Case Study
Hyper-personalised development across every level at GeoPlace
| Organisation | GeoPlace |
| Sector | Public sector / Data and mapping |
| Size | Multiple levels – Director to Graduate |
| What we did | Bespoke 1:1 coaching programme across all levels, matched by seniority and individual goals, over 6 months |
| Services | 1:1 Leadership Coaching, 1:1 Management Coaching, 1:1 Neurodiversity Coaching, 1:1 Inclusive Leadership Coaching |
The Situation
GeoPlace wanted to invest in their people’s development at every level – from Director to Graduate. They’d worked with a coaching provider before, but the offer had been limited to career coaching. What GeoPlace needed was broader and more ambitious: genuine hyper-personalised development that met each individual wherever they were on their professional journey, not a one-size-fits-all programme that would work for some and miss most.
The challenge was real. The development needs of a Head of Function are fundamentally different from those of a Graduate. A programme designed for one would be wrong for the other. GeoPlace needed a partner with the range and flexibility to work across all of those levels – with coaches who could match to individuals based on both their seniority and their specific goals.
That’s what they asked Upwrd to design.
What We Did
We designed and delivered a bespoke coaching programme that saw multiple Upwrd coaches matched with GeoPlace employees across the organisation. Matching wasn’t done by availability – it was done deliberately, based on each employee’s level within the business and their individual goals for the coaching relationship.
The coaching journeys varied significantly. Some employees focused on career direction and ambition – working out where they wanted to go and what they needed to develop to get there. More experienced employees used their sessions to develop how they led themselves and their people more effectively. Others worked on specialist areas – neurodiversity, inclusive leadership – where Upwrd’s diverse coaching pool meant we could match people to coaches with genuine expertise in those areas, not just generalists covering the bases.
Six months. Every level of the organisation. Every journey shaped entirely around the individual.
What Changed
The outcome data from GeoPlace is as clear as it gets. 100% coachee satisfaction across the programme. Participants scored their coaching experience 5 out of 5 on how well their coach helped them explore what was important to them, how well the coach balanced support with challenge, and their overall satisfaction with the experience.
Those aren’t scores you get from a generic programme. They’re scores you get when coaching is genuinely personalised – when the person in the room feels that the development they’re receiving is actually about them, not a template applied in their direction.
What changed at GeoPlace was the standard for what development could look like. Not a training day. Not a cohort programme. Individual coaching that met people exactly where they were – and moved them forward from there.
