powers of coaching and helping us settle into the next few months together. Huge thanks to the rest of the cohort who were instantly honest, vulnerable and showed a real desire to be involved. I’m so excited to see how the rest of the course goes, and can’t wait for more of our leaders across the Group to get involved! #WeAreOSB
What Leaders are Doing Differently
From the pilot onwards, leaders reported applying coaching tools immediately in their roles. Examples included:
- Using more open questions in meetings to unlock team thinking
- Approaching performance and year-end reviews with greater curiosity and reflection
- Making better use of informal ‘door-handle’ moments to open up meaningful conversations
- Resisting the urge to jump into solutions and allowing others time to think
Leaders spoke about tangible shifts in their everyday behaviour:
“Asking more open questions and consciously doing this in meetings allows others to think and come up with their own solutions.”
“Started to consciously use a more coaching-led approach when my direct reports come to me with questions. They now joke, ‘Uh oh, you’re coaching!’ — which I’ll take as a good sign.”
“The reminder about listening without assumption really landed with me. It made me realise there’s still room to improve.”
What We Heard and How We Adapted
Feedback from the pilot and early cohorts was actively used to strengthen the programme. Leaders were open about what worked well and what could be improved, and this feedback shaped the rollout.
Based on learner input, we:
- clarified pre-work expectations and preparation time
- strengthened the link between coaching and OSB’s wider Future-Fit strategy
- added more real workplace scenarios and application moments
- improved guidance during practice sessions
- protected pace while increasing variety and energy in session design
One leader noted the difference this made:
“The programme helps to give practical coaching tools that can be used in everyone’s day-to-day work. Importantly, not asking us to do more, but change the way we do things.”
Coaching as a Leadership Habit
Across waves, a clear theme has emerged: the leaders who gain the most value are those who practise little and often. Many have built simple habits, reflection time, prompts, post-it reminders, feedback conversations, to help coaching become their default approach.
Leaders described consciously leaning into coaching until it becomes instinctive:
“I’m aiming to make coaching my default approach, so it becomes a natural and instinctive part of how I lead.”
For us at Barefoot, this is the real impact of the work. Coaching becomes woven into everyday leadership, building confidence, ownership and capability across teams.
We are proud to partner with OSB on this journey and look forward to continuing to learn, refine and deepen the impact together.
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