Finastra - building manager capabilities virtually

Finastra is building an open platform that accelerates collaboration and innovation in financial services, creating better experiences for people, businesses and communities.

With the broadest and deepest portfolio of financial services software, Finastra delivers this vitally important technology to financial institutions of all sizes across the globe. As one of the world’s largest fintechs, Finastra has over 9,000 employees and 8,500 customers, including 90 of the top 100 banks globally.

The FinLead programme has been a resounding success. In choosing Lane4 as our consultancy we received so much more than expertise. The quality, versatility, and the magic that they delivered as facilitators brought the programme to life in a memorable and engaging way.

Ed Fothergill, Head of Leadership and Management Development at Finastra

The leadership challenge

Finastra recognises the key role its leaders play in company success and is committed to a greater focus on leadership development. With this in mind, it made sense to roll out a program to its entire population of 1,000 managers, but the challenge was to encompass learning across different levels of seniority in 15 global regions, all in just one month.

The learning needed to be relevant, impactful and engaging. As an organisation, Finastra is committed to ensuring its leaders are set up for success and continuously invests in the development of their skills and capabilities to empower its people. The goal of the learning programme was to enable every leader in the business to be able to immediately take their knowledge into their daily roles, which challenged us at Lane4 to ensure that the course was comprehensive yet easily digestible.

The programme needed to focus on:

  • Creating clarity: being able to communicate and engage effectively
  • Demonstrating and inspiring commitment: understanding what good performance looks like and being able to unlock that potential in others
  • Coaching for success: the ability to have tough conversations, and coach others to high performance
  • Building diverse, high performing teams: focusing on highly inclusive and effective teams
  • Leading through change: understanding and leading through the emotional impact of change

The switch to virtual

Originally, the plan was for Finastra and Lane4 to partner to deliver a two day, face-to face programme across 15 global locations using our rich network of associates. When COVID-19 struck, governments worldwide called for working from home where possible, and Finastra asked us to turn the programme into an entirely virtual, two-day leadership development session. In just 24 hours, we took the programme online to be delivered remotely.

“Our original plan was to roll out the programme face-to-face and then the pandemic struck. The level of partnership and high value collaboration meant that we brought learning to people’s lives during lockdown. The advocacy, engagement and depth of education that the programme has created has challenged us to think more about digital delivery of our learning and development programmes in the future.”
Ed Fothergill, Head of Leadership and Management Development at Finastra

A unique combination of virtual classrooms, recorded and live webinars and bespoke follow-up video learning sessions was assembled to ensure that Finastra leaders would receive learning that resonated and stuck.

Our collaboration with Finastra brought the plan to life. Using 224 virtual classrooms across nine time zones, 11 of our associates and consultants co-delivered a two-day leadership development programme in close partnership with Finastra’s People Team – reaching nearly 1,000 Finastra leaders during April 2020.

“Engaging, well-delivered – especially virtually – with a range of content. Goes to show you don’t need to do training face-to-face for it to be really effective.”
Delegate testimonial

It was important that the virtual learning experience was rich, personable and engaging. So, with the help of Finastra, we created Microsoft Teams groups for each cohort where they could get to know one another and connect as they would have over coffee during a face-to-face delivery. Our consultants fostered familiarity in the cohorts by leading stretching sessions, show and tell discussions, and ‘fun fact’ sharing which led one cohort to participate in a delegate-led dancing session!

Contact Us

The impact for Finastra

Key outcomes of the programme include:

  • 96% of delegates would recommend this programme to a colleague
  • 91% of delegates rated the facilitators as engaging and impactful
  • 84% of delegates felt the programme was relevant to their personal development needs and priorities
  • 84% of delegates felt able to apply what they had learnt in their day to day practice just one month after programme completion
  • 78% felt more capable to lead their teams virtually

What next?
The versatility of virtual training means that the learning doesn’t stop here. Lane4 and Finastra will continue to deliver high quality leadership sessions through an Advanced Manager Programme to help leaders build further on their knowledge. Here at Lane4, we look forward to continuing the journey alongside them.

  • 96% would recommend this programme to a colleague
  • 91% rated facilitators as engaging and impactful

Related Case Studies

Colleagues at a computer in a warehouse

Argos – embedding change through people

Argos were embarking on a significant period of change – a new digital age for their stores and the way…
Learn more

NFU Mutual – creating a winning performance culture

NFU Mutual started out providing insurance solely to the farming population. In 2014, having grown and expanded into new areas,…
Learn more
View all case studies

Ready to work with us?

Whatever your goals, let’s discuss how we can help get you there