How Bowman Riley Architects Elevated Leadership and Culture with The Management Shift Approach 

In an era of rapid change, organisations face ever-increasing complexity and change. Leaders need to create a work environment that facilitates purpose, values, and vision to succeed. In this article, we explore how The Management Shift (TMS) approach successfully transitioned Bowman Riley Architects, Building Consultants, and Interiors to conscious leadership.  

This case study explores how this organisation successfully transformed their leadership and organisational culture, creating a vibrant work environment that fosters purpose, values, and vision leading to numerous expected and unexpected benefits. 

The Management Shift Implementation 

Sixteen members of the Bowman Riley’s leadership team completed a 4-month TMS Leadership Development Programme, consisting of individual and organisational assessments, access to learning material on an e-earning platform, two half-day face to face workshops and peer coaching, to understand and apply the TMS system for leadership and culture transformation.  

Figure 1 shows the 5-Level Model that is the essence of the TMS approach. The Model was developed from extensive interdisciplinary research and it shows five levels that an individual mindset goes through and there is a corresponding organisational culture at each level. Every level is characterised by specific thinking patterns, language used, emotions, leadership style, behaviour and organisational outcomes. We cannot skip the levels, we can only shift up one level at the time, but we can have pockets of different levels within the same organisation.   

At Level 1, the mindset is “Lifeless” and the culture is “Apathetic”, characterised by fear, isolation, disengagement and toxic culture. Level 2 is marked by a “Reluctant” mindset and a “Stagnating” culture, where employees do the bare minimum to receive a paycheck. Level 3 features a “Controlled” mindset and an “Orderly” culture, with a traditional command and control leadership style. A significant shift occurs as organisations move to Level 4, where the mindset becomes “Enthusiastic” and the culture “Collaborative,” fostering teamwork, collaboration, trust, transparency, integrity, and purpose. Occasionally, organisations can tap into Level 5, characterised by a “Limitless” mindset and an “Unbounded” culture, where innovation and solving global problems drive success.  

Here are some examples of Level 4 behavior: Trust and transparency in interactions and decision-making processes, strong focus on purpose and collaboration among team members, employees finding enjoyment and fulfilment in their work, a commitment to giving back to society and being socially responsible, emphasis on teamwork and collaborative problem-solving, leaders’ behaviour that inspires and empowers their teams rather than micromanaging, open and effective communication across all levels of the organization and a caring culture that values and nurtures creativity and new ideas. Typical language patterns at this level include words such as “we”, “us”, “our”, “team”, “collaboration”, “purpose”, “achievement”, “fun”, “engaging”. 

Everything improves substantially when leadership style and organisational culture anchor at Level 4 and occasionally reach Level 5. Levels 1, 2 and 3 are detrimental for engagement, innovation, value creation and profit, and often fuel creation of unhealthy and unhappy workplaces, which affects a long-term performance and longevity of any organisation. Occasionally, some elements of Level 3 are needed for safety, compliance and quality purposes. 

Soon after the TMS Programme started in Bowman Riley, noticeable improvements started to emerge. The Managing Director (MD), Michael Feather, noted: “After the first workshop, I started to see things changing. Not every change is visible, but there was a shift in the overall vibe – we were getting our mojo back.” 

Leadership Transformation 

The MD experienced personal growth, becoming more open-minded and attentive to others’ opinions, and trusting of their ability. For the first time in years, he was able to spend less time worrying about working during holiday and spend it more consciously with his family.  

This shift in mindset led to a more collaborative approach to dealing with change and disruption, aligning with Level 4 thinking in the TMS model. This was followed by notable changes in behaviour of other leaders, resulting in coherent and aligned leadership style that impacted culture and performance. The MD noted: “I am very pleased with how things went and very surprised at the progress. Generally, we are just working together better. Being more honest, and meetings are more enjoyable. The work on this continues, but it is not really work when you are enjoying it”. 

Cultural Ripple Effect 

The implementation of TMS created numerous positive cultural changes. The way of dealing with change and disruption is now different from Level 4 mindset. The MD noted: “A lot of nice positive things are happening culturally from applying Level 4 language and behaviours. You do not see a big gear change immediately, but all little things happening bring a big difference. Lots of small ripples are spreading, it will snowball. It is all about improving happiness, fun and vibe, and our positive energy.”  

