Aligning people, strategy and performance through rapid growth

How Mission Inc has supported Kensa Health through strategic planning, leadership development and a consistent approach to managing performance as the organisation grows.

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The Challenge

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Kensa Health is a growing UK health and care organisation, expanding its services and geographical reach primarily through mergers and acquisitions.

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With new businesses joining the organisation and teams expanding throughout the year, keeping everyone focused on the same priorities has become increasingly important.

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Different departments had their own objectives, reporting processes and ways of working, making it difficult to get a consistent picture of performance across the business. As more people joined, there was also a need to make sure leaders understood the wider strategy and how their teams contributed to it.

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Kensa Health wanted to improve oversight and consistency without creating unnecessary management processes. Leaders needed clear objectives and reliable information, but also the freedom to manage their teams and make decisions.

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The Approach

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Kensa Health has worked with Mission Inc for around two years, using the Mission Method to support its strategic planning and performance management.

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This includes annual and quarterly strategy workshops, leadership development through the Leader as Coach programme, and the use of Mission Inc's KPI Dashboard to monitor performance across the business.

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Setting the strategy and keeping it relevant

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Each year begins with a strategy workshop involving Kensa Health's senior leadership and wider management teams.

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Facilitated by Mission Inc using the Mission Method, the workshop brings leaders together to agree the organisation's objectives, priorities, KPIs and individual responsibilities for the year ahead.

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Further workshops take place every quarter to review business performance, discuss progress and make changes where needed.

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These regular sessions are particularly useful as Kensa Health continues to acquire businesses and welcome new colleagues. They give leaders time away from day-to-day operations to review the bigger picture, discuss challenges and agree what needs attention.

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Developing managers through Leader as Coach

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As Kensa Health continued to grow, developing its managers was another priority. Mission Inc delivered a bespoke Leader as Coach programme for 11 managers, including members of the senior leadership team.

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Across six interactive sessions, participants developed practical coaching skills, including active listening, effective questioning and constructive feedback. A key focus was learning when to step back from giving advice and instead help others work through challenges and find their own solutions.

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This approach reflects how Kensa Health wants its managers to lead, giving people clear responsibilities while encouraging independence and ownership. Delegate feedback highlighted the value of practising coaching conversations, reflecting on their own management styles and applying what they had learnt to real workplace situations.

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Making performance part of the monthly routine

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Kensa Health runs its own monthly National Performance Review (NPR) meetings, attended by the senior leadership team.

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Using Mission Inc's KPI Dashboard, each leader reviews performance against their team's objectives, discusses current priorities and identifies any challenges or areas where support is needed.

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KPIs are set by individual teams each year, with some measures linked directly to wider business objectives, including financial performance and growth targets.

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The meetings give the leadership team a regular opportunity to understand what is happening across the organisation, challenge results where necessary and agree actions.

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They also help identify issues that affect more than one department, making it easier for teams to work together to resolve them.

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Improving visibility across the recruitment pipeline

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Recruitment is one example of how the approach has helped Kensa Health identify and address an operational challenge.

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With marketing, HR and operations each responsible for different stages of recruitment, inconsistencies in reporting meant figures did not always match, making it difficult to get a reliable picture of the full recruitment pipeline.

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These differences became more apparent through the monthly performance reviews, prompting Kensa Health to introduce new reporting processes and integrations to establish a single source of truth.

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This has improved visibility across departments and made it easier to identify where attention is needed, using consistent information rather than separate reports from individual teams.

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Mark Merriman, Chief Operating Officer, Kensa Health:

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"As we've grown, it's become harder to keep track of everything happening across the business. Working with Mission Inc has helped us put a structure in place that keeps everyone focused on the same priorities and gives us a much clearer picture of performance. It means we can spot issues, make decisions and support our teams without getting involved in every detail."

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The Impact

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Over the past two years, the Mission Method has become part of how Kensa Health operates.

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Quarterly workshops keep the leadership team focused on the wider strategy, while the monthly NPR meetings provide a regular opportunity to review performance, address challenges and agree actions.

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The KPI Dashboard has improved visibility across departments, helping leaders identify issues earlier and work together on solutions. The recruitment reporting improvements are one example of how this has led to changes in the way the business operates.

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Alongside this, the Leader as Coach programme has supported Kensa Health's approach to giving managers responsibility and the freedom to make decisions.

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For a business continuing to grow through acquisition, having these processes in place means new leaders can understand the organisation's priorities, how performance is measured and what is expected of them.

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Keep your people, strategy and performance aligned

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Whether you're managing rapid growth, bringing new teams together or looking to improve performance across your organisation, Mission Inc can help you turn strategy into action.

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Get in touch to discuss how we can support your organisation.

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