Accredited leadership development solutions to meet ambitious global growth objectives
Talent solutions to enhance Version 1’s commitment to excellence, its empowered culture and strong organisation
Leading Irish digital transformation company Version 1 has grown rapidly since its foundation in 1996 and now employs more than 3,200 people across Ireland, the UK and India with 2023 revenues topping €350 million. The company has embarked on a highly ambitious strategy which will see it reach €1 billion in turnover within the next four years and grow tenfold over the coming 10.
Growth of the scale and pace of the Version 1 10X (ten times) strategy will create its own challenges. The company will need to develop a pipeline of exceptionally strong management talent capable to lead the organisation as it grows globally.
To help achieve their scaling ambitions, Version 1 reached out to the TU Dublin Enterprise Academy with a view to developing a customised accredited leadership development programme to augment the company’s existing highly regarded internal management development activity. As the Enterprise Academy operates across all the university’s schools and faculties, it was ideally suited to broker the correct educational solution to Version 1’s Learning and Development team requirements.
“The Enterprise Academy approached the Graduate Business School with a view to developing the programme,” says Dr Colin Hughes, Head of the TU Dublin Graduate Business School. “We have long standing experience of developing customised leadership programmes with industry partners. We work with partners to understand their needs, to identify key pain points and the problems they are trying to solve. We then co-create offerings to meet those needs.”
Following engagement with the Version 1 Organisational Development team, a bespoke, multi-annual Certificate in Leadership (Level 9, 10 ECTS) was launched in the spring of 2023.
“We worked very closely with the company to ensure that we delivered something impactful,” says Hughes. “The programme is designed to reflect Version 1’s unique operating model and core values and to position the company to meet its very ambitious growth objectives.”
We have had a fantastic experience collaborating with TU Dublin on this programme right from the very start, when we engaged with them. Colin Hughes, Head of the Graduate Business School was superb in helping us shape the curriculum in ways that it assured and addressed all parts of our operating model; empowered people, customer success and ultimately how we build a stronger organisation, not just for today but also for tomorrow.
Tom O'Connor CEO, Version 1
Strength in Balance
The company’s Strength in Balance operating model is at the very core of the Certificate in Leadership, according to Version 1 Head of Organisational Development Cleo McCormack. “This is about everything we do,” she explains. “It's how we do business, and we believe it's pivotal to our success.”
The model is based on a triangle representing Version 1’s three commitments of making a real difference for customers; building an empowering culture; and growing a strong organisation for the future, with each commitment reinforcing the others.
“It’s a perfect model for us as it works as a problem-solving tool as well,” McCormack adds. “At Version 1, our core values are not something that's just written on the wall,” she continues. “We live our core values, and we call each other out on our core values. If we don't think that something is excellent, we say so and excellence is a key part of this program. That's why we partnered with TU Dublin. We felt that together we could raise the bar for leadership development and ensure excellence in our future leaders.”
Excellence and consistency of delivery across the organisation
A key objective of the programme is to build consistency in leadership across the organisation. “We need to make sure that every single leader in Version 1 operates in accordance with the same principles, has the same knowledge and business expertise and is trained to the highest possible standard,” she says. “In effect, we codified those things that make us successful. By working with TU Dublin, we have combined that with academic rigor to ensure our people understand leadership theory intertwined with application to practice. When we met with Colin Hughes, we knew straight away that he completely understood our ambitions. He understood our business operating model and was able to align the solution to that and bring in highly relevant insights and frameworks to further strengthen the programme.”
TU Dublin also ensured that the program was accredited to postgraduate Level 9 standard. This is a key differentiator. There are a lot of leadership development programmes on the market but the TU Dublin programme is in line with our core value of excellence.”
Building Strength: Stackable Qualifications
The Level 9 Certificate in Leadership Programme is a stackable qualification which can be built on to achieve a diploma in leadership, she adds: “Version 1, in conjunction with TU Dublin, is offering an opportunity for personal development for those employees who want to step up and take it. One of the great things about having TU Dublin involved is that employees who put the time and effort into it are getting a recognised qualification.”
The Certificate in Leadership programme comprises three core elements. The first is a programme of online tutorials delivered by TU Dublin Graduate Business School faculty members and Version 1 senior executives where participants learn about various aspects of management and organisational leadership. This is followed by two days of on-site intensive learning during which participants build on what they have learned online and put that into action using real world case studies from within the company. The case studies are presented to Version 1 senior leaders at the end of the second day.
