Case studies
Every project and programme we run is adapted to your brief and the format you need — from a two-hour session to a multi-day course. Let’s talk it through.
The company’s DNA
We defined the psychological and behavioural profile of the client’s top performers, so the company could reproduce them systematically
We identified the ‘DNA’ of the company’s top performers through in-depth interviews and psychometric testing. The profile became the basis for hiring, assessment and development tools, later scaled to several thousand employees.
The company’s DNA
We defined the psychological and behavioural profile of the client’s top performers, so the company could reproduce them systematically
We identified the ‘DNA’ of the company’s top performers through in-depth interviews and psychometric testing. The profile became the basis for hiring, assessment and development tools, later scaled to several thousand employees.
Launching a new business line
Hattatsu Group
Launch a consulting practice inside a manufacturing company
The challenge
- Mapped the organisational structure of the new unit
- Defined the competency profiles for each role
- Recruited the team
- Trained the staff
- Supported the unit through its first months of operation
What we did
A successful launch of a new, profitable business line
The result
HRD rapid response
Universal
Bring a division of the company out of a state of acute stress
The challenge
- Ran a diagnosis through a series of interviews
- Segmented employees by how they respond to stress
- Delivered straightforward training drawing on cognitive behavioural techniques
- Held individual therapeutic sessions with some of the employees
- Gave the head of the division a set of recommendations
What we did
Better morale and a marked rise in productivity, which both employees and management attribute to our involvement — and, as a consequence, a substantial increase in the division’s profitability
The result
Preparing for IT change
AGC
Deliver the first phase of the company’s IT transformation: preparing an IT representative in every department. An IT representative is a member of the department who is not an IT specialist but understands its processes and its local automation needs in depth.
The challenge
- Defined the remit and competency requirements for departmental IT representatives
- Selected the right people from within each department
- Ran an in-person induction training covering a wide range of topics — from using basic digital tools independently to writing specifications for external contractors
- Set up a series of follow-up support meetings for the representatives
What we did
A team of 20 specialists from across the business who speak a common language and, at the same time, understand automation deeply within their own area. The team became the foundation of the company’s IT transformation.
The result
A strategy session with a twist
NDA
Alongside a conventional strategy session, resolve a long-standing conflict between two large departments of the company
The challenge
- reintroduced people from the two departments to one another
- brought the mutual grievances into the open and talked them through
- held a joint discussion of the problems they share
- ran several activities to bring the two groups closer emotionally
During the session we:
What we did
Through a series of one-to-one interviews we collected and articulated the grievances on both sides, then designed a session plan with separate and joint stages.
One participant put the result better than we could: ‘We thought they had no idea how to work over there — turns out they’re great people.’
The result
Capacity for growth
NDA
The owner of the business held both the CEO and COO roles, worked 60–70 hours a week and was deeply unhappy
The challenge
- Agreed a target state with the client: hours per week and the kind of work he would take on
- Defined the changes needed: managing incoming information, the way tasks are set, and how their delivery is tracked
- Set out the routines and habits that would get him to that target state
- Worked with him in short daily check-ins to monitor progress and adjust where needed
- Added a series of therapeutic sessions to work through some internal blocks
- Carefully handed him back his independence, once the new working pattern had taken hold
What we did
Stepping out of day-to-day operations freed up the capacity to launch a new business line within six months of the start of our work
The result
A basis for growth
NDA
The company needed an evidence-based model for scaling its organisational structure to fit both current and future business demands
The challenge
- Identified the processes critical to scaling, through interviews with employees across departments
- Built a workload-growth model for each function in order to calculate the headcount required
- Optimised the resulting structure — for example, grouping some functions into newly created roles
- Wrote role descriptions and key metrics for every position in the new structure
- Modelled the company’s payroll against sales volume, demonstrating that the cost was justified
What we did
We handed the HR department a ready action plan, which was then implemented
The result
An HRD business check-up
KLAVTORG
A successful company entering a new stage of its growth asked for an external assessment of the business as a whole, and of its management team in particular
The challenge
- Ran a series of interviews with top management and employees at every level
- Consolidated the findings into 50+ hypotheses about what was happening in the company
- Surveyed more than 90% of the workforce to test those hypotheses
- Ran psychometric testing with members of the management team
- Delivered a report setting out an integrated picture, with recommendations for the company as a whole and for each executive individually
What we did
The owner gained an independent second opinion on where to take the company next
The result
The next generation of managers
NDA
The company identified weak middle management as its key systemic problem and asked for help in solving it
The challenge
- Identified a pool of potential candidates for management roles over the next two years
- Launched a mastermind group bringing together current managers and new candidates
- In weekly sessions, worked through participants’ real-life cases with the group and discussed the theory of management
- Refreshed the group’s membership, bringing in promising new candidates
What we did
The new core management team helped the company double its revenue, thanks to a clear split between RUN and CHANGE functions and sound process management
The result
The company’s DNA
NDA
Define the psychological and behavioural profile of the client’s top performers, so that the company can reproduce them systematically
The challenge
- analysed more than 100 behavioural, cognitive and motivational factors;
- identified recurring patterns of thinking, decision-making and interaction;
- cross-checked the qualitative findings against validated psychometric instruments to test the hypotheses quantitatively.
We ran a series of in-depth business and psychological interviews with 10 key employees, in the course of which we:
What we did
The analysis produced a model profile of a top performer — the company’s DNA — a stable set of cognitive, behavioural and motivational characteristics.
- identify potential top performers among current employees;
- use the profile as a hiring criterion;
- embed the model in assessment and development processes.
This model became the basis for standardised assessment instruments that make it possible to:
The tools were scaled to several thousand employees across the company.
The company gained a data-backed profile of its top performers.
It now underpins decisions at every stage of the HR cycle: hiring, assessment, development, succession planning and building the management team.
This reduced subjectivity in people decisions and created a systemic competitive advantage.
It now underpins decisions at every stage of the HR cycle: hiring, assessment, development, succession planning and building the management team.
This reduced subjectivity in people decisions and created a systemic competitive advantage.
The result
Specialists in psychology, education and business
Our team brings together psychologists, educators and business practitioners, so that leading-edge theory always meets hands-on practice
Yulia Desyatnikova
25 years of experience
Founder, consultant, executive coach
PhD in Psychology, owner of several operating businesses, 25 years as a business consultant and trainer
Alex Desatnik
20 years of experience
Consultant, trainer
Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (applied work with individuals, teams and leaders, informed by neuroimaging research); PhD in Psychology (research, methodology and evidence-based intervention design)
Petr Kopylov
20 years of experience
Consultant, trainer, L&D designer, executive coach
PhD in Physics and Mathematics, C-level executive, experience in organisational and IT consulting
Alex Korenev
15 years of experience
Trainer, L&D designer
Doctor of Sciences in Education, Academic Director at LGEG, Associate Professor at Moscow State University, winner of the national Best Young Lecturer award
A wide network of associate experts
We bring in specialists to match each brief
A core team of specialists
A strong core of consultants, trainers and L&D designers
Our clients
Let’s talk
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Send us a request — we’ll get back to you shortly and answer all your questions.
Send us a request — we’ll get back to you shortly and answer all your questions.