Many employees started talking about TMS, using Level 4 language and behaviour, discussing different opinions and as a result, various little culture enhancing projects stemming from TMS concepts started to spin off. TMS champions have been appointed in various offices to help with momentum of change to Level 4 culture. 

More effort is now put in place to celebrate success in both verbal and non- verbal methods. Recognising and appreciating people in the moment (frequent and informal), but also by improving the already used formal method of issuing somebody with a “Values Card” where an individual has exhibited one or more of the company core values for something that was above and beyond their standard role. This is publicly celebrated each month with a reward. The company also enhanced its focus on understanding and meeting the needs of its multigenerational workforce 

After TMS training, Bowman Riley’s recruitment strategy became more aligned with Level 4, where the focus is on recruiting candidates with the right personality and cultural fit rather than just technical skills. The MD explained that their perception of people is now more based on who they want to work with, focusing on personalities that offer more than just doing their job.  

Michael created a new format for his monthly report, focusing on the company’s purpose, mission, goals, and culture, aiming to make the report more impactful and emotional. He is now sharing his current thoughts and feelings to help the team appreciate his perspective more. He also wants to push for a celebration culture, appreciating and celebrating successes within the team. He has been using different language in communications to appreciate people more. 

Fostering Connection and Measuring Success 

Bowman Riley introduced several initiatives to strengthen team bonds and improve employee satisfaction: 

• Annual voluntary cultural trips abroad, with increased senior leadership participation 
• Quarterly social events for each team, supported by dedicated budgets 
• Appointment of social secretaries to organise team building activities 
• Regular review of team matrices, including sickness days and turnover rates 
• Improved annual staff engagement surveys with follow-up actions and reporting 
• Increased efforts to celebrate successes and recognize employee contributions. 

Staff Engagement Survey Improvement 

Yearly staff engagement survey has confirmed notable improvements since TMS Leadership Development Programme was conducted. A 2024 survey showed increase in leadership related engagement scores of 8%, and overall engagement increase of 2.5% in comparison to scores before TMS Programme. This will, in time, directly impact profit increase and productivity increase as research shows that more engaged employees are 21% more productive.  These scores indicate that the ROI on TMS training is 550% (a return of £5.50 for every £1 invested in leadership training). 

Figure 2 shows a comparison of key employee engagement scores in 2023 and 2024 (before and after TMS training). 

Unexpected Outcomes: A New Sense of Fun and Lightness 

One of the most notable results of the TMS implementation was an increase in creativity, fun and light-heartedness within the company culture. This was exemplified by a festive initiative in December 2024 where teams were tasked with creating daily photo challenges with an elf theme, resulting in engaging and fun Instagram posts, emanating true Level 4/5 energy – creative, fun, imaginative, empowered, light-hearted, playful, unique, showing how creative genius of employees was unleashed. This is a stark contrast to the posts from the previous year showing the same structure of posts, where instructions were followed leading to uniform posts – all typical for Level 3. 

Figure 3 shows Bowman Riley’s festive social media posts before and after TMS training. 

Looking Ahead: 2025 Leadership Focus 

As Bowman Riley continues its TMS journey, the company is now conducting leadership focus groups to further refine its approach and prepare for future challenges. 

Before TMS training, the company had some focus groups such as People, communications, social value, sustainability, market review, performance and productivity, and each month they would report in on each area and try to think long term (focusing on leadership, not management). Alongside this, they had a Futures team looking at future horizons and ideas, and a clear output of this was that it was felt that leadership formed a large part of their future success and that they may need to consider a fresh approach to their leadership style and have a clear strategy. An issue was that to develop a clear strategy they needed some essential building blocks. This is when they decided to do TMS leadership development training. 

Currently they have delivered very well against their most recent business plans, they have worked on discovering their purpose, checked their values, and are pulling together their future business plans. After TMS training, the new business plans are going to be different from previous ones and their awareness of improved leadership to deliver these plans will sit all around what they do. 

