The relationship began through reputation: someone who had worked with Acuity Coaching at an existing client joined as Global Head of Talent, and found an urgent need the incumbent provider was judged less strong on - coach quality, managed services and reporting. A private-equity-backed buyout was about to carve the business out of its parent: new roles being created, people stepping into more senior positions than they had ever held, and an intensely commercial environment ahead. The service had to cover the Executive Committee and three levels below, in potentially 40 countries, with coaches who understood both transition and private equity - and it had to be operational before the deal completed.

Scoping meetings with talent leads in London and Hong Kong established the shape of the project, and over the following weeks Acuity Coaching customised its existing processes into a complete end-to-end service: coaching framework with request and evaluation forms, agreed stakeholder roles and responsibilities, measures and metrics, customised management information, and all financial and invoicing protocols. Beyond the existing associate network, we went out to the whole market to secure coaches with genuine private equity experience. Notably, the client asked us to start fulfilling assignments while the service was still being scoped - so delivery began as soon as the conversations did.

The full programme was designed and delivered within three months of the first conversation, with more than two months to spare before the buyout deadline, and take-up has been high with strong satisfaction scores and measurement against objectives. The relationship has kept growing: one of our organisation design specialists has co-created a facilitation programme to support the cultural shift towards a more commercially collaborative environment, and Acuity Coaching now provides expert senior business mentors where coaching is not the right intervention. The business has since been acquired by a major financial markets group - its second change of ownership since the work began - and Acuity Coaching remains a trusted supplier to this day.