Senior Transformation Manager, Tata Steel, The Netherlands
The Challenge: Bridging Technical Excellence with Human Connection When Bron decided to attend the Client Centred programme, the decision came from personal conviction and a clear recognition of what he needed to develop next:
With seven years of active coaching experience Bron was already an accomplished transformation manager.
However, he wanted to continue developing himself. He was also facing new challenges at work on complex problems and reflecting on a recent deployment which had not been as successful as others. He wanted to gain new skills that may also give him new insights on his past projects and ideas for how to further develop his work.
The Client Centred programme was recommended by trusted colleagues, he recalls “when I learnt more about it, and because I trust them, I believed this programme would be a good opportunity for me, I decided to invest in my own learning and committed to self-funding the programme.”
The Programme Experience: Exhausting, Energising and Eye-Opening
Bron’s first reflection on completing the five-day programme was characteristically honest: “I felt exhausted because of the very long days, but also a new level of confidence and capability, as I was completely energised to return to work.”
“I felt confident about the problems I was tasked with solving. More importantly I knew I had much better insights and more tools, so I was also aware that I could solve problems that I hadn’t even encountered yet.”
“I was energised with ideas—I couldn’t wait to get back to my place of work.”
“Everything we say or don’t say, the way we say it, when we say it—all have an impact on the people around us and the trust we award each other. That was my biggest takeaway from the client centred programme.”
Immediate Application: The Multi-Client System Breakthrough
The real test came when Bron returned to work on the project he was supporting with complex multidepartmental challenges. Forty people from different teams, years of accumulated conflicts, and technical problems that had resisted resolution.
The Power of Contracting
Rather than diving straight into technical problem-solving, Bron began with contracting. He asked each of four groups to spend their first hour agreeing on how they would work together.
The contracting included ground rules that created psychological safety: respect and listen to each other; when someone gives you feedback, the only response allowed is “thank you”; write down your agreements and display them on the wall.
“Clear contracting is a very important part of the Client Centred programme. We learned about respect, listening, giving feedback where the only thing you can say back is thank you.” This made a big difference to this group and was the beginning of positive collaboration and progress. It felt like we had turned a corner on this project.
Four weeks later, when all 40 people reconvened, multiple groups volunteered to share their progress. Teams that couldn’t work together now had the tools and confidence to solve their own problems.
Creating Breakthrough Conversations
During an intense session with senior leaders dealing with how they really felt about things, Bron created space for genuine dialogue that cut through years of surface-level interaction.
At the end of the session, one participant approached Bron to say: “That’s the best conversation we’ve had in years.”
Bron explained: “Contracting and being client centred with them was all they needed. They didn’t need help to have the conversation itself—they’re all high-performing professionals—they needed help to create the right conditions for it to happen.”
The Check-In Revolution: Working with Senior Leadership
Bron’s success opened doors to work with more senior executives. In one session with eight leaders—all significantly senior to him—Bron was asked to run the meeting with just an hour’s notice.
When asked how he felt about this “Total calm,” he says. “Probably my heart did skip a beat, but I felt confident.”
He began with a simple question: “How are you doing?” What was scheduled as a 90-minute session with a technical agenda became something different. The check-in alone took 45 minutes.
Later, one senior leader sought Bron out: “That was the best 45 minutes that I’ve had in the last couple of weeks.”
The technical agenda? Completed in the remaining 15 minutes with clear decisions and actions—far more efficiently than if they’d spent the full time on it whilst carrying emotional burdens.
Someone in the session asked the group: “Shouldn’t we do this more often?” For Bron, this revealed something crucial: “They don’t have the habit to do it, yet!”
Personal Transformation: Calm, Curious, and Confident
Beyond specific techniques, the Client Centred programme fundamentally shifted how Bron shows up as a leader and coach.
“I’ve become calmer, and I’ve had that feedback too. My curiosity has only increased; both curiosity in human behaviour and thought processes. That feeds the calmness. I just sit there and think, “This is not a threat. This is interesting.”
Where Bron once felt uncertain about problems outside his direct expertise, he now trusts his ability to help people find their own solutions. “Thanks to the programme, I’ve got more tools to solve problems I haven’t encountered yet, either through the skills we gained or because I now know somebody I could reach out to.”
A New Career Path
The programme’s impact extended beyond Bron’s immediate role. Two weeks after completing it, he had a job interview for Head of Operational Excellence for Tata Steel Building Systems.
“I took the first impressions exercise from the programme to heart and used it to ask myself: What’s the first impression I want this senior leader to have of me? I used the insights from the group and thought about how I can work on the weaker points and use the strong points.” He got the job. By summer, Bron had moved to Germany, travelling between operations in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland—a role that perfectly combines his technical background with his enhanced coaching and leadership capabilities.
Practical Tools in Action
The Gift of Feedback
“Feedback is like a gift. What do you say when somebody gives you a gift? You always say thank you—even if you don’t like it. It’s a gift. The other person doesn’t have to give you this, and it’s entirely up to you what you do with it.” This principle created breakthroughs in Bron’s multiclient system work so people started to talk about the difficult stuff, the stuff they normally leave on the table and this helped them to make progress.
Contracting as Foundation
For the multi-client system work, Bron had groups write down their agreements and display them on the wall. Eventually all 40 people agreed on five core rules for working together. “I took this out of Bill’s book (founder of the CC programme),” Bron acknowledges. “Contract first. Build trust. Gain entry. That’s exactly what happened.”
On using the Acceptance Style Bron explains “I stayed curious and respectful. I gave people the space they needed whilst ensuring everyone else respected that space too.” This accepting approach, combined with clear contracting and genuine curiosity, enabled breakthrough conversations that traditional approaches had failed to achieve.
Reflections and Recommendations
When asked how he would describe the programme to other leaders, Bron said:
“Yes, I would absolutely recommend the Client Centred programme. Every leader can benefit from better understanding themselves and becoming more effective at helping to develop others.”
“With an open mindset you will learn how your behaviours, habits, and perception impact others. Then you will develop new skills and habits to become even better at supporting others to bring out the best in themselves. The combination of the two is where the power is.”
For leadership teams attending together, Bron notes: “I think it takes more effort to really open up when you’ll be returning to work with the same people. The trust needs to be there because the things that need to be said need to be said. The client centred programme is a supportive way to do this.” His recommendation for teams is to consider mixing senior leaders from different parts of the business—peers who can all benefit from learning together and then take their enhanced capabilities back to their respective teams.
