Experts in organisational transformation & leadership development
How Vodafone activated a cultural transformation across 10,000 leaders in under 12 months.
Summary
Challenge: A bold new strategy demanded a new kind of leadership – rooted in behaviour, not just ambition.
Solution: Vodafone catalysed a cultural transformation, starting with immersive Leader Labs for the top 300 leaders, followed by team effectiveness work, then scaling to every people leader through tailored digital modules, peer-led facilitation, and a network of cultural ‘Change Makers’ and ‘Firelighters’.
Results: In less than a year, 10,000 leaders adopted new leadership behaviours, driving measurable business outcomes and embedding deeper cultural shifts that now serve as Vodafone’s leadership operating model and have become the engine of business transformation.
To read the full details, see below.
In 2023, Vodafone set out to do more than just refresh its strategy – it wanted to transform the business from the inside out. With a new CEO and a strategic focus on customers, simplicity and growth, the ambition was clear:
“Vodafone is changing. And to do that, we need great people, great teams, and great leaders.” ~ Margherita Della Valle, CEO, Vodafone Group
The initial brief was simple – but not easy: upgrade our leadership to execute the new strategy through a shift in mindsets, and increased confidence, capability and accountability to drive business performance. But behind it was a much bigger ambition, one that called for a shift in the company’s entire culture.
Partnering with global consultants BRIDGE, the work began with a deep diagnostic involving hundreds of colleagues, clarifying the future aspiration and pinpointing the leadership mindsets and behaviours that would bring it to life. Four core leadership ‘shifts’ were identified that were aligned to the strategy, along with crucially, the practices that would enable leaders to ‘act their way into the future’. These shifts became the foundation for a six-month transformational strategy execution intervention: ‘Vodafone Leader Labs’.
Once the Labs began, senior leaders were asking how quickly their teams could access the same experience. A new challenge emerged for those designing the Leader Labs: how do we reach all 10,000 people leaders across Europe and Africa – and do it fast? The challenge was scale, speed, and making the change stick.
Leader Labs were intentionally different from traditional leadership development. They were grounded in business context and the real challenges leadership teams were facing. Starting with the ExCo, intact teams were brought together through a series of immersive three-day sessions. The logic was simple: leadership teams are the unit of performance in any business, so change had to be activated by them, for them. Around two-thirds of the time the Labs focused on the teams, exploring what the four shifts meant for them in practice, anchoring the change in the working relationships and priorities that mattered most. The rest of the time was spent in carefully curated cross-team sessions, designed to spark fresh insight, constructive challenge, and shared learning across interdependent parts of the business.
Rather than introducing abstract concepts, the Labs provided tools and practices leaders could act on, using language that was specific, nuanced and rooted in Vodafone’s reality. Feedback was gathered from the team’s direct reports in advance, and shared during the labs, giving teams space to take ownership of what needed to change in their context, rather than the change being ‘done to’ them.
“I wasn’t sure when it went into my diary, but it’s the best leadership experience I’ve had. I’m leaving re-energised and clearer about the leader I want to be.” ~ Leader Lab Participant, Vodafone
The CEO and CHRO attended each Lab, demonstrating huge commitment and advocacy for the change. Post-workshop, teams continued with facilitator-led team effectiveness sessions, supported by quad coaching: small groups of leaders meeting over three months to apply learning directly to business challenges. This combination of intact teamwork, peer learning, and practical application anchored the shifts into business delivery. Six months on, feedback was gathered again from more than 400 Vodafone colleagues to assess the progress each leadership team had made against the four shifts.
The appetite for change was clear. The next step: scale – without losing depth or energy. To achieve this, BRIDGE and Vodafone co-created four digital modules, one for each core shift. To deepen and sustain the learning, BRIDGE trained internal facilitators from Vodafone’s Learning Organisation to lead follow-up ‘sense-making’ sessions with their peers. Building internal capability was vital. These facilitators didn’t just deliver content – they adapted it, helped people reflect on it, and embedded it in local ways of working.
Alongside this, around 65 Change Makers and over 250 Firelighters were identified and trained from across Europe and Africa – respected leaders already modelling the shifts, who could coach peers, partner with the ExCo, and track what was (and wasn’t) changing. Trained in breakthrough thinking and experimentation, they could spot barriers, test new approaches, and sustain momentum in the heart of the business.
“This has been one of the best experiences ever, not just for our people but for us as facilitators of the programme.” ~ Rahatali Shaikh, General Manager, HR VOIS, Vodafone
This wasn’t about rollout. It was about activation – creating the conditions for change to take root, market by market, team by team, leader by leader.
What began as a six-month strategy execution programme quickly became the foundation for long-term, organisation-wide cultural change – owned by leaders, grounded in practice, and built to last. The work is now embedded as Vodafone’s leadership operating model, shaping not just how leaders lead, but how the organisation delivers its business.
In under 12 months, 10,000 people leaders completed the programme. Each shift showed measurable improvement – and these behaviour changes translated into business results. The leadership standards, along with tools like Being at My Best, Mindtraps, and the Four Psychological Safety Statements, have become common language when driving experiments or facing into performance conversations. Small experiments across the business (podcasts, reverse mentoring, senior leader sessions) are also helping to embed the shifts into business operations.
Leaders report real shifts in how they see themselves against the leadership standards. Direct reports also note positive change and measurable improvements across all four shifts in post Lab assessments. These behavioural shifts are translating into stronger people outcomes. Action on underperformance rose significantly, with 70% of ‘More Impact Needed’ individuals actively managed, up from 50%. Retention of top talent remained strong, preserving depth in the leadership pipeline. Engagement survey data also showed improvements, with teams reporting stronger leadership visibility, clearer decision-making and a sharper focus on customers.
Culture change was beginning to take hold, and leaders at all levels were showing up differently. This wasn’t about abstract values or lofty goals. It was about visible, everyday behaviour change. With more than 300 trained Change Makers and Firelighters now role modelling, challenging, activating and sustaining change deep into the organisation, Vodafone’s leaders are confidently changing the game and Leader Labs are at the heart of this transformation.
Top 300 Leadership Labs (Jan-July 2024):
Culture Change Movement (April 2024 onwards)
The success of the programme lay in its design. BRIDGE led the initial delivery phase to build momentum, but always with the goal of transferring ownership internally. This made the programme fast, pragmatic, cost-effective – and, most importantly, sustainable. It flexed across languages, cultures, time zones, and leadership styles in a way that stuck locally, while still delivering global impact.
Vodafone didn’t just roll out a programme – they built a movement. One that reached thousands of leaders, shifted everyday behaviours, and began reshaping the culture of a global organisation from the inside out.
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