The final element sees participants undertake a work-based project, which is designed to be highly applied and to have real impact within Version 1.
Excellent Learner Experience
Version 1's Jennifer Barry was among the first cohort of graduates from the programme. She highlights the opportunity to gain insights into different aspects of the business as one of its key strengths.
“The people side of the triangle is not something an accountant typically deals with,” she explains. “The programme forced me to reflect a lot on how I approached different situations and having those up-to-date learnings allowed me to challenge my own skillset. It has been hugely beneficial and has whetted my appetite to learn more about that part of the business and the psychology of how to be a better leader, how to influence better, and how to manage change in a way that brings people along with you as opposed to just getting the job done.”
Change management capability is critically important both now and, in the future, she points out. “Our growth strategy is a mix of organic and by acquisition. New companies are regularly acquired and it is essential that teams feel like they’ve become part of something special when that happens. It’s up to our leaders to ensure that people in those companies are welcomed, embedded into teams and hit the ground running. To do that, you need to have empathy, you need to have listening skills, and you need to understand the process of change. Change management is a very important component of the leadership programme.”
Practical applications
The case studies also offer valuable perspectives. “We are not all given the same case studies,” she points out. “There might be five different business senarios and each team gives a synopsis of the case study and how they approached solving it. That means you’re investigating numerous different ways of solving the same problems.”
Participants are encouraged to think big when it comes to their final project. “It cannot be business as usual,” says McCormack. “It has to be something which can drive increased revenue, make our people happier or make a real difference for our customers.”
Jennifer Barry developed a new customer “Delight, Relight, Ignite” programme for her project. Aligned with the customer-first core value, the aim was to relight relationships which had weakened over time, delight where it was felt there was even more the company could do for the customer and ignite where the bond with the customer wasn’t working in the way it should.
“The project allows Version 1 employees to step up and be personally accountable for making a real difference for customers,” says Barry.
The project was implemented across the company and has already resulted in more than €1 million in additional revenue. “We were able to do that within our existing customer base because our employees were empowered to understand their needs so that we could bring real business value to them,” Barry points out. “An idea is only as good as the team that delivers it, and I was incredibly fortunate to get to work with an outstanding team on the project. I was also very lucky to be supported by two excellent mentors from within Version 1.”
At Version 1, our core values are not something that's just written on the wall,” she continues. “We live our core values, and we call each other out on our core values. If we don't think that something is excellent, we say so and excellence is a key part of this program. That's why we partnered with TU Dublin. We felt that together we could raise the bar for leadership development and ensure excellence in our future leaders.
Cleo McCormack, Version 1 Head of Organisational Development
Working with TU Dublin on its graduate growth strategy
Fifty Version 1 employees graduated from the programme at a ceremony in TU Dublin’s Grangegorman campus in December 2023 and a further 100 will graduate in April 2024 followed by groups of 50 graduates each quarter during the coming years.
Participants are put forward by line managers in the company. “We have set an ambitious target of putting 200 participants a year through the programme,” says McCormack. “We let the participants know that they have been earmarked as the people who are really going to take the business forward in the future. The programme is then kicked off by our CEO Tom O’Connor. Having our CEO as the executive sponsor of the programme is a big differentiator for us.”
She describes the relationship with TU Dublin as a “dream partnership”. “They couldn't be any more supportive,” she says. “They are trusted advisors, but the most important thing is that they understand our business and our operating model. They get us and get what we're trying to do. Colin Hughes spent time on learning our values. He took the time to learn our leadership principles. We really felt at home and that we were in good hands with him. He was there to help us build the programme and to challenge us and push back at times.”
“When we work with organisations, we are looking for partners rather than transactional relationships,” says Hughes. “We want to invest a significant amount of time and energy to ensure the programme delivers on the objectives set. We want to build an enduring partnership. That is our ethos. Our partnership with Version 1 offers wider benefits for both organisations. Faculty members deliver seminars in Version 1 while Version 1 managers deliver lectures and take part in panel discussions on our Executive MBA and other programmes. It has opened the door for wider collaboration. We want the Graduate Business School to be close to business and society and to be highly connected with industry. Partnerships like this help us to realise that goal.”
Version 1 would also like to acknowledge the ongoing support of Enterprise Ireland (EI) for its Strength in Balance Leaders (SIBL) program. Enterprise Ireland's Operational Excellence grant funding has allowed SIBL to proceed faster, at a greater scale and with more participants than would be possible without their assistance.
Version 1 Graduates December 2023