Having invested in the recent TMS Leadership programme, they feel they have a lot of resources to call on. Figure 4 shows one of the outputs they created from TMS training and identifies key areas that they plan to focus on. It is essentially the jump they need from when they stalled in their original leadership groups, and this enables them to create the strategy for delivery.  

The next steps will be to look at how they structure the groups and formalise the subjects/processes into an Action Plan. 

The Transformation: Before and After TMS Comparison 

The transformative impact of The Management Shift continues to ripple through Bowman Riley. Table 1 illustrates the profound changes experienced by the company, comparing key metrics and behaviours before and after implementing this innovative approach. 

Table 1. A summary of changes before and after TMS implementation 

Before TMS	After TMS
Leadership transformation
Traditional leadership approach	The Managing Director became more open-minded and attentive to others’ opinions
Less open-mindedness and attentiveness to others’ opinions	Increased trust in team members’ abilities
Work-life balance issues, with the Managing Director worrying about work during holidays	Better work-life balance, with the MD spending more quality time with family during holidays
	More collaborative approach to dealing with change and disruption
	Coherent and aligned leadership style across the organization
	Nomination of MD for Leadership Award
Cultural changes
Less emphasis on celebrating success and recognizing contributions	Employees began using Level 4 language and behavior
Limited focus on cultural fit in recruitment	Various culture-enhancing projects stemmed from TMS concepts
	TMS champions appointed in different offices
	Increased efforts to celebrate success and recognize employee contributions
	Improved recruitment strategy focusing on personality and cultural fit
	More frequent and informal recognition of employees’ achievements
	Enhanced focus on understanding and meeting the needs of a multigenerational workforce
Communication and reporting
Standard monthly reports	New format for monthly reports focusing on the company’s purpose, mission, goals, and culture
	More impactful and emotional reporting
	Managing Director sharing current thoughts and feelings to provide better perspective
	Use of different language in communications to appreciate people more
Employee engagement and team building
Limited team-building activities	Quarterly social events for each team, supported by dedicated budgets
Annual voluntary cultural trips abroad	Increased senior leadership participation in annual voluntary cultural trips abroad
	Appointment of social secretaries to organize team-building activities
	Regular review of team matrices, including sickness days and turnover rates
	Improved annual staff engagement survey results with follow-up actions and reporting
Performance metrics
Lower employee engagement scores	8% increase in leadership-related engagement scores in 2024
	2.5% increase in overall engagement compared to pre-TMS Programme scores
	Estimated Return on Investment (ROI) of 550% for the TMS training
Creativity and fun
Limited creative initiatives	Increase in creativity, fun, and light-heartedness within the company culture
Uniform and structured social media festive posts	Festive initiative in December 2024 with daily photo challenges, resulting in engaging, imaginative, playful and fun Instagram posts
	Unleashing of employees’ creative genius, showing Level 4/5 energy
Strategic planning and leadership focus
Traditional business plans	New business plans aligned with TMS principles
Stalled leadership groups	Creation of leadership focus groups to refine approach and prepare for future challenges
	Development of a clear strategy based on TMS 6 Box Leadership framework
	Identification of key areas to focus on for future growth and success

Conclusions 

TMS Leadership Development programme has brought various specific quantitative and qualitative benefits for Bowman Riley. From increase in engagement, culture improvement, enhanced work-life balance, more openness and trust, renewed sense of purpose, better communication and collaboration to creating happier, more innovative and inspiring, fun workplace. The true monetary value of this work will emerge in months to come, but the initial impact is priceless. 

The Managing Director concluded, “The magic of The Management Shift approach creates ripples of transformation, sometimes unexpected. It is all about improving happiness, fun, and vibe – enhancing our vibrancy across all aspects of our operations.”  

This case study demonstrates how The Management Shift approach can lead to meaningful workplace transformation, fostering a culture of trust, respect, and collaboration while driving improved performance and employee satisfaction, which, among other benefits, always results in improvements in a bottom line profit.  

Embracing Level 4 leadership principles is crucial for transforming organisational culture, whilst employee engagement is critical for driving innovation and business performance. A focus on culture, coupled with a drive to improve all areas has been the catalyst to the improvements made at Bowman Riley, which is in line with impact experienced by other organisations embracing The Management Shift approach for transformation.