Case study | People and performance

Empowering middle managers at Child Bereavement UK

Building leaders that more effectively manage performance, lead teams and support wellbeing

Client overview

Business type

Charity

Locations

Employees

200

Key outcomes

Managers felt 17% more empowered in their role
16% increase in understanding of people management responsibilities
11% improvement in confidence managing team performance

The challenge

Child Bereavement UK delivers vital support to children and families during incredibly sensitive and emotionally demanding circumstances. To continue meeting its mission while supporting employee wellbeing, the organisation recognised the need to invest in its middle managers, who were having to balance strategic leadership expectations and the day‑to‑day realities of supporting teams, while balancing their own operational responsibilities.

Key challenges included:

Middle managers relying heavily on senior leaders for direction and conflict resolution
Low confidence in personal leadership capability
Limited tools for managing performance and providing effective feedback
Risk of burnout due to inefficient use of time and energy

Victoria Farelly
Head of People Development

The solution

NFP partnered with Child Bereavement UK to design and deliver a tailored Empowering Managers development programme.

Following an initial assessment of manager confidence and capability across key leadership areas, we delivered a structured programme to two cohorts of managers over a four‑month period. The programme focused on building clarity, confidence and practical leadership skills, while recognising the emotional context managers operate within.

The tailored programme included:

An initial assessment to benchmark leadership confidence and capability
Workshop 1: Understanding the role and responsibilities of a manager
Workshop 2: Communication skills and influencing others
Workshop 3: Managing performance and delivering effective feedback
A follow‑up embedding session three months after completion to reinforce learning and behaviour change

The results

For their business

Stronger management capability

Built more confident and capable middle management across the business.

Consistent leadership behaviours

Improved consistency in leadership approach and behaviours across teams.

Better performance conversations

Enhanced quality of performance management and feedback discussions.

For their people

More confident leaders

Increased confidence and motivation in leadership roles.

Clarity of manager responsibilities

Provided a clearer understanding of expectations as people managers.

Improved leadership balance

Strengthened ability to balance operational delivery with leading teams.

Even though I have attended leadership courses in the past, there were new things to learn and different perspectives. It was valuable personally and professionally.

Child Bereavement UK programme participants

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