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Rolls-Royce strengthens leaders’ capability to perform and transform

Industry

Aerospace, Defence & Power Systems

Products Used

BetterUp Lead™

Powered by the Human Transformation Platform

THE CHALLENGE

Building a stronger Rolls-Royce to be high-performing:

Rolls-Royce is an enduring and iconic brand known for quality, engineering excellence, integrity, and commitment to its customers. Since Tufan Erginbilgic joined Rolls-Royce as CEO in 2023, the company has been committed to becoming an even more “high-performing, competitive, resilient, and growing business” to ensure its success continues for the next century and beyond.

Rolls-Royce recognised that to build a stronger Rolls-Royce, it must “invest in the capabilities of its people, ensuring a high-performing, resilient and world-leading team”. Rolls-Royce needed leaders across all businesses—Civil Aerospace, Defence and Power Systems—to be supported so they could perform at their peak and support their teams, especially during times of immense uncertainty and change.

THE SOLUTION

Investing in leaders' ability to be resilient, embrace change, and become future-ready:

Rolls-Royce got started by ensuring key leaders and critical talent were equipped with the mindsets and behaviours to navigate change themselves and lead others through change. How people process change and strategise what action to take next is a deeply personal experience that often varies from person to person. Since coaching is one of the most effective and efficient ways to shift mindsets and build behaviours, Rolls-Royce partnered with BetterUp to coach its leaders over six months with BetterUp Lead.

Through BetterUp, Rolls-Royce leaders received unlimited 1:1 coaching from BetterUp’s experienced, credentialed leadership coaches, as well as access to curated digital learning experiences to further support their development. Leaders focused on strengthening skills like resilience, agility, stress management, focus, strategic planning, and goal attainment.

“Our continued transformation is elevating our performance and resilience by the day. We are investing in our leaders to enable them to continue to drive our transformation, perform for today and transform for tomorrow. This takes a One Rolls-Royce approach, adaptability and a growth mindset to keep delivering extraordinary outcomes.”
— Lizzie Da Costa, Head of Talent and Leadership Systems, Rolls-Royce

Building the mindsets and behaviours to transform our business

Rolls-Royce is taking a bold and holistic approach to evolving and strengthening its organisational capability, investing heavily in leadership skills across the board. In addition to BetterUp, Rolls-Royce works with London Business School and other strategic partners to provide teams and leaders of all levels with the mindsets, tools, and capabilities required to drive the business forward.

After six months of using BetterUp Lead™, Rolls-Royce leaders improved and surpassed the benchmark in every dimension.

Highlights include:

% Capability Improvement after BetterUp Coaching

“BetterUp has been a true partner in helping our leaders and team members to build the capability and mindsets needed to lead our business to success. We are tapping into and unlocking potential at scale, and can tangibly measure the positive impact of this on our culture and performance across the business.”
— Lizzie Da Costa, Head of Talent and Leadership Systems, Rolls-Royce
— Lizzie Da Costa, Head of Talent and Leadership Systems, Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce leaders' higher resilience extends beyond themselves and can impact business performance.

Source: Kellerman, Gabriella and Seligman, Martin. Tomorrowmind. 2022.

High resilience companies vs. low resilience companies

3.7X

higher return on equity

High resilience companies vs. low resilience companies

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High resilience companies vs. low resilience companies

+42%

higher return on assets

High resilience companies vs. low resilience companies

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High resilience companies vs. low resilience companies

3.2X

higher year-over-year growth

High resilience companies vs. low resilience companies

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Leaders feel the impact, and their performance improvements ripple throughout the organisation.

“

My experience with BetterUp has helped me build my confidence. This is always something I have lacked, so it is a huge benefit for me. As a consequence, I can be more focused and believe more strongly in the strategic direction that I am setting for my area. This has enabled me to work more effectively with the team around me and ensure I can deliver what the business needs to be successful. You cannot be told to be more confident, so my coach has helped me discover reasons within myself to be more confident and how to maintain this in the future. This was particularly helpful as we went through the uncertainty of the company reorganisation.

”
— Rolls-Royce Programme Executive in Aftermarket Operations and BetterUp Lead™ member

Prioritising people to propel the business forward

Rolls-Royce’s investment in its leaders is already paying off, and it is just the beginning. Rolls-Royce’s share price has increased more than ten-fold since 2023, with growth momentum continuing; differentiated investment in its people is a significant contributing factor in the organisation’s success. Rolls-Royce continues to emphasise people development and prioritise people investment as it continues its multi-year transformation journey.