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Case study: Career coaching at Fuller, Smith & Turner

The headlines

Who


Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC Creators of unique premium pub and hotel experiences.

What


Career Coaching Programme: Ignite Your Career & Reignite Retreat.

Role


  • Consulting

  • Collaborative design

  • Executive coaching


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Purpose 

To ignite careers throughout the support centre! 


The Fuller's talent team desired a new way to engage support centre colleagues with a tailored learning and development opportunity. One that would increase personal ownership and accountability for career progression. Like many head offices, this solution needed to flex to suit the needs of professionals with varying skills and mindsets from finance to marketing, IT to customer support, operations to leadership. And of course something that made the Fuller’s values shine!


Ways of working


Working in collaboration with the Fuller’s talent team, we mapped out a squiggly learning journey that reflected the mindset needed for career progression in the 21st Century. Together we identified how to:


  1. Effectively combine in-house & external coaching, so that participants could choose the best coach to meet their career development needs.

  2. Utilise IT systems already successfully implemented to support self-directed learning.

  3. Partner with the Fuller's creative team to bring the Ignite Your Career brand to life.


"In my opinion anyone and everyone could benefit from working with Kat, but I think the work that she has done with us in coaching and particularly Ignite Your Career has been transformative and I think that is her super power, truly understanding how to help people unpick their own thoughts and limiting beliefs and become the best version of themselves." Emily Loughnane - Talent and Development Manager at Fuller, Smith & Turner


Why coaching


Coaching transforms career progression from something that happens to you into something you actively drive. It’s not just about helping people move up - it’s about helping them move forward with intention, clarity, and commitment. In additional to 1:1 coaching sessions, we also adopted a cohort approach to introduce social learning and build additional accountability structures. An extra dose of motivation.


"The coaching was genuinely invaluable and so refreshing." Participant

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Creative solution


In the 18-months since project kick-off, four cohorts (to date!) have navigated a squiggly path that involves:

  • A 4-month learning journey

  • Participant engagement through lunch & learns (in-person and virtual)

  • Onboarding reflective questionnaire and cohort virtual workshop

  • Self-directed learning designed around four ‘sprints’

  • Tailored programme activities hosted online

  • 1:1 coaching

  • Peer coaching pods

  • Cohort check-out call and off-boarding survey


Then in November 2025, the Reignite Retreat was born - To help maintain momentum for the Igniter Alumni, Fullers asked everyday people to design an activity driven one-day in-person workshop to be facilitated alongside Emily from the Fullers talent team. Participants from across cohorts 1 & 2 came together to recharge, spark ideas and support one another’s growth. It was magic!

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Results


A growing group of Igniters across the business!


We took a ‘lightest touch for greatest impact’ approach. Participants each committed to 8-hours of contact time across 4-months with a minimum recommendation of 20-30 minutes of self-directed learning per week. Even we were surprised by the levels of engagement, positive shifts in mindset and achievements celebrated across each cohort! 


Word of mouth recommendations have been high with many managers now championing their team members to onboard onto Ignite Your Career.


I really enjoyed the whole programme - it helped me to get accountable for myself and bought into my love for development. Participant


Next steps


Embedding the offer - Following glowing feedback from the first 3 cohorts, Fullers decided to continue the Ignite Your Career programme for the support centre on a bi-annual basis and are exploring how to extend programme invitations to colleagues across the pub estate.


Reignite Retreat - We're already looking forward to re-energising more Igniters on a day retreat in 2026.



We love realising coaching cultures in organisations of all shapes & sizes. Our vision is to unleash the remarkable within your people's everyday.


We're also passionate about being a trusted partner for our clients. It would be an honour to explore your leadership and high-potential development hopes and challenges together.



 
 
 

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